Our Story
The Beginnings of Forage Farms
Forage Farms is a family operation located south of Gympie in the beautiful Mary Valley.
The story behind Forage Farms begins in the Bylong Valley where three generations of Andrews have lived on "Tarwyn Park" the celebrated home of Natural Sequence Farming, as developed by Stuart's father Peter Andrews. For over 40 years the family has been dedicated to understanding, practising and teaching methods of land rehabilitation. Natural Sequence Farming is used as a system of farming focused on implementing natural landscape functions back into degraded landscapes. The story of Tarwyn Park has been widely communicated with countless radio interviews and newspaper articles along with the story being featured on ABC’s Australian Story four times (these can be viewed here, here, here, and here).
This continued with Stuart creating Tarwyn Park Training, a training program for landholders throughout Australia to attend and learn about Natural Sequence Farming and how it can be implemented into their landscapes.
As a way of broadening the understanding of Natural Sequence Farming, Forage Farms was born to merge food production with landscape restoration.
The Connection Between Food and Farmer
We realised the key to changing the mindset around food production was connecting the farmer with the consumer.
People had to learn how their food was being produced, and the farmer had to know that the people wanted food produced with nature in mind and actively regenerating the land.
Forage Farms was started to create a model that the farmers we were educating in the training course could adopt—a model that focuses on restoring their landscapes and is actively supported by consumers for doing so.
This connection has only grown since we first began. More consumers want to know their farmers and how their food is being produced, while more farmers want to change their management and restore their landscapes. We see this as a pivotal shift that we are delighted to be a part of.
What We Stand For
Natural Sequence Farming
Regenerating Landscapes
Grass Fed + Finished
Chemical Free Farms
Pasture Raised
Animal Welfare
Whole Animal Butchery
Family Farms
Why is it Forage Farms?
Over the years, many people have referred to us as Forage Farm without the “s”, but there is a deliberate reason for that “s”.
When we first began, we had a long-term vision for what we wanted. A future whereby food production was valued for its importance, farmers were recognised for the incredible work that they do and supported for the way in which they manage their landscapes.
But we knew there was only so much that one farm could do, and we also realised that farming enterprises like ours could only be scaled so far while keeping quality and standards high.
We realised that the traditional mindset of scale had to be changed. We realised that Forage Farms needed to be replicated and become Forage Farms!
Our mission is to create a model whereby farmers are supported for their work and have a place to market the food they produce differently.
We want many Forage Farms to produce the same high-quality, nutritious, and bloody tasty products, and we’re excited to see that starting to take shape in 2025 with the arrival of our first farmers.
This is only the beginning, and we look forward to what’s yet to come.
How Our Meats Compare
Regeneratively Farmed
Work with Nature, Not Against Her
Pasture Raised
Always on pasture and on the move
Grown by a Local, Family Farm
Supporting rural Australia
GMO Free
We like to keep things natural around here
Animal Welfare
We practice Low Stress Stock Handling
Chemical Free
No pesticides or herbicides used on our pastures.
Grocery Store
Shop Our Products
Beef
Pork
Chicken
