Month: April 2018

On 15^th April, Foodbank released its inaugural research report on the prevalence of child hunger in Australia. Entitled ‘Rumbling Tummies’, the research used data collated from more than a thousand parents with children under the age of 15 and found that the major factor driving the growing need for hunger relief in Australia is the rising cost of living. The research discovered that, while 15% of Australian adults have experienced food insecurity in the last year, more than 1 in 5 children in Australia (22%) have gone hungry over the same period.

 This is a worrying statistic so Costa is proud to have supported Foodbank since 2011, being one of the first fresh produce companies to commit to assisting Foodbank on a national level. As one of Foodbanks’ most valuable partners, Costa has, to date, donated more than 2 million kilograms of fresh produce to Foodbank. This equates to over 16 million serves of nutritious fresh fruit and vegetables to people who might otherwise have gone without.

 Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organisation in Australia. Established in 1992, it collects and distributes the food industry’s surplus food to the welfare sector. Last year, this equated to over 63 million meals. However, despite providing food for over 652,000 people a month nationally, their front-line charity partners report that demand for food relief has increased by 10% in the past year.

 To find out more about ‘Rumbling Tummies’ and how you can play a role in supporting Foodbank’s fight against hunger, visit www.foodbank.org.au

Costa Group has been announced as a finalist in the prestigious 25th Annual AustCham Westpac Australia-China Business Awards.

Nominated for the Business Excellence Award for Agriculture, Food & Beverage, Costa has been recognised for its operations in China with its focus on the development of large scale berry fruit (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) farms in Honghe and Xishuangbanna Yunnan Province.

Costa’s investment to date represents one of the largest by a foreign owned company in Chinese Agriculture in recent years with land secured for further expansion as demand in the market grows.

Costa was nominated for the award due to the success of its agricultural developments in China based on a number of key factors including:

•  The introduction of world leading high tech growing and management systems
• Recognition of key national agricultural policies focusing on sustainable production and improvement in the economic and social well-being of the local population
• A strong and harmonious working relationship with local authorities
• Implementation of safe and healthy work practices

Paul Lai, Westpac’s Regional Head and Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking Greater China said “Given its size and incredible pace of transformation, it’s fantastic to see these Australian businesses that have worked hard to get their China strategy right, reaping the rewards and propelling their business forward.” 

The presentation of the 25th Annual AustCham Westpac Australia-China Business Awards is to be made at a Gala Dinner in Shanghai on Thursday 17th May.

What an incredible day with our team of volunteers harvesting fresh BROWN & WHITE mushrooms directly off their growing beds at the Good Friday Appeal Kids Day Out.

This year, the fundraising event took place on Friday 30^th March at the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings with Costa invited by Woolworths to provide support.   Located within the Woolworths fresh food pavilion at Geoff’s shed, this event helps raise funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital appeal. The day provides kids and families an opportunity to enjoy a fun day out raising money for this worthy cause seeking gold coin donations for the activities and purchases made on the day.

This year Costa supplied 6 mushroom beds ready for harvest by kids & adults for a Gold coin donation.  We harvested over 300kg’s of mushrooms fresh off the beds with our team of Costa and Woolworths staff volunteering their time to supporting the event.  We also took the opportunity to teach kids how to harvest mushrooms and to educate them on the importance of good healthy food for health and wellbeing.  Great to see some children harvest and eat mushrooms straight off the beds! 

This year, Woolworths raised close to $1.5M contributing to the total tally of $18.043M raised.  A phenomenal effort by the team at Woolworths and all the volunteers who invest a great deal of time, effort and planning to make this event successful each and every year.