Invest in Loddon

The Loddon Shire is located 180km north of Melbourne in Victoria’s food bowl. The rich and highly productive soils and ideal climate conditions supports a strong economy in agriculture, horticulture and livestock industries.

The major townships anchor businesses and communities across the region including:

  • Boort
  • Bridgewater on Loddon
  • Inglewood
  • Pyramid Hill
  • Wedderburn

The proximity to Bendigo as a major regional city positions Loddon Shire well for economic and logistic opportunity as well as lifestyle amenity.

As part of the Victorian Goldfields tourist region, the economy also supports niche and artisanal producers as well as major wine and olive industries. Loddon Shire is well known for history, welcoming communities and diverse landscapes that create a natural playground that connects the visitor economy to tourism industry opportunities.

 Loddon Shire offers solid opportunities for growth to businesses investing in the region. The Industry snapshots link below contains guides to investing in specific agribusiness industries in Loddon Shire.

Download a copy of our Loddon Shire Economic Investment Prospectus(PDF, 29MB) for more detail on the strengths the region offers to business. 

Loddon is situated in the greater Loddon Mallee and Goulburn Murray regions, further details on the investment attraction for the regions is detailed in the tabs below.

Investment attraction facts, strengths and statistics for Loddon, are listed below:

Invest Loddon Mallee

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The Loddon Mallee region is Victoria's largest area for economic opportunities and diverse natural resources, leading in the renewables sector and known for next-gen agriculture and advanced manufacturing.  The region has an education sector which includes internationally-recognised tertiary institutions, and a vibrant arts and culture scene that attracts a growing number of visitors.

As a region, Loddon Mallee is ambitious, progressive, and investment-ready. We invite you to discover the many advantages of doing business here.

For more details on Invest Loddon Mallee, click here.

 

Goulburn Murray Invest Grow Prosper

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Goulburn Murray – Invest, Grow, Prosper highlights the diverse agricultural investment opportunities available in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District (GMID).

It’s an informative starting point for anyone looking to expand or build their agricultural business, providing key information and links to further resources to continue the conversation.

With reliable access to a modern, secure and high-quality water supply, productive climate, established industry support network, relaxed rural lifestyle and leading community services, the GMID is ready to grow your next agricultural investment.

For more details on Goulburn Murray - Invest Grow Prosper, click here.

 

Loddon's Fast facts

Loddon Shire has a growing economy driven by agricultural, horticultural, and renewable energy industries as well as diverse tourism opportunity linked to cultural, natural, and artisanal assets.

These industries are growing within the region that is characterised as follows:

  • Population: 7,748 [source Australian Bureau of Statistics – Estimated Resident Population as of 2022]
  • Land Area: 6,709 km²
  • Census Population Density (persons/ha): 0.011
  • Average rainfall, for sites with the availability of data:
    • Mincha 361mm
    • Tarnagulla 470mm
    • Wedderburn 468mm
    • Yarrawalla 368mm
  • Climate: cool but relatively mild winters and warm, dry summers with optimum growing conditions
  • Transport connections: via Calder, Loddon Valley and Wimmera Highways, rail and V-Line bus network
  • Employment by industries: Agriculture (44.9%), Health care services (8.4%), Manufacturing (7.5%)
  • Gross Regional Product ($M): $892.276
  • Agriculture productivity: in excess of $377M p.a.

 

Competitive strengths

The Loddon Shire economy is supported by several unique and strategic assets that make it an attractive region to invest in:

  • Rich soils and ideal climate for highly productive agricultural and horticultural industries.
  • Strong transport and road infrastructure to support logistics needs of industry.
  • Open spaces for biosecurity buffer zones for intensive agriculture.
  • Land for industry development and large scale manufacturing and production facilities.
  • Food and Beverage Manufacturers investment guide for rural Victoria,  Rural Councils Victoria have produced a website for food and beverage manufacturing opportunities.
  • High quality modernised water supply system with significant pipelines to support rural industries.
  • Affordable rural lifestyles for property ownership and quality of life.
  • Community minded towns that support high volunteerism and economic growth in the region.
  • Quality education, health and community facilities.
  • Promising outlook for future population growth.

 

 

Industry snapshots

Investing in a Table Egg Industry 

Australia’s table egg industry has been transformed over 70 years, effectively from dominance by backyard production to a highly organised and integrated agribusiness sector. The image of table eggs has improved considerably in recent years, leading to increased demand for eggs. Rising per capita consumption has followed new health messages, and increased demand for free range eggs as consumers include animal welfare concerns in their food choices. 

Click here(PDF, 2MB)  for further information and to download a Guide to Investing in a Table Egg Enterprise in Loddon Shire.

Investing in a Meat Poultry Enterprise in Loddon Shire

Chicken is Australia’s most consumed meat, and per capita consumption has grown to 49 kilograms per annum (from just 4 kilograms per annum in the 1950s and 1960s). The volume of chicken produced by the industry has increased at an average annual rate of 3% over recent years. Growing demand for chicken meat has been supported by its cheaper price in comparison with other meats, enhanced by dramatic improvements in production efficiencies, as well as the perceived health benefits of lean white meat. 

Click here(PDF, 403KB) for further information and to download a Guide to Investing in a Meat Poultry Enterprise in Loddon Shire.

Lot Feeding

Lot feeding is the practice of housing animals in a confined area and providing all nutritional requirements in the form of rations. It allows operators greater control over the quality and timing of supply than is possible with grass finishing, which is subject to seasonal conditions. 

Click here(PDF, 1MB) for further information and to download a Lot Feeding Investment Guide.

Investing in a Pig Industry Enterprise

Loddon Shire has an expanding intensive livestock production sector. The Shire’s farming enterprises are dominated by broadacre, dryland cropping systems, with the majority of farms in the range of 600 to 800 hectares. This environment is increasingly attractive to intensive livestock production as lot-feeding becomes more established and poultry and piggery operations seek bio-secure locations with good access to both stockfeeds and markets.         

Click here(PDF, 1MB) to download a Guide to Investing in a Pig Industry Enterprise in Loddon Shire.

Niche and Artisanal Production

Over the past decade, Loddon Shire has encouraged newly emerging innovative small businesses producing local value-added food and beverages. Although not yet at the scale of some regions in Victoria, Loddon Shire has all the attributes needed to host gourmet and value-added businesses.

Click here(PDF, 3MB) to download a guide to Artisan Production: Small Scale Agribusiness and Horticultural Development in Loddon Shire.

Living in Loddon

 

Lifestyle

The community feel and support for small businesses in the area is the incentive for many investors to relocate their families for the opportunity to grow in this part of regional Victoria. Many residents of the Loddon Shire have been attracted by a combination of affordability and rural lifestyle.

Culture

Communities across the region deeply respect the rich early settler history and significant indigenous cultural heritage. The network of small towns is built with strong connections to support and culturally adopt those who move to the region to work or live. Many new migrants have found new lives and opportunities in supportive communities like Pyramid Hill. For more information on how Pyramid Hill embraces its Filipino community click here.

Care

 Strong allied health, aged care and disability services are available within our region, and state of the art hospital care and treatment facilities are accessed via Boort District Health, Inglewood and District Health Services and Bendigo Health.

For further information on health and wellbeing in Loddon Shire, click here

Education

The public and Catholic schools across the region offer a progressive and high-quality education from prep to year 12. A broad variety of curriculum options are available for students to allow them to access pathways to employment and higher education all within the region.

Schools located in the Shire:

Boort District School, P-12

Bridgewater on Loddon Primary School

East Loddon P-12 College

Pyramid Hill College, P -10

St Mary’s Primary School Inglewood

St Patrick’s Primary School Pyramid Hill

Tarnagulla Primary School

Wedderburn College, P-12

Education pathways

North Central Trade Training Centre: Students in the Loddon Shire have access to The North Central Trade Training Centre, (NCTTC) located at Charlton College to undertake the delivery of VET certificates. These certificates cover a broad range of areas and address skills shortages in agriculture, in occupations in local demand in aged care and allied health, and in the trades of carpenter, cook, engineer, hairdresser, beautician, community services, music, animal studies and sport and recreation. Students undertake VET provision on a Thursday. For further information, click here.

North Central Local Learning and Employment Network: Careers, pathways and partnerships are key in Loddon. The North Central LLEN is a not-for-profit charitable organisation working across the Loddon Shire supporting children from birth to 21.  A key part of the LLEN’s role is a comprehensive set of Careers and Pathways programs.

The LLEN, through a partnership with Loddon schools and the North Central Trade Training Centre, provides qualified career practitioners to work with young people from years 9-12. Each student works one to one with a careers practitioner to develop a Career Action Plan; these plans are a tool to support the development of aspirations, and for young people to investigate pathways for their life beyond school.

A critical role of the LLEN is to bring together and align available resources in the career and pathway space to ensure that young people, their families, businesses and industry in Loddon have access to the best possible assets available to support them to succeed in education, work and life. 

The range of additional LLEN partnership programs supporting young people in the Loddon Shire include the Structured Workplace Learning program (includes School Based Apprenticeships), the Flexible Learning Options program (for disengaging youth) MATES mentoring programs and the TAC L2P drivers education program. For more information, click here.

  

Statistics and population information

For more detailed insights on Loddon Shire’s Community Profile, including population and statistics, you can visit - https://profile.id.com.au/loddon

Reports on Loddon Shire’s Economic Profile can be found by visiting the Council’s REMPLAN website. Business, industry, and government can create impact reports across industries to support grant applications, construction projects and submissions.  To find out more information, click here.

To uncover open data insights for your business in Victoria, click here for Business Victoria’s - My Victoria. 

For further population statistics, visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.

 

 

Connect for support

If you would like to understand more about Loddon Shire or to discuss a project you would like modelled, contact Council’s Economic Development Team on  (03) 5494 1200 or email business@loddon.vic.gov.au