Burgeoning small-scale farms and local produce markets in the ACT and New South Wales south coast region are at the centre of a push towards food sustainability by reconnecting consumers with local producers.

It is hoped that by educating buyers on where, how and who is growing their food they will be more invested in the produce and waste less of it.

Annabel Dobson lives on a small property just outside the ACT border and has been growing her own veggies for more than two decades.

“I ate a carrot out of our garden that my husband had grown for us in our small patch in our small suburban home in town and it tasted like my childhood,” Ms Dobson said.
“It just resonated with me, there was something about the flavour that just took me back to my grandfather’s quarter-acre block where he had rows of immaculate gardens.

“This carrot tasted like that and it was like ‘wow why aren’t we eating like this?'”

Ms Dobson is a regular at the Southern Harvest Farmers Market just outside of Canberra in Bungendore every weekend.

Samantha Hawker helped organise the markets and said the goal was to restore trust in the food system.

“Farmers aren’t able to trust where their food is going, let alone the people who are consuming it,” she said.

“It’s really about getting the farmers and the eaters together and selling direct to each other.”

Continue reading the article on the ABC website.

Words and photo by Georgia Hitch.