Local produce in Townsville: what's grown nearby and where to buy it

Townsville's food bowl

Townsville is surrounded by productive tropical agricultural land. The Atherton Tablelands, around 3 hours south, supply coffee, avocados, dairy and tropical fruit. The Burdekin Delta is Australia's most productive sugarcane region, and also grows tomatoes and capsicum at scale. Charters Towers and the inland country run some of Australia's finest beef cattle.

Off the coast, the Coral Sea and the reef supply barramundi, coral trout, red emperor and mud crabs. The Hinchinbrook Channel produces some of the country's best prawns. Between hinterland and ocean, Townsville sits at the centre of an extraordinary tropical food bowl.

Seasonal produce calendar for Townsville

Farm gates and u-picks near Townsville

• Yabulu tropical fruit farms. About 30 minutes north of Townsville. Tropical fruit in season, farm-gate sales.
• Mingela and Greenvale beef stations. About 1.5 hours inland. Farmstays on working beef stations for a taste of the dry country.
• Tully banana and tropical fruit plantations. About 2 hours south. Banana, papaya and tropical fruit at scale, with some farm-gate options.

Supporting local farmers in Townsville

1. Shop weekly at Cotters Market or Riverway when you can — money stays in the region.
2. Ask restaurants where their seafood and beef are from; reward those that source locally.
3. Buy by the box at the end of season from grower stalls — cheap, fresh and reduces waste.

Local food producers to know

• Hinchinbrook prawns. Cardwell, around 2 hours north. Among Australia's best wild-caught prawns.
• Burdekin sugar. Raw and artisan sugar from the Burdekin Delta, Australia's most productive cane region.
• Charters Towers beef station producers. Grass-fed beef from inland stations west of Townsville.