Call for urgent financial assistance to save Lower Hunter vegetable grower

The Advertiser

4 days ago

Ten years ago, Matt Dennis was faced with a field of flood-damaged pumpkins, and he contemplated ploughing them back into the ground. Who was going to buy a muddy pumpkin?
Along came Amorelle Dempster and Slow Food Hunter Valley, which had plans to save and sell the muddy pumpkins through a market in Maitland.
That decision led to the eventual establishment of Maitland's Slow Food Earth Markets - an outlet that the Dennis family from Nebo Farm, East Maitland, have supported since it began.
This week, on Thursday the muddy pumpkins return to the Earth Market as flooding last month has again taken a toll on Nebo Farm.
Ms Dempster visited the farm this week and said 20 tonnes of pumpkins will be ploughed back into the ground, but five tonnes were above the water level and are now ready to market.
"It's devastating that so much of Nebo's crops have been lost in the latest flood event. It was the floods ten years ago that started our drive to establish a growers' market in Maitland, and now, should the Dennis family say enough is enough, what will happen to our Earth Market, as they are the last commercial grower in the Lower Hunter," she said.
"We need to protect growers like the Dennis family. Fresh and local produce is simply so critical, not only for food security but also for the supply of high-quality produce.
"Quality produce means better food and a healthier community."
To help save the farm's vegetable production, Ms Dempster said the NSW Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, should declare a Natural Disaster Category D for the region.
Such a declaration would invoke an exceptional circumstances assistance beyond Categories A, B and C, usually considered once the impact of the disaster has been assessed and specific recovery gaps identified. Category D assistance is requested from the states and requires agreement from the Prime Minister. This would ordinarily be grants, but may include loans.
A Category B declaration was made on 21/05/2025.
Ms Dempster said the farmers needed urgent financial assistance to replant and buy seedlings.
"The floods have wiped out their crops and their seedlings. Tens of thousands lost - so they need the government to act immediately," she said.
Highlighting the difficulties of growing vegetables only a couple of years after the Varroa mite arrived, and all the local bees were destroyed, fertilising the pumpkin plants became another challenge for the family.
As soon as the government allowed bees back in the district, 20 hives arrived at Nebo Farm, and they had been doing a fantastic job fertilising the pumpkins and other plants, Ms Dempster said.
So this Thursday at the Earth Markets at the Levee - pumpkins are top of the buying list.
Ten years ago, Matt Dennis was faced with a field of flood-damaged pumpkins, and he contemplated ploughing them back into the ground. Who was going to buy a muddy pumpkin?
Along came Amorelle Dempster and Slow Food Hunter Valley, which had plans to save and sell the muddy pumpkins through a market in Maitland.
That decision led to the eventual establishment of Maitland's Slow Food Earth Markets - an outlet that the Dennis family from Nebo Farm, East Maitland, have supported since it began.
This week, on Thursday the muddy pumpkins return to the Earth Market as flooding last month has again taken a toll on Nebo Farm.
Ms Dempster visited the farm this week and said 20 tonnes of pumpkins will be ploughed back into the ground, but five tonnes were above the water level and are now ready to market.
"It's devastating that so much of Nebo's crops have been lost in the latest flood event. It was the floods ten years ago that started our drive to establish a growers' market in Maitland, and now, should the Dennis family say enough is enough, what will happen to our Earth Market, as they are the last commercial grower in the Lower Hunter," she said.
"We need to protect growers like the Dennis family. Fresh and local produce is simply so critical, not only for food security but also for the supply of high-quality produce.
"Quality produce means better food and a healthier community."
To help save the farm's vegetable production, Ms Dempster said the NSW Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, should declare a Natural Disaster Category D for the region.
Such a declaration would invoke an exceptional circumstances assistance beyond Categories A, B and C, usually considered once the impact of the disaster has been assessed and specific recovery gaps identified. Category D assistance is requested from the states and requires agreement from the Prime Minister. This would ordinarily be grants, but may include loans.
A Category B declaration was made on 21/05/2025.
Ms Dempster said the farmers needed urgent financial assistance to replant and buy seedlings.
"The floods have wiped out their crops and their seedlings. Tens of thousands lost - so they need the government to act immediately," she said.
Highlighting the difficulties of growing vegetables only a couple of years after the Varroa mite arrived, and all the local bees were destroyed, fertilising the pumpkin plants became another challenge for the family.
As soon as the government allowed bees back in the district, 20 hives arrived at Nebo Farm, and they had been doing a fantastic job fertilising the pumpkins and other plants, Ms Dempster said.
So this Thursday at the Earth Markets at the Levee - pumpkins are top of the buying list.
Ten years ago, Matt Dennis was faced with a field of flood-damaged pumpkins, and he contemplated ploughing them back into the ground. Who was going to buy a muddy pumpkin?
Along came Amorelle Dempster and Slow Food Hunter Valley, which had plans to save and sell the muddy pumpkins through a market in Maitland.
That decision led to the eventual establishment of Maitland's Slow Food Earth Markets - an outlet that the Dennis family from Nebo Farm, East Maitland, have supported since it began.
This week, on Thursday the muddy pumpkins return to the Earth Market as flooding last month has again taken a toll on Nebo Farm.
Ms Dempster visited the farm this week and said 20 tonnes of pumpkins will be ploughed back into the ground, but five tonnes were above the water level and are now ready to market.
"It's devastating that so much of Nebo's crops have been lost in the latest flood event. It was the floods ten years ago that started our drive to establish a growers' market in Maitland, and now, should the Dennis family say enough is enough, what will happen to our Earth Market, as they are the last commercial grower in the Lower Hunter," she said.
"We need to protect growers like the Dennis family. Fresh and local produce is simply so critical, not only for food security but also for the supply of high-quality produce.
"Quality produce means better food and a healthier community."
To help save the farm's vegetable production, Ms Dempster said the NSW Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, should declare a Natural Disaster Category D for the region.
Such a declaration would invoke an exceptional circumstances assistance beyond Categories A, B and C, usually considered once the impact of the disaster has been assessed and specific recovery gaps identified. Category D assistance is requested from the states and requires agreement from the Prime Minister. This would ordinarily be grants, but may include loans.
A Category B declaration was made on 21/05/2025.
Ms Dempster said the farmers needed urgent financial assistance to replant and buy seedlings.
"The floods have wiped out their crops and their seedlings. Tens of thousands lost - so they need the government to act immediately," she said.
Highlighting the difficulties of growing vegetables only a couple of years after the Varroa mite arrived, and all the local bees were destroyed, fertilising the pumpkin plants became another challenge for the family.
As soon as the government allowed bees back in the district, 20 hives arrived at Nebo Farm, and they had been doing a fantastic job fertilising the pumpkins and other plants, Ms Dempster said.
So this Thursday at the Earth Markets at the Levee - pumpkins are top of the buying list.
Ten years ago, Matt Dennis was faced with a field of flood-damaged pumpkins, and he contemplated ploughing them back into the ground. Who was going to buy a muddy pumpkin?
Along came Amorelle Dempster and Slow Food Hunter Valley, which had plans to save and sell the muddy pumpkins through a market in Maitland.
That decision led to the eventual establishment of Maitland's Slow Food Earth Markets - an outlet that the Dennis family from Nebo Farm, East Maitland, have supported since it began.
This week, on Thursday the muddy pumpkins return to the Earth Market as flooding last month has again taken a toll on Nebo Farm.
Ms Dempster visited the farm this week and said 20 tonnes of pumpkins will be ploughed back into the ground, but five tonnes were above the water level and are now ready to market.
"It's devastating that so much of Nebo's crops have been lost in the latest flood event. It was the floods ten years ago that started our drive to establish a growers' market in Maitland, and now, should the Dennis family say enough is enough, what will happen to our Earth Market, as they are the last commercial grower in the Lower Hunter," she said.
"We need to protect growers like the Dennis family. Fresh and local produce is simply so critical, not only for food security but also for the supply of high-quality produce.
"Quality produce means better food and a healthier community."
To help save the farm's vegetable production, Ms Dempster said the NSW Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, should declare a Natural Disaster Category D for the region.
Such a declaration would invoke an exceptional circumstances assistance beyond Categories A, B and C, usually considered once the impact of the disaster has been assessed and specific recovery gaps identified. Category D assistance is requested from the states and requires agreement from the Prime Minister. This would ordinarily be grants, but may include loans.
A Category B declaration was made on 21/05/2025.
Ms Dempster said the farmers needed urgent financial assistance to replant and buy seedlings.
"The floods have wiped out their crops and their seedlings. Tens of thousands lost - so they need the government to act immediately," she said.
Highlighting the difficulties of growing vegetables only a couple of years after the Varroa mite arrived, and all the local bees were destroyed, fertilising the pumpkin plants became another challenge for the family.
As soon as the government allowed bees back in the district, 20 hives arrived at Nebo Farm, and they had been doing a fantastic job fertilising the pumpkins and other plants, Ms Dempster said.
So this Thursday at the Earth Markets at the Levee - pumpkins are top of the buying list.