WA farm lobby hatch own eggs to crack new markets

The State’s peak farm lobby group WAFarmers has launched its second branded agricultural product — free range eggs.

The WAFarmersFirst eggs have been on the shelves of some country IGA stores for the past week and will be rolled out to more rural and metropolitan IGA stores in coming months.

Officially unveiled at last night’s WAFarmers annual conference Grow2017, the new egg brand follows the successful 2014 launch of WAFarmersFirst milk, sold through Coles and IGA. WAFarmers is working with the Commercial Egg Producers Association, whose members are WA egg farmers.

Golden Egg Farms is responsible for packaging.

WAFarmers president Tony York said consumers were supporting farmers when they bought WAFarmersFirst eggs.

A royalty of 40¢ a dozen is paid to CEPA and WAFarmers to benefit the industry.

“The WAFarmersFirst brand also means that consumers can be confident what they are buying is 100 per cent produced and packaged in WA,” Mr York said. Further WAFarmersFirst products were in the pipeline.

Agriculture Minister Mark Lewis told conference delegates the State Government’s Agrifood 2025+ target set in 2013 to double the value of the State’s agriculture (to about $13 billion at the farmgate) was within grasp, and a more ambitious $20 billion target was feasible.

“The Government has made the right investments to help the State grow,” he said.

“We have demand at our footstep and world’s best farmers, but to get to $20 billion, we need the right roadmap.”

Among examples Mr Lewis cited of government-supported initiatives expected to boost productivity were the opening up of a further 70,000ha of land with water throughout WA, potentially increasing to 100,000ha, and better technology such as telecoms and Doppler radar.

However, building sheep and cattle numbers from critically low levels would be essential.

There was a big opportunity to value-add to the State’s agricultural produce, where initiatives such as processing the spring surplus of milk into cheese and processing low grade avocados were being investigated.