Farming that is better together

Coles supermarkets supports Australian businesses to innovate and grow through the $50 million Coles Nurture Fund.

The Nurture Fund was established in April 2015 and supports small-to-medium businesses in the food and grocery sector with the development of new market-leading products, technologies and processes.

Innovation is one of the primary drivers of competitiveness. Coles recognises that smart, energetic and agile small businesses can be a launch-pad for great product innovation, with Australian customers reaping the benefits of new and exciting ventures in the food industry.

From Australia’s first quinoa processing facility, to chickpea tofu, to home grown garlic and to Australian first prawn farming technology, the Coles Nurture Fund is helping Australian producers bring their big ideas to life.

More information on the Nurture Fund, including application forms  can be found here.

Established in 2014, the Coles Farm Program applies to suppliers of Own Brand cage-free eggs, Graze beef and Graze lamb. Under the program, farmers are required to meet strict requirements in animal husbandry and environmental management.

The program is a combination of self-assessments and industry body/ privately organised audits. All suppliers complete a self-assessment when joining the program which is reviewed by the Coles Responsible Sourcing team to confirm adherence to the program requirements. In addition to this, Graze suppliers complete a declaration form for each lot of animals sold in conjunction with the National Vendor Declaration protocol.

A key component of the Coles Farm Program is the Supplier Days where participants are invited to attend Coles-facilitated learning days where subject matter experts are invited to present on topics such as animal welfare, environments and production. For example, in 2020 we held a Graze Beef supplier webinar where we demonstrated the increasing adoption of pain relief across our Graze supplier pool, the animal welfare science associated with pain relief and the drug options available in Australia.

We work with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Approved Farming Scheme to offer customers a range of humanely farmed Coles supermarket Own Brand products including indoor raised, free-range and slow grown chicken, turkey and free-range pork. We are also proud to say that we currently have the broadest range of RSPCA Approved products of any major Australian supermarket retailer.

The RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme establishes higher welfare standards (beyond legislative requirements) and commercially achievable production standards for hens, pigs, meat chickens, turkeys, salmon and dairy veal. All farms participating in the Scheme are assessed at a minimum of twice per year, by RSPCA Assessors.

Animals farmed to RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme Standards are housed in an environment that meets their physical and behavioural needs. For example, our free-range RSPCA Approved pork is sourced from RSPCA Approved farms where pigs are provided with shelter and bedding, as well as having permanent access to outdoor areas where they can roam and forage.

RSPCA Assessors also perform annual abattoir assessments to ensure the processing of meat chickens, turkeys, pigs and salmon meets the RSPCA’s detailed animal welfare standards.

Video Transcript

Working with the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme, we offer a range of humanely farmed chicken, raised on farms that must meet robust animal welfare standards and provide an enriched environment for meat chickens to grow. We were the first major Australian supermarket to launch a supermarket Own Brand range of RSPCA Approved fresh chicken in 2014. Our indoor RSPCA Approved chickens are provided with perches for perching and good quality litter for dust bathing, as well as lower stocking densities compared with conventional systems, so the birds have more room to move. Birds are encouraged to be more active through improved lighting , but also required periods of darkness for rest. At least one pecking object is provided as environmental enrichment for every 1,000 birds.

In September 2018, we launched Coles supermarket Own Brand free range RSPCA Approved chicken in Victoria and New South Wales. In 2019 we then went on to expand the range into all other states.

All Coles free range RSPCA Approved chickens have access to enriched environments where they are able to forage and explore the outdoors for a minimum of eight hours a day. They are provided with a barn for shelter and protection at night and are given the freedom to express their natural, innate behaviours with adequate space to move, perch and dust bathe.

In September 2019, we went on to launch a new poultry offer into Australian supermarkets for the first time called ‘Slow Hills’. This breed of bird is ‘slower growing’ compared with conventional breeds which means it develops muscle at a slower rate. This breed has an average daily weight gain of 55g or less, averaged over the growth cycle according to its breed specification.  This represents 2% of all supermarket Own Brand chicken products (fresh and frozen).

Like all Coles supermarket Own Brand chickens, the Slow Hills birds are farmed to the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme Standards. They are also raised as free range and without the use of antibiotics.

We were the first national Australian supermarket to launch RSPCA Approved turkey in 2014, with all of our supermarket Own Brand fresh turkey range (only available for the Christmas period) being sourced from RSPCA Approved farms.

Turkeys on Coles’ RSPCA Approved farms have lower stocking densities compared with conventional systems, and better lighting systems to encourage activity and allow proper rest. Birds also have quality litter covering the floor to scratch and dust bathe, which helps clean and maintain their feathers, and perches and toys to keep them active and entertained. De-snooding, de-winging and toe trimming is not permitted under the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme.

Our supermarket Own Brand free range turkeys are raised on RSPCA Approved farms in the Hunter Valley and Central Coast regions in New South Wales. In addition to the above indoor provisions, these turkeys also have access from a suitable age to the outdoors to explore and forage during the day (weather permitting).

All of our Coles supermarket Own Brand shell (packaged) eggs have been cage-free since 2013. All Coles supermarkets’ Own Brand shell egg farms are certified to Egg Standards Australia (ESA) Level 3 requirements which is audited by independent bodies. This means that hens in our shell egg farms are free to display their natural behaviours by having access to nest boxes for nesting, perches for perching and litter for dust bathing. In addition, our supermarket Own Brand free range hens are required to have easy access to an outdoor range during the day, shade from the sun and space to roam.

In 2018, we set ourselves a target to be cage-free by 2023 for all shell-eggs sold in our supermarkets including proprietary branded eggs and eggs as ingredients in Own Brand products. Since making this commitment, the egg industry has faced many challenges including access to capital investment as well as the impacts of drought and bushfires both which have limited the growth of cage-free egg production. The retail industry has set 2025 cage-free targets and we will now align with its dates and plans.

In 2014 Coles launched Sow-stall free pork which was a first for a major Australian supermarket.

This means that all Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh pork, ham and bacon is sourced from farms that may only confine a sow to a mating station for insemination purposes for a maximum of 24 hours.

This major animal welfare initiative means that approximately ninety thousand sows nationally are no longer kept in small, single-pig stalls for long periods during their gestation.

Further to this, sows kept by suppliers of Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh pork are free to move about in pens and socialise with other sows during their pregnancy and are required to be provided manipulable bedding material such as straw during their breeding cycle so they can perform their natural ‘nesting’ behaviours.

Coles supermarket Own Brand sow-stall free pork undergoes rigorous auditing by independent third-party auditors against the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program Customer Specifications for Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd (APIQ + CSC) Pork Standard. All Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh pork suppliers are also assessed to more stringent requirements developed by APIQ and Coles on areas such as bedding, enrichment, husbandry practices stocking densities, antibiotics, growth promotants and hormone use.

Coles supermarket Own Brand free range pork is the only RSPCA Approved fresh pork stocked nationally by a major Australian supermarket. Pigs reared to RSPCA Approved standards have space to move, forage, socialise and explore. Sows are not confined to sow stalls or farrowing crates, instead they have good quality bedding in a free farrowing environment which provides a comfortable area to rest and material to perform their natural nesting behaviours.

All fresh Coles supermarket Own Brand lamb is 100% Australian.

In January 2020, we launched Coles supermarket Own Brand Graze Lamb across selected stores nationally. Graze Lambs are sourced exclusively from Tasmanian farmers by Coles. Lambs raised under the Graze program are 100% Tasmanian grown, grass-fed, are free to roam on open pastures and raised without the use of antibiotics.

All Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh beef has been 100 per cent Australian sourced with no added hormones since 2011. By not adding hormones, the cattle grow and mature more naturally. Coles sources cattle from both grain-fed, grass-fed and grass/grain combination systems.

All of our Coles Finest grain-fed beef is sourced from feedlots that are accredited and independently audited to the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme.

Graze, our grass-fed beef speciality range, is sourced from Australian farmers in partnership with Coles. Cattle raised under the Graze program are 100% Australian grown, grass-fed, and are free to roam on open pastures.

In July 2019, Coles began direct sourcing Own Brand fresh milk from dairy farmers in Victoria and south coast New South Wales. We then expanded the program into South Australia where we began collecting milk from farmers in July 2020 and from October 2020 in Western Australia.   

The Coles Sustainable Dairy Development Group (CSDDG) has been established to support the direct milk sourcing model. The purpose of the CSDDG is for Coles and its dairy farmers to work together to enhance sustainable farming practices. Farmers participate in the CSDDG through regional meetings and events which occur throughout the year.

The CSDDG, supported by investment from Coles, has delivered on-farm initiatives including purchasing defibrillators, implementing animal health-care technology trials and providing biosecurity signage, masks and hand sanitiser in response to COVID-19

Through our work with the CSDDG, Coles has undertaken a mastitis treatment pilot with eight of its dairy farms across four dairying regions in New South Wales and Victoria. Coles purchased eight ‘Mastatest’ machines that use colourmetric techniques to analyse the bacterial strains present (or not present) in milk samples and then recommend the most appropriate treatment method for the individual cow being tested.

The trial provided farmers with improved health data mapping insights enabling them to understand which antibiotics to use, not to use or when to consider seeking further advice from a vet. The data is also fed into a national dataset for future mastitis management decision making.

Whilst the trial is still in early stages of development, data to date so far suggests that Mastatest machines are providing improved precision of antibiotics use for treatment of mastitis in dairy cows. The Mastatest machine also identifies when bacterial infection is not the illness requiring treatment. This allows farmers to further investigate likely illnesses and treat appropriately. This has positive implications for antimicrobial stewardship through reduced reliance on antibiotics. It also means cows are more likely to be cleared of illness in a shorter timeframe and returned to the milking herd due to the precision of treatment applied. 

Ultimately targeted treatment presents farmers with opportunities to reduce treatment costs, optimise milk production and improve animal health and welfare management.  Coles is now progressing to the next phase of the trial with a rollout of the machines across directly contracted dairy farms over the next 12 months.

We understand that the responsible use of antibiotics in agriculture is an important issue for animal and human health. Coles’ position on antibiotics is one of responsible use, where we follow the guidance of the Five R’s and AMS Framework as detailed by the Animal Health Australia report on Antimicrobial Stewardship in Australian Livestock Industries.

Since 2014, we have been working on supplier programs that incorporate herd health plans, biosecurity measures and alternatives such as probiotics and vaccinations to prevent the need for antibiotic treatment.

Through our work with the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme and the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance program, Coles also requires all supermarket Own Brand fresh chicken, pork and turkey suppliers to avoid the prophylactic use of antibiotics to suppress sub-clinical diseases.

The RSPCA standards for chicken and turkey require that any use of antibiotics is included as part of the farm’s veterinary health plan and that the RSPCA is notified of any prophylactic treatment. Producers are also required to have an antimicrobial stewardship plan. For RSPCA Approved pigs, any use of antibiotics must be detailed in their veterinary health plan, which must be reviewed each year in consultation with the attending veterinarian.

Coles is also a member of the Animal Industries’ Antimicrobial Stewardship Stakeholder Group which aims to promote antimicrobial stewardship within agriculture and address issues relating to antimicrobial resistance. This group includes the Office of the Australian Chief Veterinary Officer, state departments of primary industry, international experts in antimicrobial stewardship, and Australian livestock industry representatives from beef, dairy, eggs, pork and chicken meat.