I Wanna Be A Producer

People doing big things usually start small. We talk to Australian growers and makers about the dreams behind their dream businesses.

EMILY YARRA & MICHAEL KOBIER Brightside Produce, Anembo, NSW

“We just wanted to live out in the bush,” says Michael Kobier, half the duo that runs Brightside Produce. For Emily Yarra, Kobier’s partner in life and business, the progression to full-time work from law school didn’t excite her. The couple lived in Canberra at the time and dreamed of moving to the country and avoiding the city commute. “[But] we weren’t sure how that looked in a practical sense,” says Yarra.

Six years of WWOOFing (working on organic farms) in North America and Europe, labouring on commercial farms in Australia, reading, taking courses and dreaming gave them the answer: Brightside Produce, a chemical-free, organic farm in Anembo, 90 minutes’ drive south-east of Canberra. “We moved out here in July 2015, planted in October and were selling by December,” says Yarra.

They started by supplying friends and family with boxes of produce harvested that week. These days they grow between 15 and 30 varieties of heirloom vegetables at any time, supplying 25 produce-box subscribers (there’s more on a waiting list) and a range of Canberra cafés and restaurants, including Bar Rochford and Pilot. “We grow a certain range of vegetables because our soil needs the diversity to stay healthy,” says Yarra. “Subscribers get eight to 12 different seasonal vegies, changing each week.” These, and the chefs’ picks of what’s available, are driven to Canberra the day of harvest.

Unpredictable weather patterns and changes in climate don’t make this line of work easy. “We’d like to move into more perennial produce, like odd fruits and rare berries – we’re keen to become more adventurous,” says Yarra. “We’re always dipping our toes into more specialty stuff.”

RALF FINK