Cheap, local and in season: why Victorians are shopping at the farm gate

There's a mantra the owners at Torello Farm ask their customers to abide by as they enter through the roller doors of their farm-gate shop at Dromana, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

"We have this sign in the shop that says: throw away your shopping list and let mother nature guide you," says co-owner and director Sophie O'Neil. "Shop with your eyes."

Located 84km from the Melbourne CBD, the Torello farm-gate store sells seasonal produce on behalf of 80 local producers, as well as beef and lamb produced on O'Neil and her partner Mark Brancatisano's other farm just up the road.

O'Neil says she has noticed consumers becoming more "conscious about where they've been spending their food dollars".

At the farm-gate store vegetables are often priced lower than at the major supermarkets, but the offering is limited to what's in season.

"It can be likened to a farmers market," O'Neil says. "It changes with the season. But people come into our shop and see the produce has been harvested [down] the road or on the site and say, 'OK, let's give it a go'."

Tammi Jonas runs a farm gate and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program out of her pig and cattle farm, Jonai Farms in Eganstown in central Victoria. She says consumers are looking for more sustainable methods of shopping.

CSAs work on a yearly subscription model where the consumer pays and receives a box of local produce every month. The waitlist time for new metropolitan customers for Jonai Farms is now about 20 years, and one year for new regional customers.

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"We don't suffer the same with beef and lamb prices as the supermarket," Jonas says. "The change in commodity doesn't affect us so we're able to maintain a stable price in the cost-of-living crisis and I think that often gets overlooked.

"I can't imagine selling our food any other way."

Ballarat Wholefoods Collective president and founding member, Wendy Aston, says there has been a shift towards cheaper, seasonal produce thanks to the cost-of-living crisis.

Shopping at the collective allows customers to feel "they are doing the right thing for the environment", Aston says.

"Food miles is also a big thing [when] buying seasonal," she says.

Farm gate in name, not in law While those selling direct to consumers have noticed an uptick in people opting to shop sustainably as the major supermarkets continue to increase their prices , the regulations governing the sale of food to the public are stringent.

It's not always as simple as putting up a roadside stall and an honesty box. In much of the state, including Green Wedge zones, growers do not need a permit for a farm-gate stall with what is known as "primary produce sales". That is, the sale of produce grown on their property or adjacent properties. But in areas zoned rural living or rural conservation, a permit is required.

The Torello farm-gate store is within the Green Wedge zone. But because they sell food produced by a variety of producers, O'Neil and her partners were required to apply for a market permit.

Farm-gate stalls also must not be within 100m of a neighbour's house, and the area used to display and sell the produce must not exceed 50 square metres.

"The planning laws are supposed to be in place to protect the areas we live in and preserve the Green Wedge, but the farm gate is probably far less threatening than people buying land and land banking," O'Neil says.

In the Golden Plains shire near Ballarat, the Smythes Creek Farmgate shop is facing its own battle after council refused to issue it with a retrospective permit .

Formerly known as the Ballarat Mushroom Farm, the business expanded during the pandemic to become a small grocery store stocking local and regional produce.

But its change-of-use permit to a convenience store has been declined as the shop is too large to operate within a Rural Living Zone. The decision is now under review at the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal.

Smythes Creek Farmgate co-owner Monique Lunn says the rules and regulations should be updated to allow for greater competition against major supermarkets.

"We desperately need to modernise the world in which we live so that more of these little gems can pop up Australia-wide to ensure that we have competition in the marketplace to make sure that prices remain competitive, as it's the only way to keep prices low," Lunn says.

"Without competition we are at the mercy of the big guys."

Jonas is the president of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, alongside running her own farm shop. The organisation is in discussion with the Victorian government to reduce regulatory barriers to farm-gate sales such as restrictions to produce sold onsite and excessive permit requirements.

She says with the cascading crises including climate change, cost of living and food security, the government should be doing all it can to enable localised food economies and reduce regulatory barriers to selling local produce.

"We know from Covid lockdowns that we have logistical reasons that we need food close to where we live," she says.

"Our farm gate functions fine under the existing regulations but if we wanted to sell from another farm's butcher shop, then we couldn't.

"Not every farm has a farm gate. It doesn't suit all farms so to be able to collaborate and sell through one farm gate is more efficient to farmers who don't want to sell through a shop."

The Victorian government says it's working towards expanding the definition of "primary produce sales" to support broader collaboration between farmers and improve access to seasonal, local produce. That proposed change would allow the sale of produce grown elsewhere, subject to certain conditions.

"We're working to reduce regulatory barriers so Victorian farmers can sell their produce at the farm gate, making it accessible to their communities and visitors alike," a spokesperson said.

O'Neil says farm-gate stalls both promote local produce and encourage new agricultural businesses.

"The power of what we are doing is huge, so it was worth fighting for," O'Neil says.