Phil Lavers has been farming vegetables on Moonacres Farm since 2006. After living an working in Tokyo as a financial trader for 14 years, he packed up his family and moved to the Southern Highlands of NSW and started again. This time as a vegetable farmer.
During his time in Tokyo, he was influenced by Japanese Culture’s deep connection to seasons, land and nature. It was during this time that food changed from being just a fuel, to being nourishment. But not just nourishment of our physical bodies, but of our minds, our hearts, and yes, he is prepared to say it, our souls.
With this new found passion, Phil set about learning how to grow vegetables. Not just plate fillers, but vegetables that SHOUTED good food, that arrested the taste buds, and excited the palate. This culminated in Moonacres Farm winning the delicious Produce Award for best vegetables in 2018.
Since then, Phil has taken a deep dive into soil, our connection to soil and to the fact that we depend, desperately on the life in the soil. Yet, we as a community are doing our best to destroy it.
Moonacres Farm has been supplying the best restaurants in Sydney with fine produce for more than a decade. Phil works closely with many chefs, and is privileged to name them as friends.
Phil is also the proprietor of two Cafes in the Southern Highlands. He comes to the food discussion not only as a producer of food, but as a business owner who has to work the day-to-day grind of keeping a business running. He knows the pressure crushing the hospitality industry in these financially distressed times