Old farmgates open new doors

Jason Hagan's family has farmed and butchered animals for the past 100 years at Tooborac, 90 kilometres north of Melbourne. In the farm's early days, the family would sell meat from a room next to the homestead. Now, nearly a century later, Hagan and his wife Belinda have found themselves inviting customers to the property once again.

"When COVID hit, we lost our restaurant sales straight away," says Belinda Hagan of McIvor Farm Foods which specialises in free-range Berkshire pigs. "Then the farmers' markets started closing down. We were left with no choice but to rapidly turn our new butchery into a farmgate shop."

The Hagans have joined a growing number of Victorian farmers bringing back the time-honoured tradition of the farmgate store. As farming families lose traditional customers and find the need to shore up finances, they are building on-farm outlets to sell the food they grow.

The McIvor farm shop has become the centre of a diverse distribution system that involves online sales and delivery to local hubs, plus direct sales to the public, done over the old wooden counter once used by Jason's grandfather.

"Farmgate has so many benefits for us," says Belinda Hagan. "It has meant we can restructure our business. We can cut lesser loved parts of the pig into prime cuts, meaning almost no waste. It has been great for our neighbours who can sell their poultry through us and we can sustain our livelihood and farm."

At Spring Creek Organics near Ballarat, vegetable growers David and Lisa Tatman lost their farmers' market income due to the pandemic. Established six years ago, their little farmgate shop has gone from a sideline to lifeline since March. Housed in an old shipping container, it brims with freshly harvested produce, plus milk from the neighbour's dairy and local eggs.

David Tatman's story is like so many small farmers once selling their produce to the wholesale market. "It was breaking our backs and sending us broke," he says.

"With the bank breathing down our neck, we started at farmers' markets and were paid full retail prices. With COVID, we pulled out of the markets, and straight away we had people queuing up in their cars down the road. The council ran a campaign for locals to support locals and sales wise, we did not miss a beat."

Local support has buoyed Lynton and Aimee Fisher's confidence, too. Six weeks ago, they opened the gate to their cool-climate citrus farm, Kingfisher Citrus, at Nambrok, 200 kilometres east of Melbourne. Their shop is a chic, upcycled shipping container covered with timber and corrugated iron, and full of citrus, avocados and pumpkins.

"The coronavirus has sped things up," says Aimee Fisher. "Farmers have either had to get big or get clever marketing their crop for full retail. You need diverse avenues of income otherwise we won't last another generation on the land."

During the drought, the Fishers were hit with foreign citrus imports, sky high irrigation costs, and rising farm expenses. They were forced to downsize their orchard and raise income.

The husband-and-wife team started selling produce through farmers' markets before expanding to online sales, local delivery, and now, farmgate. Their business model has gone from a handful of big annual export orders to thousands of small transactions a month.

"Including the honesty box out the front," Fisher says with a grin.

McIvor Farm Foods

Pre-pandemic: sold old breed Berkshire pork to Victoria's best restaurants.

Now: closures of regular outlets saw McIvor's butchery fast-tracked to public-facing farmgate store in July.

Belinda Hagan: "We have come full circle. Jason's grandfather was butchering his own animals and selling the meat almost a hundred years ago. Now we're doing the same."

Spring Creek Organics

Pre-pandemic: Central Victorian grower David Tatman turned to farmers' markets trade after wholesale vegetable prices almost sent him broke.

Now: Tatman has left the markets and found Spring Creeks little farmgate store saving his bacon.

David Tatman: "People like the flavour and freshness of veg from the farmgate."

Kingfisher Citrus

Pre-pandemic: fourth generation citrus producers from selling through farmers' markets.

Now: The Fishers hand-sell bags of oranges at their shipping container store and deliver produce boxes through online sales.

Aimee Fisher: "Farmers need to be smart in the way they find markets and get the best price for their product. We also have amazing fruit."