For fifth generation Hunter Valley farmer David Sivyer its all about growing the food you eat.
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And ideally growing that food using organic and sustainable methods.
With a background in hospitality when David first returned to the family farm he established a business producing fertiliser and soil conditioner from food scraps he collected from local restaurants, cafes and hotels.
The 400 hectare farm, located at Halton near Gresford, operates as a beef grazing enterprise.
In those early days David expected to use the compost on the farm and sell any surplus product but now more of the finished product is finding its way into other markets.
David has put the compost into planter boxes he has made from old pallets and waste hessian.
“We use a variety of waste to create a food growing product,” David said.
“Some compost is still sold in bags for home garden use but now we are creating our own urban farms in Newcastle and improving the plot’s soil quality with the compost we produce.”
Today he collects 1200 litres of waste each week from local businesses and transports them back to the farm where they are laid in 40metres windrows.
His father, Peter Sivyer, converted their forage harvester which is used to shred the waste to create the compost.
“Dad’s a typical ingenious farmers making something new and workable from an old piece of farm equipment,” he said.
“He got rid of the chute of the forage harvester so the shredded material now just falls in the windrows.”
David’s latest enterprises involves turning bare plots of land in Newcastle into thriving vegetable gardens.
He describes the business as a social enterprise deigned to encourage behavioral change.
By transforming ‘barren’ plots into productive food bowls David is hoping residents will see the change and think about doing something similar in their own backyards.
At this stage David is principally producing a salad mix on the plots and selling the produce back to cafes.
“Its a cycle using the organic waste form cafes to produce the compost we use to grow their salad greens, “ he said.
David is also conducting workshops for the non-gardeners to encourage them to become what he calls ‘one hour farmers’.
“For many spending that time regularly in the garden can result in plenty of homegrown produce,” he said.