QUEENSLAND horticultural business Mulgowie Farms has won the top sustainability accolade at the Woolworths Annual Supplier Awards.
The operation specialises in the growing, packing, marketing and distribution of fresh vegetables for domestic and export markets.
In an extra nod to the company, Mulgowie was also awarded Woolworths' Fruit and Veg Supplier of the Year.
Hailing from Queensland's Lockyer Valley, family-owned Mulgowie has partnered with Woolworths for almost 40 years, supplying sweet corn and green beans.
A representative for Woolworths said the farming company has shown a high level of commitment to customers and collaborative approach to managing through both short and long-term challenges.
"Their focus and drive towards highly sustainable farming practices complements their customer first view. Congratulations to Mulgowie," the spokesperson said.
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The awards ceremony, held in Sydney in early December, saw Mulgowie Farming Company announced as the Sustainable Supplier of the Year from a strong field of finalists and a diverse range of industries.
The Sustainable Supplier award was open to all Woolworths' suppliers across every category from fresh produce, meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, health and beauty, pantry, frozen and more.
Mulgowie chief executive officer Melanie Chambers said to be recognised ahead of thousands of Australian and multinational companies was a phenomenal achievement the company was very proud of.
"This is a massive win for our whole team and recognition of the great efforts the Mulgowie team go to while sustainably delivering consistent supply of quality, fresh and nutritious vegetables," she said.
Woolworths were particularly impressed with Mulgowie's environmental initiatives and success in:
- Being the first vegetable farmer in Australia to generate carbon credits to GHG ISO 14064 standard. Mulgowie capture 213kg of greenhouse gasses for every ton of vegetables that it produces. Mulgowie delivers carbon sequestration by controlled traffic farming, cover cropping and minimum tillage and are certifiably "net carbon negative" at the farm gate.
- Removing 50t of plastic in 2019 and 2020 from its supply chain by converting Woolworths Beanettes from trays to a bagged product and by adopting a shallower tray for sweet corn, with plans to remove 35 million tonnes of plastic out of circulation and eliminating 5.5 million paper labels in 2022, with more to come.
- Adopting "no till" farming practices as a pillar of soil health strategy, where it prevents soil from being compacted and growing cover crops to keep the soil alive year-round with living roots, boosting soil and vegetable nutrition while reducing fuel use.
It has been a stellar end of 2021 for the Mulgowie farmers, who two weeks ago found out that they had been successful in winning a Federal Government Modern Manufacturing Initiative grant, which aims to create jobs while also increasing production of world-class products.
More than 250 companies applied for a grant but only seven companies were successful in obtaining a piece of the $33 million grant funding on offer.
Under the grant, Mulgowie won $5.1 million to invest in their business which the company will use to improve processing capability and capacity which will result in greater supply of Mulgowie Farming's sustainably grown fresh nutritious vegetables for Australians and international consumers to enjoy.
Mulgowrie started as a small family farming venture more than 75 years ago in the Lockyer Valley and has grown far and wide, with more than 5000 hectares under production across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
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Helen Walker
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
