AU: Local produce stays local
Local group Relish Capricorn is hoping to cut down that time, from farm to consumer, and provide the local community with a greater variety of produce.
Relish Capricorn Coordinator Jason Pfingst says a farmers' market in Rockhampton could reduce costs for growers and consumers alike.
"Certainly farmers' markets within areas like Brisbane have grown substantially for the last 20 years and there's farmers everywhere of sort of five hours from Brisbane that will travel to Brisbane to sell their produce direct to the public," he says.
"There's other examples where people are selling not only at farmers' markets but then direct to restaurants and then other examples that show that they'll sell into independent supermarkets and some of the major supermarkets as well.
"So it provides a bit more diversity but also a bit more opportunity to build their business so it supplies the local market rather than just selling to a wholesaler in Brisbane."
He says producers in Bundaberg who selling to supermarkets are seeing their produce return to the region at a substantially higher price than what they sold it for.
"If they are able to sell directly to the local market there's certainly an ability to get a better return for the producer," says Jason.
"The survey results that we've had back so far from consumers shows there's a strong interest and people are indicating on the survey results they're even prepared to pay a slight premium if they know they're getting the produce from a local farmer."
He says a farmers' market would improve the food culture in the region.
He says farmers who are processing food on their farm are also value adding to their product.
"It's adds a bit more diversity to food so rather than I guess getting a tomato that looks the same every time you go into the supermarket you might end up with three or four varieties of tomatoes that you can choose from," says Jason.
"Some of those varieties may not be suited to the nature of the supply to the larger supermarkets."
He says a farmers market would also improve income security for producers.
"The floods at the start of last year was a situation where, with certainly the pineapple industry, they were in a position where they couldn't get their fruit out," he says.
"I guess if we can shorten the supply chain between the growers and the customer and have a couple of options for them to sell rather than just the supermarkets then we're hoping that will alleviate some of those problems.
"In other areas there's up to 35 percent of the local market that's outside the two major supermarket chains."
He says they're hoping to hear from more stakeholders to see if there really is a strong demand like the initial surveys are indicating.
"In the feedback from the consumers to date, they say it's difficult to know what's local produce and what's not so we need to find a way to make it easy for consumers and the restaurant sector to easily identify regional produce," says Jason.
"So how do we start telling the story of the local farmers."
He says it's vital to create a regional identity when it comes to local produce so that consumers can identify and know the type of produce that comes from the region.
He says they'll be wrapping up their report within the next month and will be reviewing the findings.
"It's still early stages but there's certainly strong feedback from consumers that they would like regional produce," he says.
"We've seen lots of good examples in other regions where regional produce has been very successful and farmers' markets have grown substantially."
Pineapple grower Barry Brooks says a local market will shorten the distance from farm gate to market and will provide locals with fresher produce.
"At present, most product would be a minimum if it goes through a distribution centre, would be around about seven days so all product has to be harvested before it's at its peak," he says.
"It takes long and it's handled more so it's not at the nutritionally or taste wise best that, that product could be."
He says the producers he's spoken to all support the idea.
He says we've moved away from local produce.
"We've gone to centralised marketing which is mainly in capital cities and it hasn't led to benefits in anyway, it's more expensive, there's more storage problems, travel and we don't need that," he says.
"We really want to get it straight from the farm to the customer."
Source: www.abc.net.au