A microfarm that’s micro by name only, James Hutchinson’s small scale farm supplies loads of quality produce to Hobart’s booming foodie culture.
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The farm sits on the river flats below Kunanyi (Mt Wellington) in Tasmania.

James says microfarming differs to regular farming mainly due to being more intensive over a smaller area.
For this reason, James focuses a lot of his attention on keep the soil healthy to maximize the nutrients and production of the land, where he produces a wide range of food for local families and restaurants - up to 150 different crops a year. The soil is not tilled below 15cm, to preserve the soil structure.

It also means he can plants crops a bit more closely together than you normally would, and he often interplants a fast-growing crop - radishes for example - between rows of slower-growing plants. The radishes will be long gone (after about 27 days) by the time the slower crop such as beetroot need more space.

Standardised beds have been the key to the economic success of the system. James says: “On the farm are 120 permanent beds, all 15m long, 750mm wide with 450mm paths in between beds.
“Half of the beds are dedicated heavy feeders such as zuchinnis, tomatoes, and corn that want a lot of active live compost. The other half are for lighter feeders such as legumes, kales, lettuces and radishes where we get 3-4 crops in a season. We rotate the beds each season between heavy feeding crops and lighter feeding crops. We also rotate the lighter-feeding crops within the beds four times each season.”

The work closely with chefs to produce specific crops.
Oskar Rossi from Fico restaurant says one of the reasons they chose to open in Hobart was the access to smaller producers such as James.

“It’s regenerative farming. I work with an agronomist (soil specialist) to regularly assess what my soil needs.” High-quality compost is a huge part of the system but another organic addition that James makes on the farm and adds to the soil is biochar. He inoculates it with microorganisms such as beneficial bacteria and fungi. This holds oxygen, moisture and bonds to other elements; he calls it a “soil scaffold”.

Featured plants:
Radish ‘French Breakfast’ (Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus cv.)


Owner: James Hutchinson

Location: Palawa Country in Hobart, Tas

Climate Zone: Cool temperate

Garden established: 2000

Style: small-scale bio-intensive, organic farm

Key Features: 11 acres (4.45ha) market garden; 1 acre grows blueberries and 1 acre is used for the microfarm.



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