LOCAL quinoa produced by Narrogin farming trio Three Farmers has been named Product of the Year 2017 in the Gluten Free Sides category, with the grain winning the gong for Coles’ Australian Quinoa Grain White.
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Product of the Year is the world’s biggest independent survey for product innovation and is backed by 14,000 consumers.
The campaign guides shoppers to the most exciting products in their market, as well as rewards manufacturers for quality and innovation.
Three Farmers pioneered quinoa production following a $500,000 grant from the Coles Nurture Fund, with the retailer becoming the first major Australian supermarket to source Australian quinoa.
Since the product launch in April 2016 the company has supplied Coles with more than 800,000 packets of white quinoa annually, producing 60 per cent from their own farms and the remainder from WA farmers.
Three Farmers director Ashley Wiese said the award was a great, independent acknowledgement of the product’s success.
“We think we’ve got a great product that tastes great and it is so nice when customers say the same thing – this is a really nice independent endorsement of the product when more than 14,000 customers across Australia have voted us the best gluten free product,” Mr Wiese said.
Mr Wiese, along with Dumbleyung farmer Megan Gooding and Garren Knell, has been growing quinoa since 2010.
He said the process from experimenting with growing to now on the shelves had been “good” as the company now looked to exporting quinoa to both Taiwan and Singapore.
“It is not an easy market with competition for market space and supermarkets simplifying their range but Coles have been a wonderful support with marketing and promotion and we have had really good presence in Coles on the shelves,” he said.
