Author: Brigid Veale

Costa Group, Australia’s leading grower, marketing and producer of fresh fruit and vegetables, has issued an urgent plea for the Albanese Government to prioritise export market access for horticultural products into key markets.

Sean Hallahan, Costa CEO and Managing Director, said lack of access to key markets, especially Japan for Australia’s avocados was affecting the entire industry.

“It is vitally important for the new Albanese government to prioritise export market access for horticultural products into key markets, most prominently Japan,” Mr Hallahan said.

Japan imports huge volumes of avocados principally from South America, and small volumes from Western Australia. The majority of Australian avocados are however grown in Queensland, which is prevented from exporting to Japan due to Queensland Fruit Fly.

“A whole of government approach is urgently needed to gain access to Japan for eastern seaboard (QLD/NSW) grown avocados. If this can occur, then together with the access Western Australia currently has to Japan, it will provide Australian avocado growers an opportunity to supply the Japanese market on an almost year-round basis, something that no other country can do,” he said.

“Disappointingly, this is an opportunity that through lack of urgent action from government continues to go begging. I encourage both the Federal Agriculture and Trade Ministers to work together to address this issue as a matter of absolute urgency for the greater good of the avocado industry, and the economic sustainability of regional and rural communities where avocados are grown.”

Mr Hallahan said other countries, including Peru, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Canada, Mexico and the United States had successfully gained access to China and other south east Asian countries for their fresh produce.

“The common denominator at play here appears to be that these countries take a whole of government approach to trade access negotiations.”

From its roots in the Riverland region of Australia, the Vitor brand is known around the globe for its quality premium fresh produce.

Vitor originated 50 years ago as a marketing company for growers in the Renmark region, in South Australia.

Today, Vitor is one of Costa Group’s premium brands, with exports of citrus and grapes to key markets including the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Costa is Australia’s leading citrus grower and marketer with farms in the Riverland in South Australia, Sunraysia in Victoria, and in Emerald and Dimbulah in Queensland.

Elliot Jones, General Manager of Costa’s Trees and Vines category (incorporating citrus, grapes, avocados and bananas) said Vitor’s success over 50 years was a testament to the passion and experience of the people involved in growing, packing and marketing the fruit.

“From the very beginning, the number one priority has always been to provide the highest quality produce,” Elliot said.

“Over the years we have established long-term relationships with all our stakeholders including importers, distributors, and retailers. We have maintained a strong focus on the end consumers’ needs and requirements, particularly regarding quality.”

The brand began as the Vitor Citrus Co-operative (Renmark) Ltd, which was incorporated in 1972 with eight members. Its major shareholder in the early days was Yandilla Park Ltd, a company founded by Andrew Weigall.

The citrus operations at the heart of Vitor were established in the early 1970s and the first packing shed for Yandilla Park was built in 1972 on the outskirts of the town of Renmark. Andrew, who led the development of Yandilla Park Ltd, was driven by his passion for producing premium fruit and was known for pioneering new techniques and innovative horticultural practices.

By 2002, Yandilla Park properties covered 765 hectares of planted citrus, 150 hectares of wine grapes and 51 hectares of avocados. A major upgrade to the packing shed was also opened.

Coming under Costa ownership in 2006, the Riverland operations now include six farms and three packing sheds, growing oranges, mandarins as well as grapefruit, lemons, limes and avocados.

Today, Costa’s produce represents 55% of Australia’s citrus exports. Under the Vitor brand, Costa also produces table grapes which are exported to a range of Asian countries including Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea.

Throughout Vitor’s 50-year history, innovation and a commitment to quality have remained cornerstones of the brand.

“Our competitive advantages in scale of supply, packing operation, genetics, global network of customers and markets with leading B2B brands have helped us to achieve exceptional export results, particularly in the Asian markets,” Elliot said.

“We are continually looking at new varieties, to ensure we meet the need for current and future demand, and we are continuing to invest to drive higher levels of agronomic performance and optimisation in yield and quality.

“As we celebrate the past 50 years, we are also looking to the future and cementing our position as the leading individual citrus grower, packer and exporter in Australia.”

In a world first, Costa is working with Israeli company Arugga AI Farming to deploy robotic pollination for truss tomato plants at its tomato glasshouse operation in Guyra, NSW.

Pollination in glasshouses around the world is generally done using bumblebees, however their use is banned in Australia. That means the pollination process is done by hand.

In this commercial deployment, robotic pollinators drive along the rows, find flowers that are ready for pollination using artificial intelligence and send air pulses to vibrate the flowers in a specific manner which imitates buzz pollination as performed by bumblebees.

Take a look at the robots in action in the video below.

As Australia’s leading producer of fresh fruit and vegetables and with international operations in China and Morocco, ensuring human rights are not only protected but also taking action to prevent modern slavery is fundamental to our business.

Our second Modern Slavery Statement, covering the financial year ending on 26 December 2021, outlines both the activity and progress we have made to mitigate, address and where possible improve our approach to human rights and modern slavery risks within our operation and across our supply chain.

While the global pandemic continued to disrupt and present new challenges in 2021, we remained committed to developing and enhancing the processes, policies, and actions we have in place to protect human rights. In our Australian partner grower base, for example, 98% were registered on Sedex in 2021 during their supply season.

Our key actions this year have included increased emphasis on identification of high-risk suppliers and remediation where issues arise, both within our own operations and in our supply chain.

We are focused on developing systems to measure our effectiveness and have dedicated new resources, such as a Group People Assurance Manager, to assist in this process. We have also put in place a multi-disciplinary working group to oversee our Modern Slavery response, which has made steady progress in education and training across the business.

We look forward to building on the actions outlined in this statement.

Costa Berries Tasmania in partnership with Driscoll’s Australia is undertaking a commercial trial of a new super sweet strawberry variety, Driscoll’s Zara.

Costa Berries Tasmania Regional Manager Cameron Folder said: “The Zara variety of strawberry has been in production at our East Devonport strawberry farm as an on-farm commercial trial since the start of our berry season.”

Marketed as “Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch”, the strawberry is a premium variety that delivers a sweeter and stronger flavour.

It was first commercialised in the United Kingdom in 2017 and has won several international awards due to its taste and quality.

Internationally, Driscoll’s Zara is sold as a premium variety in Europe, the Middle East, Canada and China.

Zara consistently scores better in quality tests for its appearance, taste, and texture.

Costa currently has close to one hectare of land under production of the Driscoll’s Zara variety with discussions under way to expand production on Costa’s strawberry farms and other Driscoll’s growers’ farms in North and North West Tasmania.

As a commercial trial, limited quantities of “Sweetest Batch” strawberries can be purchased from Woolworths supermarkets in larger urban centres in Hobart and Launceston. They are also sold interstate through a small number of Coles and Woolworths stores in Victoria.

The trial also extends to a select number of Sydney market agents for the independent sector.

“Production of the Zara strawberry represents an exciting opportunity for Tasmania’s berry industry,” Mr Folder said.

As a premium variety, there is potential to add value to the state’s berry crop and continue the industry’s growth as a significant contributor to Tasmania’s export income.

A report produced by Deloitte Access Economics, ‘The economic contribution of the Tasmanian fresh produce sector’ in December 2020, estimated the Tasmanian berry industry as worth around $200 million per annum; greater than the apple and cherry industry combined.

Costa is the largest producer of berries in Tasmania. At peak harvest this season, Costa employed over 560 locals injecting more than $1 million in wages on a weekly basis into the local economy.

The business also invests over $44 million in local goods and services each year, indirectly supporting hundreds of other local jobs.

Costa has been made aware of fraudulent scam letters being sent to people which purport to offer the person in receipt of the letter an unsolicited job with Costa. The letters may also seek a payment from the recipient in exchange for the person being offered the job.

Please be aware that Costa does not make unsolicited job offers and nor do we seek payment from anyone we offer employment to.

If you receive such a letter, please ignore it as it is a fraud and a scam.

With a large contingent of Tongan employees, Costa has rallied to provide funds and goods to support the relief effort in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the island nation in January.

The Costa business committed $25,000 to the relief effort and, in collaboration with Coles, has coordinated a shipping container filled with food, water, household and personal care supplies.

During a recent Costa Care Forum, two of our Tongan employees, Albert Chan and Tamefuna Vi, provided a first-hand account of the impact on our Tongan workforce and their families and the type of assistance most needed in their home country.  This inspired many of our team to take action, resulting in the shipment.

The container will begin its 30-day voyage to Tonga on Saturday. On arrival the goods will be distributed to Costa employees’ families across Tonga.

“We have more than 300 Tongan employees, many of whom have been with Costa for more than two years and who are all well and truly part of our Costa family,” Costa CEO and Managing Director Sean Hallahan said.

“Through our Costa Care Forum, we liaised closely with our employees on how we could best support their families.  We are also very appreciative of the support from Coles in getting this shipment together.”

In addition, Costa staff raised $4270 to go towards the relief effort. The majority of this funding has gone to the Red Cross Tonga Earthquake Eruption and Tsunami Response.

In response, the Red Cross thanked Costa staff for their support.

“The funds you raised have enabled Australian Red Cross to send water containers, mosquito nets, solar lanterns, tarps and shelter kits to bolster relief supplies already in the country.

“We are also providing our local partner Tonga Red Cross with technical support as well as support for their operating costs.

“With your support, we have raised the funds needed to support Tonga Red Cross to continue meeting the immediate needs of communities affected by the disaster. Thank you for the life-changing difference you have made,” Ashlea Watkins, Community Fundraising Manager, Australian Red Cross.

Costa’s $80 million expansion of its tomato glasshouse operation at Guyra was formally opened today (December 3) by The Honourable Adam Marshall, Member for Northern Tablelands and Minister for Agriculture and Western New South Wales.

The expansion includes two new five-hectare glasshouses and a 2.5-hectare propagation nursery at the New England Highway site, just north of the town of Guyra. It brings the total Costa glasshouse footprint to more than 40 hectares in the Guyra region.

The first of the new glasshouses is now in full production, and the second will come online in the new year.  It will bring the total production across the 40 hectares to more than 18 million kilos of tomatoes per annum.

Costa employs more than 650 workers across the two glasshouse sites, spending approximately $31 million annually on wages and salaries. Once both new glasshouses are fully operational an additional 160 jobs will be created.

Jose Cambon, Costa’s Vertical Farming General Manager, said the New England Highway site was fully water self-sufficient. It includes an innovative microturbine power generation system, one of the first of its kind in the world to be used in a glasshouse environment, which will result in significantly reduced C0₂ emissions.

“Our people have showed outstanding character and skill in planning, designing and building this facility, which also includes a state-of-the-art nursery to develop and propagate new varieties and will create 160 new jobs for the local region,” Mr Cambon said.

“At times it was not an easy process, with the project having been paused due to the drought and then once recommenced having to navigate through the significant challenges of COIVD.  To this end, everyone can feel rightly proud of the role they’ve played in the completion of the project and the operation of the site.

“I also want to recognise the contribution of the many local businesses who worked on the construction of the glasshouse. Their involvement was crucial to the project’s successful completion.”

Mr Cambon said Costa was proud of its connection with the Guyra and surrounding community and the opportunities this project provided, ensuring people could pursue jobs and careers while remaining in the local area.

Costa Berries Tasmania today (November 17) launched its local recruitment campaign for the 2021/22 harvest season.

Costa Berries Tasmania General Manager Cameron Folder was joined by Guy Barnett, Minister for Primary Industries and Water, at the East Devonport Strawberry Farm.

Mr Folder said the aim of the campaign was to build upon the success of last summer’s season.

“Last season we employed almost 500 locals in a variety of roles from picking, crop maintenance, pack shed work and truck driving,” Mr Folder said.

“An important part of last season’s recruitment was the support the horticulture industry received from the Tasmanian and Australian Governments.”

Costa welcomes the continuation of these initiatives for the upcoming season including the Tasmanian Government’s Tassie Harvest Jobs – Take Your Pick local worker campaign and the Australian Government’s AgMove program that supports potential workers to relocate to regional areas for the harvest season.

Costa’s local recruitment campaign is multi layered including a range of digital, print and radio advertising, recruitment days across North and North West Tasmania, school and university information days.

Costa is also working closely with local employment agencies and providing support to people who need assistance with the application process.

The first application assistance session will be held at our East Devonport Distribution Centre to help people through the application process. Costa has also started planning off-site North West Coast recruitment days, with the first to be held in Devonport on December 9.

Mr Folder said it was pleasing that many of the locals who started work with Costa last season, have continued over the winter months in maintenance roles, preparing the crop for this season’s harvest.

Costa will also be increasing the number of Pacific Island Seasonal Workers it employs directly, rather than through labour providers, to complement the local workforce.

With the loss of backpackers across Australia there is an increased need to find alternative labour.

“Next week Costa will be transferring 136 seasonal workers from our citrus operations in South Australia to work on local farms. The workers will be accommodated in Devonport and just as the local community embraced the seasonal workers last season, I am sure the people of Devonport will give them a warm welcome,” Mr Folder said.