A campaign to support South Australian apple growers, who are expected to lose 50-70 per cent of their income this season, is back for the second year running.
Hailstorm Heroes encourages consumers to purchase apples that were slightly marked during summer hailstorms that spread across the state’s A$63.5m apple industry.
Hort Innovation CEO, Matt Brand, said the promotion, despite being isolated to South Australia, is also an opportunity to encourage consumers nationally to reconsider their purchasing habits.
“We have had a summer of damaging weather across the country and many growers have been affected by either drought, flooding, cyclones and more. Many have lost crops, but importantly, many have nurtured their surviving crops so that we can maintain a steady supply of locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables,” said Brand.
“These slightly odd shaped, miscoloured or marked fruit are still perfectly edible and are not lacking in nutritional value. Our message to Australians is to look past the outward appearance of your fruit and vegetables and support our growers.”
Hailstorm Heroes apples are being stocked in Coles, IGA, Foodland and select greengrocers. Woolworths is also promoting the fruit under its Odd Bunch range.
The first instalment of the Hort Innovation-developed campaign generated more than A$1m in sales revenue. South Australia's apple industry is still calculating full losses from the hailstorm damage in 2017, but estimates are sitting around A$32m.
