A massive THANK YOU to all our customers who bought from us over the month of August. Every little bit helped us to reach our target of $10,000!

With their help we raised a total of $10,008.50 for the oppressed people of Ukraine. We were determined to hit our target so we rallied to the cause and donated $1445 ourselves.

We have all watched in horror as so many innocent people have had their whole livelihoods ripped away and their families torn apart. The stories of defenseless civilians killed while waiting in line for food, of ordinary people like you and me denied what we regard as normal necessities such as food, hygiene, water and electricity. The escaping mother who walked for 24hrs in sub-zero temperatures carrying her twin babies. These are people who are isolated from the world due to no internet, often not even knowing the whereabouts or welfare of their own loved ones. Ordinary people, forced to endure extraordinary hardship through none of their own making.   

In response to this crisis unfolding in Ukraine, RRT launched Operation 322 to deliver emergency food and personal care supplies to those displaced.

With essential food and personal care products in high demand, RRT is loading trucks with Food Boxes filled with non-perishable food items, Care Kits equipped with personal care products, Baby Care Kits containing formula and nappies, bottled water and blankets.

At Fieldco we really care about people. That is what has moved us to support the people of Ukraine in this special way, via RRT.  You can help us support them too when you purchase Fieldco fresh kumara in August or by donating directly through the link below.

Many thanks, together we know we can help ease someone’s pain in a very small way.

OUR GOAL: $10,000

So how did this work? 

For Fieldco’s Finest kumara grades sold, we donated 10c p/kg towards the Operation 322.

Customers were able to access our Fresh Kumara ordering sheet to work out how many dollars they were giving back to families in need in Ukraine.

Would you like to give extra donation to this worthy cause? Click on the link below to view more on our GiveaLittle page.

We’d like to extend a big thankyou and shout out to all the efforts going in with the produce teams across the country. What an interesting game we get to play – every day is a fresh opportunity, a chance to do something different, and a brand new challenge.  Dynamic, we call it  – yesterdays fresh produce could be tomorrows’ waste and the difference between good and bad, happy and sad, or profit and loss.

We have been reflecting on our 46 years of growing produce here at Fieldco and the many changes experienced – never more so than in the last 3 years. On top of ever increasing environmental and social responsibilities, there are a few costs in particular that directly affect the produce industry globally and would be keeping food producers all over the country, awake at night.

I thought you may be interested in just a few of our findings:

• Labour is up 35% in the last 5 years. (Remember our kumara are handpicked to preserve quality.)
• Fuel has is up 154% in the last 18 months with no end in sight. Some larger tractors will consume $120hr in fuel alone – no electric options available here. (A fuel invoice we received end of June was 14% higher than the one we received 3 weeks prior ) – where is this heading? 
• Fertiliser has increased by 56.52% in the last 12 months.
• Freight per kg has increased 6.6% year on year.
• A new tractor priced recently at 40% higher than we had anticipated. 

Talking about high cost of food in the supermarkets, it is obvious we can’t lay all the blame at the retailers feet. Input costs everywhere are increasing incredibly fast and unfortunately that just means a higher price for us all to pay as consumers.  As costs rise, scarcity usually follows as producers look to more viable crop alternatives or simply go out of business altogether.

Kumara pricing recently has been quite a bumpy ride but the facts are, as with all Food & Beverage items, we will see increases to continue going forward. We are also very mindful of the true cost of sustainability. 

A very good point to remember and sometimes discuss with our friends, Almost everything we eat was grown by someone, somewhere on a farm.  

-Rick Simpkin | Director