Our Farmer Friendly Guarantee - Learn How We’re Stepping Up Our Food Traceability Promise

At Farm Door, we’re committed to sourcing local produce wherever possible. As well as guaranteeing fresh, quality ingredients, it means we’re able to reduce carbon emissions made during the transportation of goods. Today, we’re excited to announce changes to our packaging which means you can scan a QR code and learn about our local veggie, meat, pasta and cheese producers.

Food traceability matters

When shopping in a supermarket or eating at a restaurant, do you stop to think about where your food comes from? Sadly, many ingredients are grown in one country, packaged in another, and shipped off to a supermarket in another location altogether.

Before reaching your plate, produce can go through any or all of these stages:

1. Seed modification — Plant and crop seeds can be modified, treated and travel great distances to a farm
2. Animal Feed — Grains and other animal feed and nutrients can be developed, processed and transported to farms, often via wholesale and retail distributors within Australia and overseas
3. Farm — Farming practices vary from farm to farm, depending on a farmer's education and view on the treatment of animals, water and environmental conservation. It’s important to get to know your farmer as there are some amazing farmers out there!
4. Processing — Picking, packing and sorting can happen on-farm, or in a processing facility
5. Transport — Land, air or sea miles between the farm, market, processor and distributor etc
6. Manufacturing — Produce can be further processed, or value-added in a factory
7. More transport — Land, air or sea miles between the farm, market, processing plant, factory, wholesale distributor etc
8. Distributor — Some products are sold to retail outlets via a distributor, others are sold directly from the farmer or local manufacturer to the consumer
9. Retailer — Where the final product can be sold
10. Packaging — Along the way, produce and products are packaged in various ways

Each step increases carbon emissions. Depending on whether it's an animal or plant product, these stages will vary, however, the Visual Capitalist states that worldwide there are approximately 13.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) emitted through the food supply chain per year. That’s a lot of greenhouse gas! So, how can we help?

Love local

The Riverina Food Bowl got its name for a reason. From Coolamon Cheese Co. to Zecca Handmade Pasta, Wollundry Olive Grove to Wolki Farm, our suppliers are locals and share our sustainability practices; we support low food miles and regenerative farming wherever possible. Ingredients are collected by us straight from the local farm, then cooked in-house and delivered directly to our stockists (soon, directly to your door!) Our goal is for our growing, prep and packaging to happen within a one-hour radius of the Farm Door kitchen!

Of course, there are occasions when we can’t source locally. In these cases, we make sure the further-afield companies have strong sustainability practices in place. In supporting their business, we’re continuing the collective mission to save the planet.

If you’d like to make a positive change, here are some ideas to get started:

• Shop at your local farmer's market or farm shop
• Grow your own fruit, veg and herbs
• Eat seasonal ingredients
• Walk or cycle to the shops
• Opt to buy food with no (or eco) packaging
• Take interest in the food chain when you buy a product

Packaging with purpose

QR codes have become a way of us ordering meals, checking in to venues and now… learning where your food comes from! We’ve partnered with Rfider — a globally leading New Zealand-based supply chain traceability software — to add QR codes to our meal sleeves. As well as tracing ingredients back to their Riverina origins, you’ll also be able to ask us questions and access farm stories, exclusive prizes and health tips — right from the palm of your hand! With ‘transparency’ a key value at Farm Door, our new packaging will take you on a journey to get to know the people and journey behind your sustainably-sourced dinner.

It’s early days for this kind of tech at Farm Door HQ, so if you’ve got a suggestion of what you’d like to learn from our packaging, get in touch at community@farmdoor.com.au