Deepening roots

Clarence Valley Organics (CVO) was never about creating something new; it was always about continuing something that already mattered and taking it further.

‘Our goal was to step into an existing community-loved business and deepen its roots rather than reinvent it. We took on CVO four months ago with a clear intention – to honour what was built and take it somewhere more connected, more local and more purposeful.’

These priorities certainly align with their priorities as a family as well. As a certified nutrition consultant and mum of three (including twins!) Bree has always believed food is one of the quiet foundations of a good life. So, when Bree and husband Jackson relocated to Yamba and took on the business at the end of 2025, it was with a clear intention to build something that aligned with how they live and what they value.

From the start, Bree and the team have been wholly focused on maintaining the integrity of what they’re building.

CVO’s approach is to keep it honest, keep it local (as much as possible) and make sure the business continues to reflect the values it was built on in the first place. As Bree says, they’re more about community than transaction. ‘We'd rather build long-term relationships with growers and customers than optimise for volume.’

Closing the gap between farm and table

Australians are increasingly looking for food they can trust, to have greater food sovereignty and for a clearer connection to how it’s grown and who’s growing it. To close this gap, Bree and her team are focused on shortening the supply chains. This means prioritising local growers and serving as the conduit for sharing their stories.

Bree says, ‘We believe the provenance of food matters, not just for taste but for health, for land stewardship and for the people who grow it. Nourishment should be something ordinary and accessible, not precious or complicated.’

‘CVO isn't just moving boxes of produce. Every week, we’re translating the work of local growers into language that everyday families connect with, through our newsletters, our social content and the relationships we build with customers.

Each box then becomes more than a delivery. ‘What makes us different isn't just where the food comes from, it's what we do with that story. Every producer we work with becomes part of what our customers understand about their food. We don't just deliver produce, we deliver connection to the people and places behind it,’ Bree says.

Supporting local growers

Across the Northern Rivers, growers, producers, small operators and community groups are already doing the important work to strengthen local food systems and food sovereignty. But much of that work is invisible.

Clarence Valley Organics is working to raise visibility of that work by sourcing directly from local producers, prioritising organic, biodynamic and spray-free growers wherever possible and building weekly produce boxes based on what’s in season and available.

Bree says, ‘We are actively seeking more local growers to bring into our supply chain. We have a genuine and growing demand from customers that we want to meet as close to home as possible.’

For growers, it creates a reliable pathway to market. For the region, it helps build a stronger, more resilient local food system where more food can be grown and sold closer to home. Each box becomes part of that system, not just moving food from farm to table, but supporting the conditions that allow more of that food to be grown locally in the first place.

Building Northern Rivers relationships & businesses

It would be disingenuous to say that building something like this is always easy. It’s not. And Bree knows this well. ‘The honest reality of scaling something values-led in a region where local supply is still developing is worth naming. We want to source everything as close to home as possible, and we are not always able to. That tension is real; it is something a lot of aligned food businesses in this region quietly share,’ Bree says.

For many small-scale producers, having a consistent, values-aligned outlet for their produce is not a given.

Demand for local, spray-free and organically grown food is growing. Unfortunately, supply is still catching up. It takes time to build trust, align expectations and find ways of working that support both sides of the equation.

How a weekly food box is making a difference for food sovereignty

In the Northern Rivers, the foundations are already in place, with growers, producers and communities deeply invested in doing the important work. But each new relationship adds a brick to its strength and a stronger bridge to connect it all.

As Bree says, ‘This is a food sovereignty project, not just a box delivery service. When you subscribe to CVO, you're participating in something larger than a weekly shop. You're helping keep small-scale local growers viable. You're voting for a food system that values soil health, real relationships and seasonal rhythms over convenience and mass production.’

The work going forward

For Bree and the CVO team, their focus now is on strengthening the relationships they’ve built and continue to build with local growers, with a goal to increase access for local households and explore new ways to support the region. This includes collaborations with aligned businesses, such as Vitality Farms, new product offerings and conversations with community partners.