When Euroa’s Renata Cumming and Shirley Saywell talk about food, it’s with a sort of reverence.
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Because they know the amount of blood, sweat and tears local producers expend to put food on your plate.
Which is why, when a stallholder from the Euroa Village Farmers’ Market – now closed due to coronavirus – came to them ask for help, they said yes.
Well – eventually.
“I said no three times,” Shirley admitted.
“I’ve got my fingers in a lot of pies in Euroa.
“But this stallholder could see the need. He said: ‘Look, some local producers are going to go out of business if we don't do something'.
“So finally, I said yes.”
The two women have launched Strathbogie Local, a drive-through farmers’ market.
Customers can now order their weekly produce online through the Strathbogie Local page, which can be found on web platform Open Food Network.
Their order will then be packaged and dropped into their boot when they visit the drive-through collection point at Euroa transport company Brady and Kibble on Friday afternoons.
The online market aims to provide a vital conduit between the region’s ‘artisan’ producers and their customers, now that farmers’ markets have shut down.
“We know there are a lot of producers who are really struggling. And we want to support them,” Renata said.
“Historically, these producers have been selling their products through farmers’ markets or to restaurants.
“They’ve now lost 90 per cent of both of those. So how do they sell?
“We decided there had to be an alternative way of supporting these producers who were losing revenue.”
Seven local producers have already signed up to sell through Strathbogie Local.
These include Miramonte Beef, Freeland Pork, Ross Tomatoes, La Dolce Vita Artisan Bread, Lisadurne Hill Olives, permaculture farm Murrnong and Somerset Heritage Produce.
Renata and Shirley hope their new enterprise will only grow from here, with a goal to at least double the number of suppliers in the future.
The duo has long been tapped into the region’s local produce scene.
Renata used to work on a dairy farm and currently deals directly with farmers through her job at Allflex, which sells sheep and cattle tags.
As for Shirley, she grew up on a dairy farm, getting her hands dirty from a young age helping her father tend the family vegie patch.
“We were taught quality food was paramount to good living – which has influenced the way we think,” she said.
“And we understand what it takes to produce food.”
She now runs transport company Brady and Kibble - also the new pick-up point for Strathbogie Local.
But that’s just a small portion of her extensive resumé.
Both she and Renata also head up the annual Twilight Hawkers Market, which aims to bring culture, food and music to the community. Plus a range of other local initiatives – too many to name.
“We've always been big on supporting community enterprise and the local economy,” Shirley said.
“We both believe you get out what you put in. Your community is only as strong as its base.”
Setting up the new market has been anything but simple – especially as many producers are new to the world of online sales.
“It's quite a big project. I'm spending at least an hour or two every day on it,” Renata said.
“In addition to running the market, we’ve needed to set up pages for our suppliers as many of them are not tech savvy.
“We're going above and beyond to help our suppliers get online.”
On top of throwing local producers a lifeline, Shirley and Renata hope the market will foster a culture of buying regional fresh produce.
“It's about letting people taste what food used to be like,” Shirley said.
While Shirley admits food from farmers’ markets could be more pricey, she urged customers to understand the cost of food production.
“A dollar for a litre of milk is unsustainable,” she said.
“We know current food pricing is killing the livelihoods of our farmers but it's also not enabling them to look after the land in the way they need to if we want our farms to be viable.
“The push downwards on farmers to create a high-value product for a low cost is not only killing producers – it's killing communities.”
As people take time to cook and appreciate food amid the pandemic – with some even making their own bread – the Euroa women said now was the perfect opportunity for consumers to think about what they put in their mouths.
“In a time of crisis, food is the most important thing,” Shirley said.
“People are thinking outside the box about how food fits into our community. The importance of food and the importance of producing good food.
“It takes a pandemic to think about what we put in our mouths.
“And it takes a pandemic to look around and see how our local producers are faring.”
To order from the drive-through farmers’ market, head to the Open Food Network website at openfoodnetwork.org.au and search Strathbogie Local.
A full product list is available on the site, including links to each of the producer’s pages.
While the website is always open, each shop is run in seven-day rounds, opening Thursday morning and closing Wednesday at 11 pm ahead of collection at Brady and Kibble on Friday from 12 pm to 4 pm.
To collect your order, simply drop in to the Brady and Kibble drive-through, where your box of produce will be delivered to your car.
Senior Journalist