Australia's largest pineapple producer, Pinata Farms, has been recognised at the annual Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence Awards in Brisbane last week.
The awards were created to celebrate the ingenuity, resilience and tenacity of businesses across the Moreton Bay Region.
The Queensland family owned and operated farming business were awarded the inaugural Food and Agribusiness Excellence Award.
Pinata Farms have just over a 1000 hectares of land under cultivation around the country, where they produce strawberries and honey gold mangoes.
With 58 finalists across 12 categories and a record number of nominations in this year's event, Pinata were among five finalists to be selected for the new category award.
Pinata managing director Gavin Scurr said the business had been established as a single pineapple farm by his grandfather in the 1960s and was proudly part of the Moreton Bay business community.
"The award had now put farming on the region's map," he said.
"There are some 480,000 residents in our fast-growing region but many would be unaware of the significance of farming in the area.
"As a family we've seen the growth and development of the region and are proud to play a part in it. It's a privilege to grow premium fruit so close to a major centre."
Mr Scurr paid tribute to all Pinata employees - based on farms from Darwin to Hobart, who have worked tirelessly to deliver quality Pinata pineapples, strawberries, honey gold mangoes and raspberries to market throughout the year.
"Our people are committed to excellence throughout the supply chain. In the past 24 months during the global pandemic, our greatest achievement has been to retain all full-time employees, keep staff safe and well, maintain morale and continue producing food. This is testament to the resilience and attitude of our entire team," he said.
Mr Scurr congratulated all winners and finalists and particularly those in the Food and Agribusiness category.
"It's an honour to be recognised among such great company," he said.
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