Cheap, local and in season: why Victorians are shopping at the farm gate

Sophie O’Neil at family-owned Torello Farm Gate in Dromana, where produce from local farmers is sold, including their own Belted Galloway beef. Photograph: Penny Stephens/The Guardian

There’s a mantra the owners at Torello Farm ask their customers to abide by as they enter through the roller doors of their farm-gate shop at Dromana, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

“We have this sign in the shop that says: throw away your shopping list and let mother nature guide you,” says co-owner and director Sophie O’Neil. “Shop with your eyes.”