Category: Uncategorised

Overnight in Shanghai, China (17 May 2018), Costa Group was announced as the winner of the Business Excellence Award for Agriculture, Food & Beverageat the prestigious 25th Annual AustCham Westpac Australia-China Business Awards.

Mr Peter McPherson, Costa Group General Manager International accepted the award on behalf of Costa and told the assembled audience of local and international dignitaries that it was a great honour to be recognised in this way with such a prestigious award.

“The footprint that Costa has established in China working together with Driscoll’s has taken a lot of hard work and most importantly this has involved a commitment to work cooperatively and harmoniously with local stakeholders, including government officials, our employees and local villagers”, said Mr McPherson.

The award recognises the agronomic practices that Costa has brought to China, including its world leading blueberry IP and substrate growing methods which has been a real game changer for the way in which not only berries are grown in China, but agriculture is conducted in general.

“Importantly the award is also recognition of how Costa has worked with all local stakeholders in helping to realise their commitment to agricultural policies and practices that improve economic development by creating jobs in agriculture, have a positive environmental impact and benefit the greater social good”, said Mr McPherson.

Mr McPherson made special mention of the great work of Costa’s local employees in working to establish three farms in Yunnan Province (to date), and their willingness to learn and apply new skills. 

Costa’s investment in China is one of the largest made by a foreign-owned company in Chinese agriculture in recent years.  Key factors underpinning the investment include:

• 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
• Strong and harmonious working relationships with local authorities
• Implementation of safe and healthy work practices.

MORE than 100 new full-time equivalent jobs are on track to be created by September this year, following the opening of the $7.1 million expansion of the Costa Distribution Centre in East Devonport.

The expanded and upgraded Distribution Centre (DC), which started operations late last year in time for the summer berry harvest, was formally opened by the Member for Braddon and Minister for Planning, Mr Roger Jaensch and Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff on May 16.

In 2016 Costa received $1.4 million funding from the Tasmania Jobs and Investment Fund (administered by the Federal Department of Industry, Innovation and Science) to construct a further modified atmosphere facility and undertake a significant expansion and upgrade of the East Devonport Distribution Centre.

The building includes refrigerated loading docks, four ambient temperature unloading docks, packing room, cooling room and new administration and amenities facilities.

David Jordan, General Manager of the Costa Berry Category, said the facility now had double the capacity to store berries in modified atmosphere storage meaning Costa could also invest in the further expansion of its Tasmanian production footprint.

“This is a state-of-the-art facility, which will enhance our capacity to expand our berry operations and in turn create more employment opportunities in the North-West,” Mr Jordan said.

“The facility has enabled the season to be extended and for the product to be sold into the market at a time when there has traditionally been no, or very low supply. It also fills the market at a time when there have traditionally been only imports from New Zealand.

“We have moved 8,000 tonnes of fruit through the DC this year, and are expecting this to grow by more than 20 per cent next season.  We have also significantly increased our dispatch capability, with 477 pallets, equating to 12 semi-trailers, loaded in a single shift.”

Cooling times for fruit have also been cut by half, ensuring the longest possible shelf life for Tasmanian fruit. 

Costa Berries has around 170 hectares of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries on the North-West coast.  At the peak of the harvest season, Costa employs a workforce of around 2000 people.

The DC also provides increased capacity for berries from third party growers across the North-West.

Mr Jordan said since the announcement of the funding in June 2016, a total of 90 new additional full-time equivalent jobs had been created, and this was on track to increase by the end of September this year.

“Tasmania is a key berry growing region, and the only location where we grow the four main berry types – blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries,” he said.

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. 

“Every year, 3.6 million Australians will experience food insecurity. But, over the same period, we’ll also waste more than 360kg of food for every man, woman and child in the nation.

This doesn’t make any sense.  FareShare is tackling the tragedy head on by rescuing surplus, quality food from supermarkets, farmers and other businesses and cooking it into nutritious meals.

FareShare operates Australia’s largest charity kitchen from Melbourne and with the help of 850 regular volunteers, FareShare cooks 5,000 free meals a day for charities such as soup vans, homeless shelters, women’s refuges and community food banks.

FareShare’s new production kitchen, capable of cooking 5 million meals a year, will open in Brisbane in 2018 as part of an exciting new collaboration with Foodbank”

Costa is proudly supporting FareShare’s mission trialing nutrient rich mushroom stems to meals where possible into some of the 5,000 free meals prepared each day.  Jose Cambon, State Manager Vic. & Tas. of Costa Mushrooms joined Marcus Godhino Chief Executive Officer of FareShare in the kitchen to trial the first batch of stems from Costa Mushrooms in meals prepared on the day.

“The chefs – and volunteers – have been thrilled to add mushrooms to everything we have been cooking this week.  They have really given the quiches an extra lift”. 

Costa is proud to support FareShares commitment to feeding nutritious hearty meals to those in need.

On Tuesday 27^th February, Costa Mushrooms held an employee engagement day to celebrate the cultural diversity of the Mernda team.  Miguel Maestre, energetic Celebrity Chef & Australian Mushroom Ambassador entertained staff demonstrating how to create his famous Mushroom “Alla Maestre” Paella dish with help from volunteers from the crowd. 

In keeping with the Spanish theme, we had Simply Spanish, award winning local Paella company on-site serving delicious vegetarian and seafood paella in their impressive 2 metre Paella Pan. Delicious churros with fresh strawberries and luscious dipping chocolate were “a treat” also enjoyed by all!

In addition, multiple prize raffles with hampers and personally autographed Miguel’s Tapas cookbooks were won by employees on the day.  Costa produce bags containing fresh Costa Produce were given to all employees on the day.

This event was a fantastic opportunity to engage almost 500 employees who grow, harvest, pack and distribute Fresh Costa Mushrooms 365 days a year. It was a novel way to reward and celebrate our people.   Miguel’s personal stories explained his love for food and cooking.  He showed empathy with his audience when he spoke of arriving in Australia 17 years ago with no money and little English.  Considering our culturally diverse work force , Miguel was able to reach everyone with his energy and positivity.  It was great to hear him speak about the importance of getting fresh ingredients into people’s meals and how easy it is to achieve! 

This year, Nagambie on Water celebrated its 11th annual community festival with Costa a proud supporter for its 10th consecutive year.   Costa operates  & supports regional communities  in which it operates and Nagambie is one of them.  The Nagambie farm plays a vital role in the making of compost for Costa’s mushroom growing operations located in Mernda & Yarrambat growing over 250T of mushrooms per week.

The NOW Festival provides a fun and entertaining weekend offering 3 days of jam packed activities for the locals and festival attendees.  In amongst the events is the “Provincial Plate” fundraiser dinner held each year to raise much needed funds for the local Nagambie hospital.  This year in excess of $2,000 was raised to support the extension project.

Each year,  the NOW festival is organised by a committed team of volunteers who contribute a tremendous amount of hours and effort to ensure its success.  This year is no exception to their efforts with yet another successful event achieved.

Among the many events and attractions running throughout the festival, the Costa Community Canoe Challenge is one not to be missed.  The canoe challenge offers a unique opportunity for festivalgoers to meetand greet, or even compete with, some of our fantastic emergency services personnel.

This year, the Costa Community Canoe Challenge took place on Saturday March 3rdwith a team of 8 Costa employees  volunteering to participate in the challenge and this year securing second place.  

Growing up in Ulverstone and working during school holidays on his uncle’s crop and livestock farm, Dylan Bellchambers has agriculture in his blood.

Dylan is the 2018 recipient of the Costa North-West Scholarship in Agricultural Science, worth $10,000 a year for four years for a student studying agricultural science at the University of Tasmania.

Dylan, who will start a Bachelor of Applied Science (Agriculture and Business) in Hobart in the coming week, said it was fantastic to receive the scholarship.

“It’s not something I was expecting. I am the first in my family to go to university and they are very proud, but before the scholarship my Mum was particularly worried about how I was going to pay for the upfront costs at University. The scholarship will make a real difference,” Dylan said.

“I have worked on my uncle’s farm since I was about eight-years-old and I love the outdoors. I also have particular interests in berry and vineyard operations as I haven’t had direct experience in those areas.”

 Dylan, who went to Ulverstone High School and Don College, said he was keen to raise the profile of agriculture, particularly in secondary and pre-tertiary education.

“Agriculture is growing in Tasmania and I think there could be more of a focus on science-based agricultural subjects, particularly in years 11 and 12,” he said.

In addition to the Costa North-West Scholarship in Agricultural Science, Costa also supports an Honours Scholarship in Agricultural Science, valued at $10,000 for one year.

The 2018 recipient, Sally Stone-Schack, from Sandy Bay, said she had a passion for working with animals and on the land.

She has completed three years of her Bachelor of Agriculture Science at the University of Tasmania and will complete her Honours year, with a research project focusing on bee behaviour.

“I grew up in a dairy region, on a hobby farm with a few sheep, protea patch and some mountain pepper, in South Gippsland in Victoria which is quite rural. Studying at the University of Tasmania really appealed to me because of the lifestyle,” Sally said.

“I like how we can use our environment to work with agriculture.  I found the entomology units quite fascinating and the role of pollination. I was curious to learn more about it.”

Her research project is specifically looking at the impacts of Thymol treatment on the foraging behaviour of bees.  Thymol is a treatment for varroa mites (Varroa destructor), which are a significant threat to bees around the world.  While Australia is one of the few countries in the world to remain free of varroa mite, it is estimated that the healthy bee population be could be reduced by 90-100 per cent if it became established.

“We need to find out if we have to use this treatment, that it doesn’t harm the bees’ behaviour.  I am sure the future findings will be applicable in the berry industry,” Sally said.

Stephen Beckwith, regional manager for Costa’s Tasmania berry farms, congratulated Dylan and Sally on their scholarships.

“We are thrilled to provide this support for ongoing education in the agricultural field, which is such an important and growing industry for Tasmania. We wish them every success in their studies,” Mr Beckwith said.

Rebecca Cuthill, from the University of Tasmania Advancement Office, welcomed the support from Costa.

“The University of Tasmania is incredibly thankful for the continuing Scholarship support provided by Costa, support that will positively shape and change the lives of both Dylan and Sally,” Ms Cuthill said.

Costa has thrown its support behind Produce to the People with $10,000 of funding to support the ongoing operation of the organisation.

Costa, one of the North-West region’s largest employers, has been donating berries and mushrooms to Produce to the People since 2016 and believes Produce to the People makes an outstanding contribution to the community.

Stephen Beckwith, regional manager for Costa’s Tasmania berry farms, said Costa was pleased to provide the support to ensure the ongoing development of this very worthwhile organisation.

“Costa looks forward to working together with Produce to the People into the future so they can realise their mission to create a healthy and sustainable food system in which people in the community who are in need have access to fresh and healthy produce,” Mr Beckwith said.

Produce to the People is a social enterprise that grows, gathers and gives fresh produce to those in need. In the last financial year, the organisation gave more than 80,000 kilos of produce to the North-West community.

Produce to the People President Cat Gale-Stanton said the organisation was thrilled by Costa’s support.

“Following the announcement of Produce to the People as Tasmanian Community Group of the Year last year, this funding comes at a great time for our organisation and will ensure we can continue to provide our vital service to the community,” Ms Gale-Stanton said.

“On behalf of the board, volunteers and the community I would like to sincerely thank Costa, not only for this funding, but their ongoing support.”

Produce to the People operates a diversified, four-season farm as well as an education centre that hosts thousands of visitors each year and welcomes donations through Give Now at www.givenow.com.au/producetothepeople

Please note that Costa’s Pty Ltd (and its related entities) do not engage the services of employment agents that require direct payments from job seekers.
Should you be offered a role at Costa by such an agent seeking payment, please note that this is not a legitimate or valid offer of employment.

Produce to the People, a social enterprise that provides fresh produce to thousands of people in need across North-West Tasmania has been named the Tasmanian Community Group of the Year.

Produce to the People received the Ricoh Business Centre Hobart Community Group of the Year Award at a gala event in Hobart.

Produce to the People was established in 2009 as a social profit food relief organisation.  Set on two acres within Burnie High School, twelve volunteers operate a four-season farm, education centre and emergency food relief hub. In 2016 they partnered with food organisations and retail companies and donated 41,000 kilos of fresh produce to 17,000 people from low-income households experiencing food insecurity.

Costa Berry Category General Manager David Jordan congratulated the organisation for its achievement.

“We are a proud supporter of Produce to the People, which provides an invaluable service to the community of North-West Tasmania,” Mr Jordan said.

“This award is a testament to the dedication and commitment of all the volunteers who ensure many thousands of people in need have access to fresh produce.”