Made In Australia

I think for the majority of us, when we see labels on products in supermarkets we do not truly understand what they mean. This can be extremely confusing if we are taking steps to be confident consumers wanting to support local Australian farmers and business, as there seems to be a variety of product labelling that claims ‘Product of’, ‘Made in’ and ‘Australian owned’.

Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the enforcer and administrator of product and packaging labelling requirements for the country of origin claims which set legal standards in the Competition and Consumers Act 2010 (this has replaced the Trade Practice Act 1974). This includes a list of requirements that must be met before any business can publically list any claims of being a ‘product of Australia’ or ‘made in Australia’.

When business in Australia, do not adhere to the labelling regulation and provide misleading or deceptive information regarding the country of origin, they breach section 29(1)(k) of competition and consumer act 2010, which prohibits misleading conduct of false representation regarding the place of origin of goods.

Country of origin labelling shows the country that the goods where grown, produced, manufactured or packaged. In situations where more than one country of origin occurs, the labelling requirements are to list all countries or to disclose made from a mix of imported and local ingredients.

Country of origin information must be listed on all packaging for packaged goods, but for non-packaged food like fruit, vegetables and unpackaged meat, a sign located near the display area is sufficient. Some unpackaged produce may also have stickers like we see on apples, that state the farm and location grown.

When packaging labels state either of the following ‘A Product of Australia’, ‘Produced in Australia’ or ‘Produce of Australia’ means that all significant ingredients are grown in Australia and that the manufacturing process was performed in Australia. Some fresh produce can also present ‘grown in Australia’ when grown at an Australian farm.

‘Made in Australia’ and ‘Manufactured in Australia’ can be used when at least 50% of the costs of production, have been incurred in Australia. This means that at least half of the production processes are conducted in Australia, but not necessarily with the use of Australian ingredients. An example would be if a jar of jam claims to be made in Australia, the fruit and sugar could be imported, but the jam making and jarring process are conducted in Australia.

Some products have claims saying ‘Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’, but there is no requirement to give a percentage rate, of what is imported and what is local. Many businesses used this label to cover any additional imports required for Australian seasonal shortages for processing foods. 

 

Company ownership is another confusing label. If a product states 100% Australian owned or ‘Proudly Australian Owned’, this means that the company is an Australian owned company, not that the product or produce was made or grown in Australia. A 100% Australian owned company can have products that are made, solely from imported ingredients or process and packaged overseas, so always check the back ingredients list to see if they disclose more information from where the ingredients come from. 

What is Fair Trade?

Fair trade is a social movement that is all about paying better prices, providing fair working conditions and supporting local sustainability in developing countries.

The Fair trade international (FLO) has a number of standards that incorporate social development, economic development and environmental development that must be agreed to by farmers, workers and exporters before any organisation can be considered a Fair trade partner and have the certification to display the Fair trade logo on any products.

The standards include;

• Guaranteed Fair Trade Minimum Price, which is agreed with farmers and workers. 
• The Fair trade minimum price is an agreed minimum rate that will be paid for products, but during times of market fluctuation if the market price is higher than the fair trade minimum price, the market price must be paid, and if the market price is lower, than the Fair trade minimum price has to be paid.  

• A Fair Trade Premium must also be included, which is a further additional payment used for investment in community development. Community projects may include building schools, medical facilities and making easier access to clean drinking water. 

• Financing options for farmers must be available, including prepayments if they require the use of funds up front. 

• Fair Labour Hire conditions, including; 
• Allowing workers the right to join trade unions. 
• The freedom from discrimination of any form. 
• Fair working conditions 
• Fair wages including sick pay and overtime.
• Compliance to health and safety issues. 
• All child labour must not be abusive or forced, with a minimum age of 15 years old. 
• The work for any school child needs to be organised, so the tasks are age appropriate and also done outside school hours or during holidays. 

Fair trade coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate are becoming readily available in supermarkets, while these may sometimes be more expensive, we as consumers have to consider this is a small price to pay for the benefits of others in less fortunate countries unlike ourselves.

Organisations such as Oxfam, have an extensive Fair Trade product list, and the convenience of online shopping www.oxfam.org.au go check their site out. They also have current campaigns and lots of interesting information about how we can become more active in taking the stand for fair trade.

So why not start today, it is even as simple as trying a fair trade product you have not tasted before, and making it a permanent part of your weekly shop. Remember, when you buy Fair Trade Certified goods, you are making a choice that means quality products, improved lives and environmental protection.

For more information, i have included a short clip made by Fair trade Australia and New Zealand they provide more insight into the Cocoa fair trade program currently in Ghana.

.

The Berry Patch

 

 The Berry Patch at Chambers Flat


 One of my favourite times of the year is strawberry season. This is when The Berry Patch – Sunrise Strawberries Farm opens up to the public. The strawberry farm is run by third generation farmers and is located in chambers flat, QLD. The best part of visiting the strawberry farm is they allow visitors to pick their own strawberries. This is such fun treat for little kids, though I must admit I enjoy it just as much.

 

The Berry Patch also has a small store where you can purchase prepacked punnets of delicious strawberry’s or treat yourself to a freshly made strawberry ice cream. Also for sale is a selection of locally produced and made small goods, like jams, honey and biscuits.If you are ever in the area, on a beautiful day, this farm should definitely be a stop on your trip.

 

The Berry Patch does not sell directly to supermarkets but holds a store at a variety of farmer markets, including New Farm, so if you are out and about in Brisbane Markets, keep an eye out for the Berry Patch stall and grab a few of nature’s sweet berry treats.
The Strawberry Farm, Sunrise Strawberries – 912 Chambers Flat Road, Chambers Flats, QLD, 4133 Phone: 07 5546 3652
Visit and like them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Berry-Patch-at-Chambers-Flat/198057860220251

SOL Breads

 

I have recently fallen in love with SOL Breads Organic bakery range.

 

 

SOL Breads was formed in July 1998, with bakers cooking up a delicious range of handcrafted breads made from certified organic stone-ground flours.They have two bakery cafes in Brisbane at Toowong and West End which make a perfect coffee stop on the weekend.

 

But for more convenient shopping they offer an online store, for further information about delivery in your area, plus a sneaky look at the beautiful organic baked goods range, check out their website at http://ishop.solbreads.com.au or like them on facebook https://www.facebook.com/SolBreadsWestEnd
 

 

To Market Or Not - Opportunity Cost

Last weekend rather than heading to the supermarket to do my weekly shop, I set off to explore Rocklea markets. As I was driving there, I was thinking how this was a little out of my way. The drive to the markets took me an extra 20 minutes more than it would take to get to my local supermarket. It got me mentally weighing up the value and benefits of getting up early to go to the markets over shopping at my local supermarket.

One way to help explain the pros and cons we think of when deciding what to do, is a microeconomic theory known as opportunity cost. Understanding this can help us, when rationalising the best economic decisions and working out what benefits we value most.

We all have the same number of hours in a day, but we all make different decisions. What affects our decisions are opportunity costs. There are certain values we place behind every decision we make, which could be deciding the everyday household items we use or that long awaiting trip we are planning. We just may not know it or think about it, but every decision we make has a value to us.

When we decide to purchase one item over another, we are saying to ourselves, I value this more than the alternative. The opportunity cost is what you gave up to receive the item you chose. To put this in a simple example, if you have two choices either an apple or an orange and you chose the apple, the opportunity cost is the orange. You gave up the opportunity to take the orange to choose the apple, in this case the opportunity cost is the value of the orange you did not want. Value has two parts, benefits and cost. The apple may have been $1.00 and the orange $2.00; the apple may have been cheaper, but you also would enjoy the apple more. So the opportunity cost is the orange for favour of the choosing the apple which gave you more enjoyment when eating.

To make good economic decisions, we want to choose the option with the greatest benefit and the lowest cost. We also can make the best choices, deciding if the value of the benefits of the higher price is of more valued to us, than the value of the benefits of the lower cost.

The value of choice to you may be the benefit of time or enjoyment. The benefit does not have to be measured in financial terms. Time is value, and what you do with you time is just as valuable as what you do with your money. If you only had two hours, and you could either choose to go to the beach or the shopping mall and you decided to go to the beach, your opportunity cost is the time you could have spent at the shopping mall. Benefits of better health could also be a value. The decision to buy a can of coke for $1.30, or a bottle of water for $2.00, and you chose the bottle of water, your opportunity cost was the 70 cents you could have saved buying the can of coke, instead of choosing the higher health benefit.

In summary, scarcity creates choice and every choice has a value to us. That value can be looked at in terms of benefits and cost. Value is not always of monetary value, but also measured in terms of enjoyment or personal benefits. The opportunity cost is not the value of what we chose, but the value of the next best alternative we did not choose.

My decision to go to the market or to go to the local supermarket, also had values in terms of costs and benefits. The supermarket is closer, with a conveniently designed layout, that would have made my shopping trip from home and back in under an hour, giving the benefit of more free time to enjoy, but I think the supermarket fruit and vegetable range are limited, with some items expensively priced. The market, took a further 40 minutes driving time and longer time to walk around the stalls, but they offered highly competitive prices for fresher products. Here my opportunity cost, was the time I could have saved going to the supermarket, which was closer to home when I chose instead to go to the market, which had the wider range of fresher produce.

For us to become more confident consumers, we need to understand the factors that contribute to our decision making processes. If we can learn about costs and benefits and recognise what we value, we can start making the best informed purchasing decisions. For myself, I value a healthier lifestyle and a more sustainable environment. So thinking about these values, when I compare the alternatives I have on offer, will help to make the best choices for me.

Consumer Power - We All Have It!

I have always felt extremely lucky having a large and diverse group of friends. When we get together, there is always sharing of ideas and information that we have come across, from books, world news or documentaries we have seen.

With corporate social responsibility becoming an extremely published topic over the last few years, a few friends and I have become intrigued with learning and sharing this information as we come across it. Our growing passion in seeking information and questioning what we have always believed in, is leading us to discussing the growing fair trade, organic and green product markets that we are starting to see in supermarkets. One thing we have noticed, is they are only taking up a small section in the supermarket isle, there seems to be a larger isle for a huge variety of packet chips compared to the few rows of organic vegetables and fair trade coffee and chocolates. As a marketing student, I always have to throw in my two cents that the more we start buying these products, the more these supermarkets will start stocking these products, and slowly the product lines will expand and the prices will start dropping.

To explain further, I want to explore the basis of consumer power.

Whenever we buy any product or service, from any shop or supplier, we are contributing to the profitability of that company. This profit is then moved down the line, to their trading partners, suppliers, manufacturers and parent companies. When we are handing over profit, it goes regardless if we agree or strongly disagree with the company and associated trading partner’s ethics.

There still are a large number of people who have a lack of knowledge about business operations, and I also need to say there are many companies, who do not provide, honest and accurate information about their business dealings. This leads to many consumers becoming unknowingly ignorant about the business story behind the products they are buying. They are simply unaware that purchasing a product, contributes to a profit, which could end up in the bank of a company that may not operate ethically or with our best interest at mind.

When groups of people become aware of dodgy manufacturing process, or the unethical trading policies of some corporations, they start exerting their consumer power with lobbying or boycotting. Lobbying creates a strong collective voice that attracts media attention, spreading the word to a larger audience. Lobbying groups are also effective at getting government intervention, demanding legislation reviews or regulation changes.

Over recent years, especially with the growth of the internet, more consumers are learning about companies and their crafty business tactics. Many consumers are starting to take action against these companies, by not buying or showing support towards their business and stopping handing over their own dollar as profit. Boycotting, is this practice when we stop buying particular brands or products because we do not agree with their business values or ethics.

Companies are "in business’' to make a profit, if they want to remain profitable and competitive, they need to supply products and services that consumers want. The more pressure consumers place on companies, the more these organisations are forced to make operational changes, ensuring their brand and product remain in favour in the consumers mind. This pressure, not only can be shown by banding together in large groups such as lobby action, but it can be done by us all on an individual level. If we all start swapping the products we are not satisfied with, for products that we prefer as being more ethical or environmental at the checkout, we can slowly, one by one, make a dramatic affect on product sales.

This movement by the consumer is called a change in demand. Corporations that do not respond to changing demand lose sales, which over time can be detrimental to the success and longevity of a profitable organisation. The more we demand corporations to manufacture products using ethical practices, sustainable resources and healthy processes, the more companies will provide these products and the more companies that provide the market, the better the price of these products become.

Consumer power is a massive driver on pricing strategies that companies use to gain a greater market share. If you have ever considered buying environmental or ethical products, but found them too expensive, just remember that if you start to buy them today, your consumer power will be counted towards generating more demand, which leads to increased supply, with a wider product range at cheaper prices

Here are some thoughts on how you can start to exercise your consumer power;

• Become an informed consumer
  • Researching more about companies, products and brands. Find out about parent companies and trading partners as well. Seek to understand where the product comes from or where it was manufactured.

• Look for alternatives
  • See what your regular stores offer, are there better alternative? If you cannot find what you want, ask the store manager if they can make a special stock order. If you do not want to talk face to face send a message on their Facebook/Twitter walls.

• Google! When you start searching for ethical, green or healthier products online, not only can you find reputable local suppliers, you will be amazed at the number of existing business all over Australia, with online stores and fast delivery times.

• Join online campaigns
  • Many lobbying groups have an online community pages, providing information and even electronic petition where you can digitally sign to show your support at a collective level.

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my blog,

Over the next few months, I want to share with you my journey, as I start using my consumer dollar to buy from corporations and local businesses that support my values. I think it is the right time for me to start standing up for what I believe in, and focus more on purchasing products from companies with sound environmental practices, who believe in fairness for all, and most importantly, who offer products and services developed with our nutritional health in mind, over greater profit.

As my interest turned to supporting local, organic and fair trade products, it became apparent that the main barriers I was faced with, was being able to afford the extra time and money to do so. If I am finding these issues, I am sure there are many other people like me with the same view; that if we could afford it and access it, we would start buying it. I decided that my blog could be an excellent place to share ideas as I find shops, markets and online stores that promote ethical and environmental products at fair competitive prices.

As a post graduate marketing student, I love learning about marketing concepts. I believe that everything marketing has taught me, is making me a more confident consumer.

Marketing is not a terrible thing. Not all marketing strategies are about making the most money from the unaware consumer. Marketing is everywhere, it has helped us grow in to the person we present to the world today. From the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to sleep, marketing had has some input into what food you eat, clothes you wear and even the places you visit. Learning marketing concepts and strategies will help you not only understand, why you make certain everyday decisions but give you a clearer picture of the business world we live in today.

I think for us to start taking steps towards becoming more empowered consumers, we need to understand the basics of how businesses operate. My blog will share my knowledge of marketing and business practice, that I think we all should know to help us understand the information needed to make confident consumer decisions.

I thank you once again, for visiting my blog, and I hope you find my posts both knowledgeable and inspiring, so you will start your own journey, to becoming a more confident and empowered consumer.