Woolies leave farmers cold

Source: FlavourCrusader

Woolworths have landed themselves in rather hot water surrounding their proposition to charge vegetable farmers for its latest fresh food campaign.

A new fee of 40c a crate will go towards Jamie's current Garden advertisement series. Doesn't sound like much, but this extra cost is additional to an existing marketing levy.

Rather tough for farmers. It is almost as if we are dissing 'our true blue spirit' for blatant promotion. Although Jamie is great for Woolworths (as Coles have Curtis Stone), it is essential for corporations to instill a community brand. Farmers are the cornerstone of Australian produce. Essentially, this proposition is going against the Australian population. Previous accounts of large Supermarkets 'ripping off dairy farmers to sell milk at lower prices' has not gone down too well.

It will be interesting to see what Woolworths PR team has to say, as this could easily become a crisis if mishandled.

xx S