Costa launches Innovation Centre

Costa has formally launched its Innovation Centre at the company’s glasshouse facility in Guyra, on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales.

There are close to 30 new types and varieties of produce already being tested in the Innovation Centre to assess their potential as commercial product lines. They include popular produce, such as cucumbers, as well as innovative new varieties of fruit and vegetables.

Marc Werner, Costa’s chief executive officer, and Manpreet Sidhu, vertical farming general manager, cut the ribbon for the centre, which is housed in a 4,000m2 glasshouse.

“Costa is well known for being an industry leader in the growing and supply of premium fresh produce, including our glasshouse grown tomatoes, and we are excited to be able to diversify and extend our product offering,” Werner said. “We look forward to sharing more with our customers as we progress through our testing.”

Since 2005, Costa has invested more than AU$200m in the establishment and ongoing expansion of 40ha of glasshouses, spread across two locations in Guyra – Elm Street and New England Highway.

The glasshouses enable produce to be grown in a sustainable and fully protected cropping environment. This helps mitigate the impact of extreme weather volatility, requires less land than comparable field crops, enables the supply of consistent quality produce year-round, and more efficient yield per unit of water usage versus field crops, according to Costa.

“This centre will ensure we can continue to innovate and develop new, premium quality differentiated produce varieties for our customers, both in Australia and through existing and emerging export opportunities,” Werner said.