By JONATHON HOWARD
Use dincus – Our water our future (New headings – SFT – June folder)
CAPTION: Coles General Manager for Queensland, Mark Scates, with AUSVEG Women in Horticulture winner Belinda Adams.
STANTHORPE producer and long-term Coles supplier, Belinda Adams, has been recognised for her significant contribution to the horticulture industry, recently receiving the AUSVEG Women in Horticulture Award.
Belinda from Gold Coast-based Coastal Hydroponics received the award in front of more than 1000 of her industry peers at the 2013 AUSVEG National Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner at Jupiters Gold Coast.
Family-owned and operated business, Coastal Hydroponics, started supplying direct to Coles Nerang 32 years ago and has since grown to deliver lettuce, herbs and salad mix 24 hours a day to 174 Coles stores across Queensland.
Coles General Manager for Queensland, Mark Scates, congratulated Ms Adams on receiving the prestigious award.
“This award recognises Belinda’s massive contribution to the business and the industry, and we’re delighted to work with Belinda and her family to supply their lettuce, herbs and salad mix to our stores across Queensland,” he said.
“Belinda and her family are particularly innovative producers – thanks to Belinda’s mother Lynn trialling a salad in her kitchen sink more than 20 years ago, Coastal Hydroponics was one of the first companies to ever supply salad mix to Coles.”
Started by Belinda’s parents, Barry and Lynn Moss, when they moved to the Gold Coast in 1981, Coastal Hydroponics now calls on multiple family members and 20 employees to run their business.
The company bought additional land in Stanthorpe eight years ago to allow them to extend their growing seasons, and over the past five years also expanded its facilities to process their produce faster and more efficiently.
The Women in Horticulture Award recognises Belinda’s significant contribution to the Australian vegetable industry through her business, and her role on the vegetable Consumer Alignment Design Team and the industry’s EnviroVeg Committee.
Coles works with nearly 400 farmers and food manufacturers in Queensland, providing local businesses with opportunities to grow through longer-term contracts that provide certainty to invest, expand and generate new products.
AUSVEG is the leading horticulture body representing the interests of 9,000 Australian vegetable and potato growers.
