Australian food brand company Openway Food is slated to export homegrown oats to the United States after securing multi-million dollar deals with leading US food chain Sprouts Farmers Market and grocery retailers Kroger and Albertson Safeway.
The transactions directly benefit Australian farmers that supply harvests to Openway. The contracts are expected to provide a reliable source of income for producers and also highlight the quality of Australian oats and farming practices.
“This is such a unique opportunity as a farmer. It gives us the chance to showcase our sun-ripened Australian oats to a large market that Australia has not penetrated previously,” said Megan Gooding, a co-founder of Three Farmers, a major supplier of oats to Openway.
U.S. cereal manufacturers are currently struggling to source oats for their products due to adverse weather conditions that affected harvests in the country.
“Supply issues are pushing up prices in the US and prompting companies to diversify,” said Openway Director Kane Fetterplace. “They’ve never looked at Australia as a possible supplier. We’ve now got a golden opportunity to export more of our top-quality oats to the US.”
The Australian company sources raw ingredients from two core suppliers, namely Three Farmers in Narrogin, Western Australia, and Walttana in Hamilton Victoria.
