Costa Group

The Client

Costa is Australia's leading berry producer, operating extensive farmlands across the country, including 360 hectares in Corindi Beach, NSW, where blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are grown. They are committed to high-quality berry production, utilising innovative and efficient agricultural practices.

The Challenge

Costa's Corindi berry operation required a trellising solution that was not only durable and robust but also easy to handle and install. Traditional coiled wire often posed challenges in handling, leading to increased labour and time during installation. The need was for a product that could simplify the process while maintaining the highest standards of quality and efficiency.

The Solution

Southern Wire addressed this challenge by supplying their unique Reel-Easy trellising wire, distinctively wound on spools instead of traditional coils. This spooling innovation offers several key advantages:

Ease of Handling: The spooled wire was far easier to manage and deploy, reducing labour intensity.

Efficient Installation: The spooled format allowed for quicker and smoother installation, minimising disruptions, and downtime in the farming operations.

Reduced Tangling and Waste: Spooling reduced the risk of tangling, which is common in coiled wires, leading to less material waste.

Safety: Handling spooled wire is safer for the workers, reducing the risk of injuries during installation.

The Result

The use of Southern Wire's Reel-Easy Trellis Wire in Costa's Corindi berry operation led to significant improvements:

Increased Productivity: The ease and efficiency of installation meant that trellising could be set up faster, allowing for less downtime during trellis repairs. KPI’s for complete “tunnels” increased from 6 per day to more than double at 13. This translates to 72 hours per hectare, down to 36.5 hours per hectare, twice the efficiency!

Labor Efficiency: The ease of handling the spooled wire reduced the manpower needed for installation, resulting in labour cost savings.

Consistency and Reliability: The consistent quality of the wire, combined with the ease of use, resulted in a more reliable trellising system.

Testimonials

Jackson Della (Project Manager – Berry Category) says that the spools gave them two major wins on site;

“Ease/ speed of install: By purchasing the wire on spools it allowed us to construct a ‘wire spinner’ that allows us to run multiple wires at one time. This method we have found is very efficient. The wire spinner is attached on the back on a tractor, the ends of each of the first wires are installed and then the tractor proceeds down the row, as noted in the pictures this means we can run 6 spools of wire in one pass. This method proves very successful for us and this has only been possible because of the spooled wire.”

“Storage and tangling: These two points often intermix. However another massive win for us on site by purchasing the wire on spools is simply storage. Wire that is on traditional coil is hard to transport and store, not only does it takes up extra space but often if the coil is used partially and the stored tangling occurs and cost us on our next use to have someone untangle/ organise it ready for next use, there is also a potential loss for us here if the wire has to be trimmed or cut. The spooled wire comes neatly wrapped on plastic on a pallet, storage is very simply and does not take up as much space by comparison. I have attached some photos of both instances as examples.”