AUSTRALIA | More than AUD 3.5 million in grants has been awarded to eight small and medium-sized businesses across Australia through the latest round of the Coles Nurture Fund, helping bring a new wave of innovative food and farming initiatives to life.
Recipients from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania will use the funding to explore projects from native giant freshwater prawn aquaculture and Australian-grown kiwi berries to AI-powered zucchini grading and driverless tractor technology.
Coles Group Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer Anna Croft said the Round 14 recipients reflected the ingenuity, ambition and practical problem-solving of local producers.
“These projects show the breadth of innovation happening across Australia, from AI zucchini grading technology and Indigenous-led aquaculture to turning imperfect ginger and turmeric into Australian-grown pantry products and taking mobile dehydration technology directly to farms,” said Croft.
“Each recipient is tackling a real challenge in their business or industry, whether that’s reducing waste, improving efficiency, creating new opportunities for regional communities or developing more sustainable ways to produce food.”
Far North Queensland not-for-profit Hope Vale Foundation was awarded a AUD 500,000 Coles Nurture Fund grant to scale up a native giant freshwater prawn project, create new jobs and help bring an Australian-grown native protein, long valued by the Hope Vale Aboriginal community, to more Australians.
Drawing on the Bell family’s experience helping grow Australia’s blueberry market, second-generation Northern Rivers business Tallogum Berries was awarded a AUD 495,000 Coles Nurture Fund grant to help turn kiwi berries from a little-known novelty fruit into a more reliable, commercially viable berry crop.
Additional Coles Nurture Fund recipients awarded grants in Round 14 included Zest Element (Sunshine Coast, Queensland), Mount Sylvia Fresh (Mount Sylvia, Queensland), Pirrone Brothers (Ayr, Queensland), Wintergreen Farm (Somerton, New South Wales), Cummaudo Farms (Mirboo North, Victoria) and EcoHarvest (Liffey Valley, Tasmania).
Australian small and medium-sized businesses have been encouraged to apply for the 15th round of the Coles Nurture Fund when applications open in January 2027.
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