00:00It's a staple ingredient for many Australian households, but the tomato industry is struggling.
00:08As a percentage basis, Australian product is only supplying possibly 20-30% of the entire
00:18demand that the Australian market has.
00:21These tomatoes are grown with the specific purpose of being turned into products like
00:25pasta sauces and canned tomatoes.
00:27But cheaper imports are hard to compete with and growers are leaving the industry.
00:32Over the last 10 years, that grower number has gone from about 12 active growing enterprises
00:40down now to about 7 growing enterprises.
00:43To combat this, an Australian processor is thinking outside the box.
00:48I'm not sure people will believe this, but we're actually extracting the tomato seed oil
00:52and it's going into the cosmetic industry.
00:55Tomato seed oil is used by skincare brands for products like moisturisers, oils and sunscreens.
01:01They've also found a way to profit from the skins that would normally be fed to livestock,
01:06drying it into a powder for use in products like pet foods.
01:10The goal is to utilise almost all of our by-product by 2027.
01:16With the fruit only making up 40% of the company's revenue, Mr Free says it no longer needs to rely solely on processed tomatoes.
01:25We need to get out there and start to proactively sell these other products that we've got access to.
01:30Keeping their skin in the game.
01:32The skin in the game.
01:34The skin in the game.
01:35The skin in the game.
01:36You
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