Junee Prime Lamb has this morning announced intentions to invest $30 million at its Junee Abattoir, after striking a 10-year supply agreement with Woolworths.

Currently supplying the supermarket giant with around 10,000 lambs each week, the Byrnes Road facility is responsible for up to one-third of the lamb sold in Woolworths stores across eastern Australia.

“It’s one of the biggest employers in our region, and being that it’s outside the major cities, it means consistent work for the rural sector,” said Junee Shire mayor Neil Smith.

“Looking at the bigger picture, you see a lot of abattoirs closing down all over the country, but this one has continued to grow and that’s really encouraging.

“Gone are the days, I think when the community didn’t support expansions of an abattoir. The facilities are managed more professionally now.”

Wagga mayor Greg Conkey agreed, saying the expansion would benefit the whole region.

Junee and Wagga are so close together that this will definitely benefit the city.

“Smaller communities like Junee [...] are so important to Wagga because they provided extra jobs and business for the region and other benefits like cheaper housing,” he said.

For the past 20 years, the company has supported hundreds of lamb producers from Griffith to Forbes, Cootamundra and Wagga.

“We’re upgrading our animal shelters, processing floor and cold storage, as well as building new freezing capability to ramp up our export business,” said abattoir director Heath Newton.