Mid North Coast's Sohip Farm educates consumers on the price of quality vegetables

The Smith family own an organic farm at Lorne, where they grow a variety of produce and sell to residents.

Emily and James Smith made the decision to quit their Brisbane jobs and start the Sohip Farm in September 2019.

They are urging residents to educate themselves on why people need to pay a higher price for vegetables to ensure they purchase quality.

James gave the example of broccoli, where typically major supermarkets charge the customer between $2 and $3 for the vegetable.

"If you look at that price, there's really no way of achieving that...without removing every disease, insect ...living organism from touching it," he said.

James said the whole food system is fundamentally broken because it's becoming harder for farmers to make money when consumers expect to pay so little for produce, in an environment which is being impacted by climate change and the degrading landscape.

"We've all become accustomed to a very low price for our food," he said.

"Post WW2, industrial agriculture and chemical agriculture combined just went absolutely wild and drove the price of vegetables and fruit down to the lowest price we've ever seen."

However, James said that price was always artificial because it relied on detrimental impact to the natural environment.

"It relied on soil that was being mined, so it's getting lower and lower on nutrients, which means you have to use more chemical fertilisers," he said.

While many challenges have been thrown their way, James said the farm was never started to make money, rather he wanted to create a better world for his daughters to grow up in.

"If my sole purpose was to make money, I would've thrown the towel in 30 maybe even 50 times by now," he said.

The Smith family is one of many across the world working to improve the food system for future generations.

"We know something needs to change, we know the benefits can be there and that's what keeps us going," James said.

Sohip Farm produce is sold through their online store and Ken Little's Fruit & Veg in Port Macquarie.

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