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“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates

Sharing Our Current Situation, And Why We Are Opening To Newcastle This Year

G'Day Folks,

Before I get started with this weeks newsletter. Just a reminder that we do re-use the waxed cardboard boxes you receive your produce in. If you could please flatten them by pushing down on the bottom of the box and un-clipping the bottom flap, you will see the box unfolds neatly and can then be left out for our delivery drivers. Please do not try and fold the box up into a smaller parcel as this will damage the box and make it unusable.

Ok, let’s get into this weeks newsletter!

I want to share with you our current situation. I have always valued having an honest relationship with you, one in which I share the good, the bad and the beautiful. But before I do, I want you to know, you must not feel like you're not already doing enough. Because you are doing enough, your support, your love and loyalty, is helping us change the food system for the better. If this model is successful, I believe everyone and everything that the food system touches will stand to benefit.

If you missed a newsletter or two, let me bring you up to speed. Myself and my family currently receive government support of $720 per week for each couple (myself and wife Emily, plus Mum and Dad). This government support is called ‘Farm Household Assist’, which is an allowance supporting many small to medium family farms struggling to survive the relentless pursuit of lowest cost forced by supermarket monopolies and the increasingly frequent damage caused by floods and droughts.

We wouldn’t be here today without it, but we are making progress and thanks to your support, we will be able to stand on our own feet eventually. But this government assistance will not last forever and is due to expire in a few years (possibly sooner with the upcoming election). It’s something that I sometimes worry about and this worrying has led to a decision. At some stage this year we will need to expand to Newcastle. This, I believe will ensure our business is large enough and strong enough to support itself, even through challenging economic or climatic periods.

The growth of our family farming business has been incredible. Thanks to you all spreading the word about our business, we have doubled our growth from 150 weekly orders to 300 during the last 12 months. But with that growth in sales, comes the growth in costs to keep up with the work load. We are still underpaying ourselves, with family members receiving approx. $18hr, sometimes much less depending on the week.
I must stop here though and reassure you again, this is not some sob story to gain sympathy. We know how tough it is to live with the rising cost of living and that you are all doing your best to support us. We are not asking you for anything more, you're doing your part and for that we are deeply grateful.

The reality is, over the last 100yrs our farms have gotten ever larger and larger to cope with pressure applied by a duopoly of supermarkets paying the farmers less. Farms had to consistently grow larger and larger to increase the volume of produce in order to make enough profit to stay afloat.
 
Typically our farmers break even most years, but if they do make a profit it’s usually less than 3%. These low and sometimes negative margins push all farms to become bigger, something we are trying desperately to avoid through our online model. By going direct to our customers from our farm and cutting out the supermarket, we hope to keep our farm at an ecological size and allow other small to medium family farms to grow the food that we can’t grow.

We always try to beat the supermarkets prices and provide the highest level of affordability possible. We provide free delivery, which is obviously not free, but the last time we charged what it cost our sales dropped immediately. We want everyone to be able to access chemical free and nutritious food. But a look at last year's numbers makes it quite evident that we must either increase sales or prices or we will not survive after the government support is withdrawn.

It is likely that we will need to increase some of our prices to match that of other organic retailers in our region and for those who live too far off the beaten path (sorry!) we will have to charge a rural surcharge fee, although this will only affect a very small portion of our customers. But in order to keep our prices as affordable as possible, we must increase our economies of scale also. Which means we will enter the Newcastle region this year.

My family's strong passion for a new way forward, will see us adapt and overcome any obstacle in our way. No longer will farmers only be able to sell to one of the big supermarkets for prices that often send them broke. Farmers will be able to determine a fair price their customers are willing to pay, based on growing the produce how the customer would like it to be grown. The supermarkets will no longer dictate the terms and conditions of how our land is treated, how our food is grown and what price both the farmer and customer must pay.
 
Strength and resilience is found only in diversity, yet our food system has lost its diversity at the same rate our family farms have disappeared. To live in a free world, we must be able to access our food from more than just a handful of corporations. We must not only protect, but increase our accessibility to the things that sustain us. We must not lose our voice in something so fundamental to our existence. The food system we all rely upon is responsible for this country's entire surface of arable land, soil, water and the ecosystems that support it. We cannot let a small handful of corporations who value profit above all else determine its future.

The model you are supporting has the potential to be copied many, many times by farms all across Australia. Once we can prove this model is financially viable, we can share our learnings with those willing to give it a go. I believe we can disrupt the current monopolistic food system and have a real chance of reviving the diversity we have lost. We will be able to increase our voice in how this nation's land, soil, water and environment is used to feed us. Let’s DO THIS!
Thank YOU for joining us on this epic journey & supporting Your local farmer!

Comments

Any chance you can sell in farmers markets in Sydney ? Even once a week?

Hi Team Sohip, just want to say Hi, and Thankyou for your passion, hard-work and devotion in bringing our community the best organic food we could ask for!
We haven’t been on the mid north coast for long, coming up to a year soon, but I’m so glad I found you guys. I’m thankful there’s is an awake community here that wants better and is taking action.
I’m not sure how I can help you guys, but I want to, I want to be part of the change. I’ve got a Retail back ground in sales and visual merchandising, so no idea in farming, but have always had a small veggie garden and love to grow my own herbs.
Please reach out if ever you need help, with anything, id be there in a heart beat!
kindest regards
The Becker Family. ( Alycia, Marty, Jaz & Bay)

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