Hate to break it to you but they don’t exist, all 3 of the major Smallgoods producers in Oz (DonKRC, Bertochhi & Hans/Primo) use imported pork purely for costs reasons. If one of them made the jump, they would be out of business within 6 months as they would have to increase their price by 20%, Woolies & Coles would stop selling their lines, & that’s it, you now only have 2 major smallgoods producers in Oz.
So if your major aim is to reduce competition in the Smallgoods industries, that’s what you will achieve.
And I tell you now, you will not find one pork farmer in Oz who will be outraged by this sponsorship, as they fully understand the realities of the business. The pork farmers will be pizzed off at the unfair playing field that only the Govt can do anything about, they will not give a rat’s clacker about this, today or Country Round Day.
So unless you plan to gather up as many outraged city slickers (cause you won’t find any real pig farmers who want to get involved) to protest next time we play Geelong, go knock yourself out. The pig farmers who you think you are fighting for, will be laughing on the sidelines, going WTF?
Its about consistency, its not like they are sponsoring the US beef board… i agree.
But, its causlly there, if you act like good companys do, you burrow down into your suppliers and producers to see they are consistent with you values…
EFC didnt do that with there sponsor. That makes them inconsistent with the values they are trying to push with things like country round.
As for a sponsor… The Pork board. They solely support 100% Australian pork, remove DON, offer a good deal to the pork board, come Country round push your sponsorships as supporters of country round.
It does make me wonder who is in charge of sponsorship at EFC… this is a massive oversight for what is probably a trained professional… really no excuse.
I remember when this started, i was looking for Australian bacon… And DON was pretty much the first to go full import, Hans primo i never buy as they never looked quality (IMO). But, Bertochi actually purposefully made a Gold label 100% australian pork bacon and it was a few dollars more, and it was pretty good. and they stuck with it for a while, but i have noticed they too have moved on. (in the Deli you can still get 100% product of Australia… its mostly pre packaged stuff)
Unfortunately for all the talk ppl make of keeping jobs supporting economy, reducing CO2, ethical farming etc… when it comes down to it ppl simply dont do it. They dont make they choice on the coal face based on not even price alot of the time… pr purely brand.
And thats why EFC can do something about it… support those who make the effort to get the message out… buy pork that supports local economy, has lower food miles and not simply on brand.
My aim is only to straighten EFC sponsorship to be inline with its virtues.
Ultimately such a sponsorship would raise awareness and ppl might start sourcing Australian pork in there small goods, perhaps creating even a premium product over the cheaper hams at the least.
How they (the big 3) run there business is their concern… my concern is EFC having Sponsorship consistent with there purported values.
