Years ago the Morrow family would send all the produce from their Alstonville farm to the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets – and get a decent price for it.
But over time, costs increased and profits were squeezed by middle men to the point that they struggled to keep their farm viable.
It was the local markets that threw them a lifeline and kept them farming.
“You send to the (city) markets (and) you’ve got no control over what the agents sell it for or how they do it. They can more-or-less sell it for whatever they want, and you just get a little bit of that,” says Stan Morrow, a fourth generation farmer, now in his 80s.
“You have these markets here and you can say ‘well, I’m selling my spuds for $2.50 a kilo and that’s it’.”
Since the coronavirus crisis began, the farmers markets have become even more important to the Morrow family, which includes Stan, his nephew Rick, and Rick’s sister, mum and dad.
The community markets they attended – including the Lismore Car Boot Market and the Sunday markets at Bangalow and Brunswick Heads – have closed, leaving the Lismore Farmers Market and Mullumbimby Farmers Markets as their only outlets.
Rick and Stan run the stall at Mullum every week and have earned a loyal following there. Rick says the farmers markets have picked up a bit recently, which has helped make up for the loss of the community markets, and the family is grateful the community is continuing to shop local and show their support.
After a tough year last year with the drought, Rick says things are looking much better on the farm now.
They are harvesting their popular sweet potatoes and potatoes, avocados, green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes and pumpkin. New season snow peas and pecan nuts will be on their stall in the coming weeks, and broccoli in a month or so from now. Their much-loved strawberries will be on their way in the cooler months too.
Without the pressure to grow huge quantities of any one thing, or for it to look perfect, the Morrows grow many traditional and heirloom varieties that are known for their flavour rather than appearance or transportability, and their farmers market customers love them for it.
Stan says a lot of the new varieties have less flavour than the old ones.
“They look better, but they don’t taste as nice,” he said.
