It's easy to support local farmers by buying local milk.
Locals are lapping up a boutique milk that has been available in the region's cafes and supermarket shelves as a result of the rolling green hills of Jamberoo on the South Coast.
Cameron Thomas, a coffee snob, is seeing firsthand the difference that supporting local producers can make.
The former Sydneysider understands the value of food provenance, having owned a wedding venue and hobby farm for 15 years before opening a cafe in Kiama recently.
He says that it's the passion of being a chef, knowing where your produce comes from, knowing what you are cooking and what quality your product is.
Dairy producer John Fairley of Jamberoo Valley Milk created an opportunity for Mr Thomas to champion the region's produce.
Mr Fairley popped into the cafe with a bottle of milk, Mr Thomas says.
He proposed an initiative for local farmers, and because I want to support the local community that all came together.
Kiama is a tight-knit community and I felt it was important to bring on local milk.
The milk from Jamberoo is kept in a separate tanker. He says we pasteurise it separately and we bottle it separately into a Jamberoo Valley label.
We just need to change that so that the farmers who I pick up milk can employ a couple of people and get a day off, let alone a holiday, so I always pay a little over. The price for locally produced milk is slightly more expensive than supermarket stock, but Mr Thomas is happy to absorb the cost.
He said that if we get on board and support local producers, the community will support us in the same way.
A customer brought her kids in for a hot chocolate to taste the local milk within the first few days of the launch.
We were hoping for a response that was the kind of response we were hoping for. Mr Thomas says you can't ask for more than that.
The idea to promote local milk was not a first for the region.
A nearby micro-dairy was already supplying locally, but the business was on the cusp of winding down.
The Pines were bottling in glass with metal caps, Mr Fairley says.
I didn't want to smash their market, but once they stopped production, we were ready. He had the printed labels on hand and ready to go.
It was the perfect time to enter the market, as larger dairies across the state were closing down.
It was time to move forward and get things going again. He says that people are thinking local.
He says that his farm was able to supply milk to the local market despite the chaos of COVID.
Mr Fairley would like to see a return to thinking locally.