Five Highlands producers have been announced as state winners in the 2018 delicious. Produce Awards. 

Moonacres Farm, Li Sun Mushrooms, Pecora Dairy, Redleaf Farm and Taluca Park were announced as winners in either the From the Earth, From the Paddock or From the Dairy categories. 

Judged by some of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs, the awards are a highlight on the foodie calendar, and have catapulted previous winners onto the menus of both top chefs and home cooks alike.

Delicious. editor-in-chief Kerrie McCallum said this year new, innovative and consistently outstanding produce claimed the top spots. “In 2018 we continue to celebrate new, innovative, native and consistently outstanding Australian ingredients grown, caught or produced with dedication, passion and regard for the environment,” she said. 

Moonacres Farm, founded in 2006 by Phil Lavers, was announced as a From the Earth winner for NSW. 

Though always interested in quality and organic produce, Mr Lavers had next to no farming experience when he began planting on the 140-acre property near Fitzroy Falls. “I had no idea what I was doing,” he said. “I used to go to the Burrawang Pub to ask for advice. There’s nothing more exciting to a bunch of half-tanked guys than a bogged tractor.”

It’s been a process of trial and error to get Moonacres where it is today, but Mr Lavers has relished the challenge.

“There’s no excitement in the easy work,” he said. “Take the bad stuff, the waste, your failures; compost it. Then use it to grow, to nourish your future.”

Growing fruit and vegetables without chemicals is vital to Moonacres’ aim of growing the best tasting produce available. “Winning this award is a fantastic thumbs up to people like me working the land, doing the best we can,” Mr Lavers said. 

The state winners’ produce will be blind-tasted by a national panel of judges in August, who will decide the overall category winners.