The Dirt – DECEMBER 2024

Welcome to the December 2024 edition of our monthly newsletter, The Dirt, where we dish the dirt on the latest comings and goings of Sprout Tasmania.

ceo update

I feel like I say it every year, but how did it get to December?!

I am so thrilled that as I type this, I can hear raindrops on my roof as we are getting substantial rain across the state. I hope some is falling in your part of Tassie.

Most people who have spent any time with me over the last 6 months know that meat processing is a hot topic of conversation, wherever I go! Through these wonderful conversations with people, I am really getting a feel for just how tenuous the service kill industry is in Tassie, and not just for farmers, but for butchers, retailers, chefs and consumers too. I only wish I could tell you that I’ve found the ‘silver bullet’ to solve it all. But this won’t sway our desire to keep pushing.

I was thrilled to see recently in VIC, that the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee released their final report (all 324 pages of it) and recommendation #27 stated that the VIC government needed to ensure access to service kills for small-scale farmers, and then amend their Meat Industry Act 1993 (VIC) to include provision for and definition of micro-abattoirs, including mobile. What an achievement! Now to see those recommendations enacted into legislation to embed these changes.

Then 3 days later, I was shocked to see from AFSA, a post stating that their local abattoir had provided one month’s notice to farmers, stating their minimum quantities had increased.

Needless to say, we are not alone in Tassie, and much more work needs to be done at a state and national level, to ensure our food supply chains are fit for purpose for small-scale ag, that the planning scheme is scale appropriate and that finance support is available and values aligned.

On a different note, we had some great news for Sprout last week…

We were successful in our grant application through the Strategic Industry Partnership Program with the State Government, and secured $183K over 2 years to support our work with capacity building within the small-scale producer sector. Thank you to the Tasmanian State Government, for walking the walk in this regard and seeing that this work is needed, valued and bloody necessary!!

Woop woop!! Here’s to a cracking 2025!

Stay safe during the holiday season, connect with loved ones, enjoy some time on country, tread lightly and always be curious!

Happy holidays,
Jen

Growing Good

The stage is set for our big fundraiser, Growing Good. Food has been prepped, drinks are being chilled, the auction is going off, and we’re ready for a wonderful night.
A huge thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket, we’re looking forward to seeing you later on. And a massive thanks to all the organisations that donated an auction item – we’re so grateful to you all.

Growing Good Auction:

The Growing Good Auction will be closing at 9pm tonight (Sunday Dec 1). As always, this is an online, silent auction, so anyone can bid. Indeed, if you’re not coming to Growing Good you have the advantage of not being distracted by the food, drinks and speeches!

We have a ridiculous amount of items to be won – from whisky to carpentry, farm tours to books, boutique accommodation stays to biochar, there is something for everyone. Please go forth, snaffle up some early Christmas presents and help us raise money to grow good!

The Small Producer of the Year Award – congratulations Broom & Brine!

At Growing Good we will be presenting the winner of the 2024 Small Producer of the Year Award with the traditional wooden spoon, carved from wood taken from last year’s winners, Fat Carrot Farm.

This year we saw a record number of votes, for a total of 20 different farmers. And the runaway winner was…Broom & Brine.

Grace and Dylan have come close to winning it in recent years, and are deserved winners for their incredible produce, the passion for growing, the techniques they employ, and the care which they approach managing their land, and running a small business. Congratulations legends!

Below are just a small handful of the things people said when nominating them:

They educate, support, research for growers while providing to ethical food to community. They think locally and act appropriately globally. They tick every box and act with humility.
They continue to lead the way for small scale growers, showing what is possible and sharing their knowledge generously along the way. They are proof that we have a business that is true to our values and sustainable financially.
To me Broom and Brine is the gold standard of vegetable production in Tasmania. Diversity year round, consistent high quality, huge detail provided about each product and their operation overall.
These two folk have set up the most well thought out market garden I know of in Tassie. Their business model is inspiring and they are so happy to share what they have learnt with others.
Outstanding produce, incredible commitment to their CSA members, always experimenting and honing, selecting varieties of vegetables that offer the best flavour, generous sharing of processes with the public, CSA members and other small scale farmers, especially around the lean approach. Wonderful humans who are experienced, curious, intelligent, critical, who care for the earth they steward and the humans that they nourish.
Endless and unconditional support and open books and hearts. Nonstop innovation bringing our whole sector and culture along and upwards! I could keep going!

interested in sitting on our board?

We’re sadly saying goodbye to two long-standing board members, Libby Graham and Stephen Peak.

Libby and Stephen’s contribution over the last few years cannot be understated. Libby spent much of her time on the board as Chair, and we thank her for driving Sprout forward, and for being such a passionate advocate for small-scale farming and for fair food systems. Stephen’s support has never wavered, and we thank him in particular for his work in making Growing Good such an important part of our calendar.

We’ve made some big changes strategically, taken some huge leaps forward in the effectiveness of our work, and held a number of successful events, and the work both Libby and Stephen have put in will forever be appreciated.

But the life of a NFP rolls on, and this of course means there are two places to fill on the board.

If you are interested, please send your CV and cover letter via email to our Board Chair – kateplaschke@sprout.org.au

Small-scale Tasmanian meat processing – survey

Our service kill meat processing survey is now live, and we need as many responses as possible. This survey will help us understand the current and potential demand for livestock processing by way of service kills across Tasmania.

This survey is for any farmer of livestock for the consumption of meat, in Tasmania, where they retain the ownership of their product.

This includes:

those who are already processing and selling their meat, using a service-kill abattoir.
those who would like to explore selling their meat but haven’t ventured down this road yet.
those who are using home-kill for their own purposes, but want to look at going commercial.
those who are selling as a commodity, but are exploring diversifying their channels to market and going direct to consumer.

What are we hoping to understand?

The questions are designed to gather information about level of demand (current and potential), location, species type, full supply chain data including transport to and from abattoirs and butchery services.

Complete the survey here

the sprout producer program – meet the 2025 cohort

November saw us interview applicants for the 2025 Sprout Producer Program, and we’ve put together a cohort of 11 outstanding producers (Ollie wants to call them the Sprout First XI). We say it every year, but it’s so refreshing to see capacity in the small-scale farming sector continue to grow, and we can’t wait to start work with this bunch of lovely humans!

Here’s a quick snapshot of the 11:

Chubby Cherry Farm

Kachina Lucas and Jimmy Westley run 15 acres of an established cherry orchard, amongst a 59-acre property with plans to incorporate livestock and poultry down the track. Located in the Huon, their focus is most definitely on the cherries for now, and while Kachina has plenty of market garden experience, and Jimmy lots of experience with his wild game meat business on the mainland, cherries are something new.

The Great Green Grower

Leah Case has turned her life-long hobby into a career and is farming vegetables on an urban block in Westbury. Her produce is sold through a CSA model and is hoping to expand to a second plot in the future. She loves the community relationships she has developed through a CSA and is keen to further popularise this openness between grower and consumer in the Meander Valley.

Golden Valley Harvest

Portia Whatley together with partner Rhys farm 42ha in Golden Valley, near Deloraine. They currently produce pastured eggs, although Portia has a long-term dream of operating a micro-dairy. Portia is the third-generation family member on her land, and in her own words ‘there is something really special about not only having my own observations and interactions with this landscape, but also the anecdotal accounts from my parents and grandparents of how she has changed, or stayed the same, over the last 70 years.’

Hop Valley Herb Farm

Monica Francia and Cara Brooke farm a ¼ acre block for medicinal herbs as part of their 16-acre property at Blackwood Creek in the Northern Midlands. They’ve been farming for several years – Monica was leasing land at Rocky Top Farm while Cara worked (and still does) at Goulds Herb Farm. They’re passionate about biodynamics, community, and providing good quality medicine and food.

La Luna Organic

Harry Chandler runs a 2-acre market garden in Bridgenorth, close to Launceston. Having previously worked on larger sheep, cattle, and olive farms in South Australia, and as a trained chef, Harry is enjoying building a small-scale market garden from the ground up, selling his veg locally, although doesn’t enjoy the vagaries of the weather, especially in recent months!

Lightwood Larder

Austen Graham and Ash Lewis are the folks behind Lightwood Larder, a 30-acre farm in the Huon Valley. They’re in the process of establishing a small market garden and are busy building meaningful connections in the area. In Austen’s words, ‘Ash & I are new to everything! New to Tasmania, new to the Huon Valley and new to agriculture. Besides suburban backyard vegetable growing and having a small backyard nursery during the pandemic, we’re learning on the fly’.

Luke Simmons and Lisa Cutfield (no farm name yet)

Luke and Lisa live in Branxholm. They have a 1.5ha property which is being established for fruit, vegetable, honey, and flower production. They already grow for their own consumption and are looking to take the next step and start producing food for their local community,. All of which is particularly exciting for Jen, who spends many holidays with her family mountain biking in the area!

Reed Bee Growers

Jess Knight leases 1.5 acres at Five Bob Farm, in Birchs Bay. With a good amount of experience under her toolbelt, Jess is now into the second season for her own market garden. She has a clear vision of the techniques she wants to use and the crops she will grow and is looking forward to meeting other farmers. As she says, ‘I feel like I have found my calling working in small scale agriculture. I love it, and I still want to pinch myself when I think that I have been lucky enough to work in and make a living in this field.’

Sounds Rivulet Farm

David Reinbold has a 35-acre property in Murdunna, on the Tasman Peninsula. Having worked in building design for 30 years, David is transitioning to a more meaningful way of earning an income, with a particular focus on mushroom production that minimises waste. He upcycles invasive weeds and forest debris into substrate, and for making compost, biochar and sustainable firewood.

Tiny Farm Tas

Dimity May runs a flower and vegetable seedling business in the Huon. She is a passionate advocate for smaller and more localised farming systems, as well as organic growing. Before moving to Tassie she ran a small farm in Canberra supplying local supermarkets with seedlings. The business also ran a 120-person seedling CSA across the Canberra community. She has begun a similar business here in Tassie, and is also busy exploring other enterprises including cattle, pigs and growing native flowers.

Verti Farm

Jess Kursawe runs a microgreen, herb, and edible flower business in Lebrina, in Tassie’s NE. Working as a registered nurse for many years she began to understand the importance of seasonal, nutrient dense food and for the last few years has shared her journey through her Instagram profile – @lifeatwoodsongfarm. Through her new enterprise she hopes to ‘contribute to the already fantastic group of producers in our state to deliver fresh, real food to the consumer, build relationships and community as well as farming in a regenerative manner’.

calling all market gardeners – veggie pricing survey

In the spirit of sharing information among peers, some small producers have been running a survey of retail vegetable prices. The survey runs fortnightly through the peak part of the growing season and participants receive anonymised responses.

Send an email to Christie (veggies@oldorchardfarm.com.au) or Briony (fatcarrotfarm@gmail.com) if you’re interested in participating or would like to know more.

nsw draft regulation – leafy greens update

We have looked on with interest as the NSW Government unveiled its draft Food Regulations for 2025, released this week for public feedback.

The draft includes new licensing requirements for berry, leafy vegetable and melon producers and processors, that include licensing fees, inspections and water testing.

You can ready the draft here.

As we know, food safety laws are set by the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code, but it’s up to each state to set out how these are implemented. We continue to try to work with the Tasmanian Government to see how the laws will be implemented here.

world soils day special double soil film screening

We’re not giving much notice here, but if you’ve got nothing on this afternoon (Sunday December 1) and live in or around Launceston, NRM North in partnership with Nviro Media will be hosting a special screening of two new soil films at the Star Theatre Launceston.

The two soil films that will be screened are Thankful for Soil, an Australian soil film and Six Inches of Soil a UK soil film both sharing the views of farmers passionate about soil health, the screenings will be followed by a farmer panel discussion with the filmmaker and farmers.

become a showcased producer on discover regenerative

Discover Regenerative is an online portal that showcases Australia’s leading regenerative producers, their products and credentials, It makes it easier for wholesale buyers to find regenerative producers and products and connect.

Why be showcased?
This is an opportunity for farmers to demonstrate the steps you are taking, and what you have achieved on your journey so far. The directory is building a compelling landscape of action and real results across Australia. Being showcased is free and only takes 4 steps. Find out how to get listed

Join onboarding session
Prue from OFN will be hosting a group onboarding session on Monday 9 December, 9:30 – 10:30am AEST. In this session, Prue will screenshare and walk through the onboarding steps involved in building your showcase. This is a great opportunity to ask questions, make a start and access support. Email Prue to join the session

Discover Regenerative is a collaborative initiative led by Open Food Network Australia.

We hope you had a wonderful end to 2024. As ever, do get in touch if you have any questions or issues. We’re always here to help.

Thanks as always,
The Sprout Team.