The country might be in the grip of a cost of living crisis, but some consumers are willing to pay extra if it means more of their money gets to the farmer producing the food.
Baryulgil, New South Wales beef producers Bianca Tarrant and David McGiveron to started selling directly to consumers in the hope of getting better prices.
Five years after they started selling online they have more than 50,000 customers and a waiting list of about 600 farmers wanting to join their Our Cow business.
Ms Tarrant said the business had seen a 25 per cent increase in consumers since the recent allegations of supermarket price gouging.
“We’ve seen a huge increase, since all these allegations have come out, of people wanting to support farmers directly,” she said.
“I think it has a lot to do with the fact that people feel a little bit lied to, and they feel like they’ve had the wool pulled over their eyes by these bigger guys.”
But buying direct is not necessarily the cheaper option.
Our Cow sells rump steak for $43 a kilogram.
A price check by the ABC on March 7 showed Woolworths charging $33 and Coles $36/kg for grass-fed rump.
Ms Tarrant said her customers were prepared to pay a little extra if it meant farmers would be paid better.
“I think it’s just being able to ensure that the people that are producing the food are there for the long run,” she said.
“Because at the end of the day, if we don’t have farmers, we don’t have food.”
More farmers selling direct
Ms Tarrant said the growing customer base would allow her company to take on more of those farmers on the waiting list.
“Our Cow suppliers would be [paid] well above 20 per cent higher than what the market is at any given time,” she said.
“It’s not just livestock — we’re getting inquiries from egg producers and macadamia nut farmers, and olive oil and all sorts of different things that farmers all across the industry are producing.”
ANZ food price analyst Michael Whitehead said there was not much data on the “direct to consumer” sector.
“It’s probably a relatively small percentage, but in a market the size of Australia’s and with the number of farmers, it’s still a reasonable scale,” he said.
“It’s obviously increasing more as technology changes and people become more comfortable with it.”
The cost of living may be driving people back to the supermarkets for cheaper prices, but Mr Whitehead said there was demand for product with a point of difference.
“A lot of people with their mortgages going up are watching what their pay in the supermarket [but there are] people out there who may say, ‘I want something organic, or I want something from a particular region’, and they will pay that difference,” he said.
Price making, not taking
After four years of planning and calculations, Danielle and Cameron Douglas came up with their paddock to plate operation.
Crawney’s Hills to Grills Family Butchery is based in northern NSW and aims to cut the middle man out of the supply chain.
A mobile trailer operates as their boning room and butcher shop.
They have been delivering to the public for almost 12 months and each box comes with a thank-you note and a recipe.
“I love it, I love delivery weekend,” Ms Douglas said.
“It brightens me up because it’s a lot of work to get to that.
“Making the sausages and the mince and the packing … on Friday I deliver to people and they smile, they say thank you and they’re happy.”
Despite some of the challenges, the couple said they were now price makers instead of takers.
“That was the reason why we started, we wanted to be a price-maker,” Mr Douglas said.
“We sat down at the start and we said what are we going to be happy with per beast or per lamb consistently.
“Before we were doing this, you can put all your inputs in and you’re dictated to what it is worth at the end.”
Buying direct from farmers can be more expensive for customers, but Ms Douglas said there were a range of benefits for those able to afford it.
“From a welfare point there is an accountability on the farmer side to be transparent about how we look after our stock as more people want to know now how the animal is being looked after,” she said.
“The best part is the connection between people and the ability to ask questions and have an open conversation.”
Decades of ‘low food miles’
At Tintinhull, a few minutes north of Tamworth, the Quast family have sold their turkey products out of a shop at their farm for decades.
Vicki Quast’s father-in-law started doing so in the 1950s and the succeeding generations have built on the practice.
“A few decades ago a supermarket made an approach but they had far too much control over price and supply so we decided to not go with the supermarkets and I’m so pleased that we did,” Ms Quast said.
“We aim to support local clientele, people who want to buy directly from the farmer.
“You know exactly where the product has come from and you’ve got low food miles.
“Really it’s a win-win.”
Stories from farms and country towns across Australia, delivered each Friday.
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