A new Papamoa business is taking the mystery out of food production and consumption, highlighting the journey from field to farm shop.

Owner Allen Smith in the produce area of the shop. Photo by Tracy Hardy.

NZ Farm Shop is the project of Allen and Stephany Smith, former sheep and beef farmers from Gisborne. Among many reasons, Allen was inspired to start a New Zealand farm shop to put ethics around food in place.

'I want to tell the story of food and make that connection between producer and consumer.

'We want to talk about traceability, the origin of the food – where does it come from? What are the farmers doing to their soil?”

In 2010, he and Stephany – due to her hard work, Allen says – won the Ovation Supplier of the Year competition. They travelled to Europe as part of the prize, where the couple acted as ambassadors for the business and visited other farms overseas.

Along the way they came to the realisation that with rising costs against their business, they weren't going to be able to add any value to their meat product. It confirmed a lingering feeling they'd had for a while; and as soon as they got home they sold the farm.

However, the trip did spur them to develop an idea that had been in the back of their minds, which was the farm shop. All produce sold in store is made exclusively in New Zealand, to give customers the confidence that what they are buying is local and nutrient dense vegetables and fruits.

They're also going traditional in the kitchen too, trying to put some of 'Grandma's recipes” in place and make it more functional than most.

'All the fresh stock that is on display will be the same nutrient dense produce that will be used in all our baked and cooked goods which are produced in the kitchen, as well as jams, sauces, chutneys.”

Heavily invested soil, understanding the dynamics of this 'living, breathing organism”, Allen is interested in ways to develop chemical-free meat and produce using his life-long experience in farming.

He's hoping to share his knowledge with customers to enlighten them as to the background behind what they're eating at the farm shop.