Walnuts Australia was announced last night as the national winner of the emerging exporter category in the 50th Australian Export Awards.
At a ceremony in Canberra last night the award was presented to Walnuts Australia’s Tony Onley on behalf of the company. The government-run award recognises emerging exporters who have achieved sustainable growth through innovation and commitment.
Walnuts Australia is a vertically integrated walnut growing, processing and marketing company, and operates 2,235ha of walnut plantations in Tasmania and New South Wales. The company is a division of Webster Limited, which also runs major onion grower-marketer Field Fresh Tasmania.
“Australian Export Award judges commended Walnuts Australia for a long term commitment to large volume production and for taking the initiative to fill a market gap arising from counter-seasonality,” the Award stated on its website.
Webster’s sales and marketing manager John Hosken told Asiafruit the award was a wonderful outcome, and the result of hard work by the entire Walnuts Australia/Webster team.
The fresh produce sector was represented by a number of companies in the finalist stages of the awards.
The Avocado Export Company was the Queensland state finalist in the emerging exporter category, and major grower-marketer group AgriExchange was recognised as a finalist in the agribusiness category.
Almond grower-marketer Almondco Australia was also a finalist for the regional exporter award, and produce sorting machinery firm GP Graders was a finalist in the small to medium manufacturer award.
