Riley and Lachlan Hughes bucked the trend when they left the treadmill of their careers to become full-time market gardeners.
For decades their family's land at Woombye in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland hadn't run much more than a few cows.
Bare-footed Hughes children ran through the fields and posed beside a wooden fruit bin filled with pines grown on the rich red volcanic soil.But Nambour's sugar mill and Woombye's pineapple crops disappeared as the coast's population and real estate prices soared."I think access to land suitable for farming is probably one of the main barriers," Riley said.The brothers founded Honeyeater Farm in 2021.
Slower-growing vegetables such as fennel and leeks have been sown in the middle of the bed, with faster crops such as beetroot and spring onion planted on the sides."So, when those crops are harvested, that gives the crop in the middle of the bed the ability to then grow out and mature," Lachlan said.
"I think we also recognise that small businesses like ours, on their own, are probably stronger when we can form cooperatives with other farms."Young Farmers Connect south east Queensland chapter coordinator Grace O'Connor said the not-for-profit organisation supported an alternative to mainstream industrial-scale agriculture."It is fresh food; it's not being stored in a place for months.
"But, if you've ever run a small business, I'd say it's a fairly similar thing, there's a lot of sacrifice for a lot of years before you can achieve sustainability." Revealing that he had battled illness for a "significant portion" of the year, Lachlan Hughes praised his brother for his support."What we really tried to do this year is to apply lean principles to our farming enterprise and that means rally scaling it back," Lachlan said.
Farm Farmer Agriculture Market Gardening Horticulture Honeyeater Farm Organic Young Farmers Connect Pomona Country Markets Produce
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