in the breaks in between our presenters, our host farmers took us for tours to different areas of the farm and gave us all an insight into life on this large busy multi-faceted farm…

lina’s amazing organic tomatoes and garlic – the garlic she has grown every season for over forty years, from original italian homeland garlic – a sought after product through the local realfood network and other local vendors. lina’s tomatoes are also renowned for their quality and sweetness, and her many varieties of heritage greens are also in demand…

part of lina’s families’ daily meals always come from her abundant organic garden, which feeds everyone on the farm and the excess goes to market…

go to our video section to see and hear lina and bruno and carlo talking about the family farming heritage, and the various ways their farm is in transition to regenerative agriculture practices…

you can tell a good farmer

by how much he/she loves their soil…

along the way to hosting the convergence for ‘friends of the farmers’ there have been many trials and tribulations for the brandimarte family.

one of the reasons the brandimarte family were approached to host the convergence was an evident love of what they do, and of their love of, and interest in nourishing their soils.

like many other farmers, over the years with the changing market situation, farmers have often been the last ones to be rewarded for their hard work, with agents and supermarket chains making much more per kilo than the people who build the soil, purchase the seed, grow the produce, adjust to the seasons and weather anomalies, navigate irrigation requirements for various crops, maintain the crops through-out the seasons, organise the harvest, the packing, the transport, etc., only to be talked down on price per kilo at the final hour…or worse, have agreements broken, leaving the farmer with a harvest crew, and a crop ripe for picking, and no-where for it to go…this is what happens to our food-growers so that agents and supermarket chains can increase their un-earned profits.

consumers at the purchasing end of the trail actually have a lot to do with the outcome, and where and how we buy our food makes a world of difference to the people who grow our food. how do you support your local growers? how do you as a grower connect with your local food-growing customers?