BELLOPY MARKETS EVERYDAY- COURIER SUN ARTICLE 19th November, 2014 Bellopy Markets may well be back at the Anglican Church grounds, but organiser Susan Weil has not stopped to celebrate. Instead, determined to bring organic local food onto the plate of all shire residents, she has overseen the development of a new trading venture - it’s a Facebook page for producers and customers to trade and Susan told the Courier-Sun why this came about. “I often sound like a nagging parrot … buy local, buy organic, support our own green economy, and its repetitive and overused, but until you grow your own food, you just don’t realise how much work is involved,” Susan said. “Right now we’re having the worse drought in years and we’re all feeling it, which means local farmers and produces need the community’s support more then ever.” Susan said it was in response to people asking her where they can source local organic produce and how they can help make it easier for farmers, that she decided to “bust open the food paradigm and create a transparent, honest and fair system for both farmers and buyers”. So she set up a closed group Facebook page called bellopy blackmarket produce. “I did this as a way to encourage local growers and shops and cafes to be able to easily buy and sell produce on Facebook ... and it really weeds out the people that talk about it and actually do something about it,” Susan said. “This page allows farmers/growers to sell their produce at a price that works for them and bring more growers on board as they can start to sell their produce online to anyone who wants it. “It also allows the shops to have access to locally produced organic food at a good price - we can see daily who is selling what and whos buying what in an open platform that builds community relationships and we can see clearly whos putting their money where their mouth is.” Susan said what she cared about most was that growers don’t go home with leftover produce at the end of market day. Though some businesses do support the local growers, namely Kombu, Hearthfire, 5 Church Street and Haffla Dips, she hoped more restaurants and cafes would take advantage of the trading platform. One business that has accepted Susan’s call has been Bellingen IGA’s owner Rhonda Rowland. Rhonda has already been proactive in listening to the community’s calls when six months ago she stopped selling caged eggs - IGA now only sell free range or organic eggs, and preferably local. “Rhonda asked to join our trading page and said IGA wanted to set up a special section in-store that supports us,” Susan said. “They’ve already made their first trade – a box of artichokes, Moroccan mint, garlic flowers, spinach, salad mix and rosemary and I look forward to seeing all our stallholders products filling their shelves, deli counters and fridges in the near future with beef, pork, cheeses, buffalo meat, ice cream, buffalo mozzarella and much more.” If you’re a local organic producer or a local business interested in buying locally produced organic and spray-free food in the Bellingen Shire, check out the Facebook page, bellopy blackmarket produce closed group and ask to join.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 20:22:49 +0000
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