Coles ignored us, but we woke up a local food Movement!

The pleas of Coffs Coast banana growers, community members and supporters from across the nation, to have Coles Mid North Coast  supermarkets reinstate their direct supply of Coffs Harbour bananas, cucumbers and pumpkins to their customers, has fallen on deaf ears in the offices of Coles senior management.

Coles will now rack up over 2000 km each trip to supply customers on the mid north coast with bananas from North Queensland, having axed local growers.

You, the public have been incredibly supportive of the farmers demonstrated by the many hundreds of comments and thousands of signatures on this petition. We cannot thank you enough.

On Tuesday, 2nd November, we will declare a victory on this campaign.

The victory is in seeing local people and Coles customers rally behind local farmers and refusing to purchase from stores that will not support locally produced food.

The victory is in the enormous increase in awareness of where our food comes from, the importance of supporting our own farmers and stores that get behind them. 

The victory is in the renewed awareness and interest in playing our own part in improving food security, in our own backyards in our communities and in our country.

The victory is in the encouragement that your support has given to farmers, many who battle to keep their farms going, and face increased pressure to their livelihood from every direction. 

The battle is not over, with banana imports on the horizon, we have another battle to fight. Coles poor decision to cut these farmers out has no doubt left them feeling the backlash from some 40,000 plus people who do not support corporate streamlining that lines the profit purse of multinationals while it destroys local food security and livelihoods. 

We are calling for one last push to raise this petition over 40,000 signatures by 31 October 2026. This  is the last day that Mid North Coast Coles stores will supply customers with directly sourced Coffs Harbour bananas, pumpkins and cucumbers.

Thank you all again for your support. It’s been incredible.

From the Coffs Coast banana growers and families.