Pacific Coast Eco Bananas explores next export opportunities for its bananas grown using the Ecoganic farming protocol
Red wax-tipped bananas have been a feature on Australian supermarket shelves, and now Pacific Coast Eco Bananas, the company behind the unique offering, has set its sights on Japan.
The Red Tip Eco bananas are grown under Ecoganic farming protocol, developed by Pacific Coast Eco Bananas founders Frank and Dianne Sciacca.
The system was born from Frank Sciacca’s belief that farming needed to work with nature, not against it.
“The lightbulb moment for me was diving in Great Barrier Reef, you could see the whole ecosystem working together,” he said.
“When parts of the reef started to die, everything changed. I came home, looked at the farm and thought, this is like the reef. My farm has an ecosystem as well.”
After years of testing and refinement, that lightbulb moment eventually became the Ecoganic system, a production approach designed around soil health, biodiversity and reducing chemical inputs.
“Developed around nature, it was like a big puzzle, watching what the insects, grasses, weeds and soil were doing, then putting it all together,” Frank Sciacca said.
But to make the system meaningful to consumers, the business needed a marker people could instantly recognise.
“The red tip had to get attention, and it worked because everybody asked why. It was a real conversation starter,” he said.
That conversation has now reached Japanese buyers and consumers with Pacific Coast Eco Bananas testing the market, including supply chain pathways, product quality and customer response.
“We always saw Japan as a market that could give us the growth. It’s a very health-conscious market, and there is an appreciation for product differentiation,” Dianne Sciacca explained.
She said the opportunity was not just about exporting bananas, but taking a clearly identifiable, premium Queensland product into a market that values provenance and how food is produced.
”What’s exciting about Japan is that the interest is not only in our bananas, but in our growing system, the quality and the broader story behind the produce,” Dianne Sciacca said.
The Japanese opportunity also required the business to solve one of the toughest challenges for fresh produce exporters: getting bananas from Far North Queensland to market without compromising quality.
Dianne Sciacca said the business, with the help of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and research partners, had invested significant time in understanding temperature control, transport conditions and supply chain risks, while the ability to export through Cairns Airport had helped reduce one leg of the journey from Far North Queensland to international markets.
Pacific Coast Eco Bananas also worked with Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) to support its Japanese market development, including through trade activity, market introductions and the Market Accelerator Program.
“TIQ helped identify potential customers for us and all of those connections have really kickstarted this journey again for us,” Dianne Sciacca said.
“They give small businesses the opportunity to put their product before the eyes of the world.”
For Frank and Dianne Sciacca, Japan is not about going away from Australian customers or domestic business. It’s about creating a new growth pathway for the business and, potentially, for more Far North Queensland farmers.
“This is not about taking focus away. This is about growth for the region,” Dianne Sciacca said.
Pacific Coast Eco Bananas currently works in partnership with multiple family-owned banana farms across more than 100ha in Far North Queensland and supports regional employment and value-added agricultural production.
