In a ground-breaking first, Tasmanian berry producer, Westerway Raspberry Farm is teaming up with Coles to put Tasmanian-grown berries in supermarket freezers around the nation.
This is a massive vote of confidence in Tasmania’s agricultural sector, which will create jobs and boost sales.
Westerway, with the support of Coles, will install the only berry freezer tunnel in use in Australia. As a result, Australians will now be able to choose fresh frozen Tasmanian raspberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, blueberries and mixed berries, rather than imported frozen berries.
Tasmanian growers already produce all of the vegetables used in Coles’ frozen vegetable line and it’s fantastic to see that Tasmania will once again be feeding the nation, this time with frozen berries.
This announcement will see Westerway increase its plantings, open up new markets for Tasmanian produce and critically, employ an extra five people full time, with hopefully more jobs to come as the company looks to new markets for its premium products.
Coles’ connection to Tasmania goes back over 100 years. The Coles family owned and operated a general store in Wilmot in early 20th century and now Coles supermarkets employ more than 1,800 people across 31 sites in the State.
We welcome their continued commitment to Tasmania, premium Tasmanian produce and Tasmanian jobs.
The Government is working hard to achieve our goal of growing the value of the agricultural sector to $10 billion a year by 2050 and it is innovators like Westerway that will help us reach that ambitious target.