Buying sustainably-farmed vegetables

Sustainable vegetable production nurtures the environment, providing nutrients to the soil, rather than taking them away. It maintains soil resilience for future generations while minimising carbon emissions from production and harvest to transport and packaging. Sustainable veggies are generally chemical free – produced without the use of chemical fertilisers, or bug and weed killers. They’re produced close to home, and they’re consumed in the season in which they grow. It can be tricky to identify sustainably grown veggies, but organic certification is a good start. There are, however, many chemical free vegetable producers who aren’t organically certified. The Illawarra is abundant with small scale local producers who grow a variety of chemical-free, sustainably-produced fruits and vegetables – available throughout the region.