Organic farming boosts farmers markets - Australia

Organic farming boosts farmers markets - Australia

Big retailers are facing competition from farmers markets, as buyers seek fresher food grown without agricultural chemicals.

In the rich soils of Byron Bay, farmer Alisdair Smithsom grows seasonal fruit and vegetables for local markets, and is helping to grow the local economy at the same time.

Farmhand Beck was unemployed when she moved to the area, and found the best way to eat organic food was to volunteer on an organic farm for one day a week in exchange for a box of vegies.

"A year and a half later, I'm living on the farm, working on the farm, and it's fantastic," she said.

The 130 acre ReGensis farm, at Myocum to the north of Byron Bay, was established in 2001, and focuses on organic whole systems agriculture, best-practice farm forestry, and environmental regeneration and repair.

The farm has now branched out into home delivery of fresh produce, including taking orders over the internet.

"We have three standard boxes in small, medium and large sizes, which are basically packed full of fresh local organic produce, and what's in season at that particular time of the year," Mr Smithsom said.

"We've also just started extending our range, so we've got local organic eggs now as well, and we'll be branching out into meat and dairy items in the future."

Mr Smithsom's goal is to farm produce that never has to travel more than 160 kilometres from soil to plate.

"From an energy point of view it's great because we're not transporting food vast amounts of distance around the country," he said.

"From a nutritional point of view it's better because we can pick something one day, or get it delivered from other farmers on one day, and put it in a box and send it out one or two days later, so the nutritional content of the food is still very high.

"Traditionally, if you buy something off one of the main retailers, often the food is a week old before it even gets onto the shelf of the retailers."

In Byron Bay itself, the weekly farmers markets are booming, despite the economic downturn.

"We've had feedback from a number of people who said they would love to be buying our produce, but have had difficulty financially so have had to go to cheaper conventional lines instead," said farmer Dave Hancox.

However, poultry farmer Matthew Jamieson struggles to cater for demand.

"We sell turkeys for $16.50 a kilo, if you're buying them elsewhere you'd probably pay more like $20 for our same product," he said.

"You do tend to pay premium here."

He says organic turkey prices are probably double non-organic prices, but customers are not complaining.

One woman from Victoria says she never goes into supermarkets now, and only ever shops at farmers markets.

This trend is even stronger in cities, where farmers markets are thriving as more people look for an alternative to supermarkets and shopping centres.