Council approved the development application of Angus Dowling’s company, Enviroganic on Wednesday which would see the farm’s capacity almost tripled. 

The Murringo-based company is one of the country’s largest producers of organic chicken. 

The application included plans for four new poultry sheds, an extension of two existing poultry sheds, a bedding shed, a staff amenities building, construction of a new access and access road. 

But Mr Dowling said the approved capacity, up from 48,000 to 120,000, could not be achieved in the near future because of a drastic undersupply of grain. 

He said the buy-back of the lower Murrumbidgee flood plains pushed organic grain farmers out.

“While demand is strong, the limiting factor to growth is the production of organic feeding grain, it’s dramatically declined,” Mr Dowling said. 

“That’s for a number of reasons, being retiring farmers, some selling, but the big one is that the previous government purchased and took out of production the lower Murrimbidgee flood plain. 

“There was a group of around 10 farmers who used to farm an area… out near Morte [Western Riverina].

“After flooding, once they drained the water… they would crop the area organically.

“It would produce somewhere between 10,000-25,000 tonnes per year - up to 35 per cent of eastern Australia’s organic grain production. 

“That’s left a massive hole in the organic grain market.”

Mr Dowling said they couldn’t meet the demand of large buyers such as Woolworths.

“Speaking to a Woolworths rep, they’re keen to grow the organic segment,” he said.

“But they know there are just limiting factors, mainly being the undersupply of grain.” 

Mr Dowling said producers were looking at a number of measures to remedy the shortfall.

“Some of them (producers) are trying to take on farming land to farm themselves,” he said. 

“We’re trying to encourage people who are interested in growing organic grain and offering them contracts and helping them with their conversion.

“We want to work with the government to see if we can get some of that area back into production.” 

But Mr Dowling had praise for council for its efficiency during the development application. 

“It was an efficient and thorough process, they read the legislation and knew the things I had to make sure I had ticked off,” he said. 

Young Shire Council general manager Peter Vlatko said the farm’s desire to grow was a positive sign in the current economy. 

“Giving a business the opportunity to continue to grow and expand has to be good,” he said.