Sustainable Agriculture and Gardening Eurobodalla (SAGE) stalwarts Stuart Whitelaw and the Moruya market’s coordinator Kate Raymond travelled to the Bennelong Restaurant, at the Sydney Opera House, on Monday night for the ABC delicious awards – and came up singing.

Mr Whitelaw said neither believed the fledgling market would win again, but Ms Raymond had prepared a speech just in case after being caught out last year.

“We both sincerely believed Launceston would take it out,” Mr Whitelaw said yesterday.

“Both Launceston (Tasmania) and Albany (Western Australia) are fantastic markets and were really hot competition.

“All three finalists were previous winners.

“We were feeling very relaxed, then they started to mention words like ‘this market has shown constant innovation’.

“At that, I put down my glass of red wine and thought ‘this might be us’.

Mr Whitelaw said the small market’s decision to embrace e-commerce was a factor.

He said Ms Raymond “made a terrific speech, which got a lot of applause”.

Ms Raymond said the Tuesday SAGE market stood apart from gourmet food.

“While publications like delicious and this awards night recognise the elite of Australian food production — and rightly so — we at the SAGE Farmers Market don’t consider ourselves gourmet,” she said in her acceptance speech..

“The produce might be amazing, but it’s really about rebuilding our local food system.

“It should be completely normal and everyday.

“We believe farmers markets are not there to attract tourists. 

“They are about jobs and community.

“They are a crucible for new growers, new products and new ideas.”

Mr Whitelaw said many suppliers came to congratulate the pair afterwards.

“They told us, ‘without farmers’ markets, we would not exist’,” he said.

That made him prouder still of the community that supports the market.

“It shows this community, when they want something, supports the hell out of it,” he said.

“To think we have come this far, since SAGE started in 2009 and in six years we have created the start of a proper food system and our market has been nominated as the most outstanding in Australia two years in a row – it is an amazing reality check.”