'Tis the season for produce

It aimed to provide an opportunity for people to talk to and buy products directly from the producers.

"This is our second one and there is another one on January 16 and then on February 20," he said.

Ziggy and Angelika Pyka were just two of the stallholders doing brisk business yesterday.

The couple was selling whole smoked salmon and salmon rillettes with the produce coming from their inland fish farm at Deloraine.

"The product is proving very popular. The rillettes are a new product which we just started and we have sold out of both fish and pate very quickly," Mrs Pyka said.

She said their aquaculture farm, 41 Degree Aquaculture, had about 20,000 salmon and they planned to open the business as an eco experience for tourists next March.

Paul Duddridge was selling sylvan berries produced on his berry farm at Bridgenorth.

"I've been berry farming for about five years and it's a challenging crop to grow and market to manage and meet," he said.

"I can move a lot of stock here very quickly and it seems to suit people who are buying them.

"Traditionally Tasmanians have been keen on raspberries but some people look more for the heirloom berries like sylvan, logan, and boysenberries and others like that," he said.

Mr Cowan said that there were 29 stalls at the market and about 32 different products from around the North of the State.

"Hopefully we can build up the market and include some seafood with the promise of oysters coming and apricots from the Coal Valley," he said.

"But the thing about the market is its seasonality."