To help drive sustainability and innovation, Coles will award grants of up to $500,000 to eight small and medium-sized businesses from across Australia.
The grants are part of the retailer’s Coles Nurture Fund which has awarded more than $33 million to homegrown businesses since its inception in 2015.
Coles group executive GM of fresh, Andy Mossop, said the latest round of recipients were chosen for “their uniqueness and ability to achieve high impact sustainability goals to reduce emissions, enhance animal welfare, and reduce waste”.
“From carbon-neutral bananas to freezing technology that promises to reduce food waste, this year’s recipients are proof Australian farmers are leading the charge when it comes to innovation and sustainability.”
The fund’s judging panellist, Curtis Stone, said this year’s recipients “displayed an impressive focus on protecting the planet and driving change”.
Queensland’s Bartle Frere Bananas will receive $445,000 to invest in new technologies that calculate real-time greenhouse gas emissions on their family-owned farm.
Indigenous-owned family business, Walaja Raw Bush Honey, will use its share of $330,000 from the grant to create a medicinal-grade premium Melaleuca honey that is sustainably made in Yawuru Country in WA’s West Kimberley region.
Tasmania’s Esperance Bay Orchards will receive $440,000 which will be used to invest in Near Infrared technology that detects the inner quality of organic fruits and limits food wastage.
Other recipients are:
- Food rescue charity SecondBite: $500,000 grant to purchase critical equipment for its five warehouses across Australia.
- South Australia’s Edson Piggery: $475,000 grant to build a new freedom farrowing system for the sow and piglets.
- Western Australia’s McCormack Farms: $500,000 grant to construct a fully covered cattle feeding facility that will create an in-house composting system to reduce nitrogen, methane, and carbon emission.
- Victoria’s Bespoke Foods: $450,000 grant to install manufacturing and freezing equipment to enhance efficiency.
- Queensland’s Atlas Soils: $490,000 grant to help fund a new system for packaged food waste separation.