During their annual meetings it became apparent that farmers were already facing disruptions to their supply chains and needed alternative ways to sell fresh produce to avoid lost livelihoods, employment and waste.

At the same time community concerns about food security are rising.

Tasmanian Women in Agriculture chair Belinda Hazell said #BuyTasmanianFirst was about raising awareness of the local produce that is available, and connecting producers to consumers to create new supply chains.

"People only see food on supermarket shelves without necessarily thinking outside the square, but we have great producers in Tasmania, small through to large, who are feeding the population," Ms Hazell said.

"People need to be reminded that we do have a supply chain here and that we can feed our population so there is no need to panic buy," she said.

"Now is the time for Tasmanians to support Tasmanians."

She said it became apparent that niche producers were the first to be impacted by Covid-19 disruption.

"Smaller, niche producers in particular were having their supply chains cut. They have all this beautiful produce that they have been growing over a considerable time but as cafes and restaurants closed their doors the supply chains closed too," she said.

"We are trying to provide connections through our networks, to make Tasmanians aware of what produce is available and for producers to make people aware of what they have got. It is up to the producer and consumer to make that direct connection and they can then work out how they want to drop off and pick up."

She urged producers to consider these arrangements into the future.

"The key thing is to focus on what you can realistically do from a continuity point of view. For producers to have a look at two or three lines that they can potentially offer, and that they know they can consistently offer to the marketplace."

Mrs Hazell completed a Churchill Fellowship in 2019 looking at how general populations can better connect with farmers to understand where their food is grown.

"There is always something good that comes out of disruption and hardship ... in my view [Covid-19] is providing an opportunity for consumers to better connect with their farmers."

She said the organisation was also looking to offer e-learning opportunities to help producers set up their own online farm shops.

"It might have been something in the business plan for a while ... now is the time to ramp that up."