Small farmers take control of their supply chain with new Tasmanian Producers Collective

The new Tasmanian Producers Collective, which has operated the Tamar Valley Hub since July, plans to open new hubs in the North, North West and also the South by September.

These hubs allow producers access to a statewide-base of customers, where food produced on farms in the North and North West is available for purchase by customers in the South, and vice versa.

Tasmanian Producers Collective chairwoman Larna Pittigilo said they were currently in the process of organising new hubs and are looking for new food producers from all three regions to participate.

She said the collective works by consumers ordering and paying online, the various produce is collected at one point, orders are boxed and then customers pick up from the designated point.

"At the beginning of Covid a group of producers in the Tamar Valley were discussing how they could create new supply chains to get their excess produce direct to consumers. What came out is that producers wanted to have more control and more say in their supply chains moving forward," Ms Pittigilo said.

"The other important thing was to reduce distribution costs so more money stays in farmers hands. There is a three to five per cent distribution cost [with the collective] which is low compared to the 10 to 15 per cent cost elsewhere."

She said the objectives of the collective were threefold.

"One is to obviously promote ethically sourced, local Tasmanian food, which is direct from producers and delivered straight to consumers, another is to reduce distribution costs, the third is to educate people about where their food comes from and how it is grown," she said.

"Given the current circumstances people have lots of concerns about supermarket supplies, are they going to run out, and panic buying resulted. This model is going to avoid all these kinds of issues because the supply chain is direct and consumers have a direct connection with producers.

"The more connected the producers are with their consumers the more brand loyalty exists, and they get repeat business."

Fork It Farm producer Kim Croker said not only was there a reduced distribution cost, but also time savings and sales security.

"It is a low time commitment, you don't have to stand at farmers markets for eight hours and hopefully sell your product - you know before you go that it is sold," shes aid.

"It is also very flexible. One week you are in and the next you might be out as you don't have enough produce to sell."

She said she knew of a similar group in Gippsland, Victoria, selling about $40,000 worth of produce between 30 producers every week.

"It is just makes selling a bit easier. Not every farmer or not every consumer is able to make it to farmers markets, so this just provides another alternative for growers and buyers."

The Tasmanian Producers Collective uses The Open Food Network for online orders.