Caleb Graham of Maple Ridge Goat Dairy Farm at Falls Creek will use funds to purchase special containers that will allow him to use a new liquid feed product for his goats which in turn will lessen his transport costs and potentially increase profits without changing pricing.

Tim Cooper, an organic vegetable grower at Wandandian, will receive funds to go towards the acquisition of a small light weight Ferguson tractor, which will avoid soil compaction when attending to his crops. 

Joshua Strong of Strong Organics vegetables at Terara will receive funds towards the purchase of a two-row transplanter, to plant his seedlings more efficiently.

“We’re very happy to be able to reward the hard work of these young, sustainable producers with some funding towards growing their business” Rosie Cupitt leader of Slow Food Shoalhaven said.

“Our local small scale growers and producers are of crucial importance to the creation of a better local food community and I’m proud that our fundraising activities at events like the Milton Show and Gaia Farmers Market can feed directly back to our local community through these grants”.

The $5000 prize pool is allocated annually responding to specific capital acquisition requests made by the applicants, and was reviewed by a select panel of Slow Food Shoalhaven members.

Selection criteria reflected Slow Food’s core philosophy of Good, Clean and Fair.