A day before flood-damage to the Ashburton bridge cut off supplies to the South, a project to help Southlanders buy locally grown food hit its $51k fundraising target. 

The Longwood Loop is a 'not-for-profit food resilience loop'. 

The idea is for an electric van to travel 165km from town to town surrounding the Longwood Mountains in Western Southland. 

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It will pick up and drop off locally grown and made food at nine trading posts. 

Southlanders along the route can order from what is essentially an online farmers' market, giving growers, beekeepers and the like a good idea of how much is needed. 

The project, by Riverton-based South Coast Environment Society, has received $36k from Community Trust South to buy LDV E electric delivery van. 

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But it missed out twice on Government funding through EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority), which decided it wouldn't provide enough value for money and wasn't unique enough. 

So the organisers launched an PledgeMe campaign which on Monday hit its $15k target.

Organiser Robyn Guyton says: "It's fantastic. It's two years since we received the funding from Community Trust South, so it's pretty exciting.  

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"Fortunately, the Trust allowed us to keep the money, even though we missed out on EECA funding, so we could crowd-fund instead."

Guyton says once The Longwood Loop is working well, the plan is to do three more loops with the same van: Central Southland, Northern Southland and Fiordland, at least once a week.

"And the loops can trade with each other. Fiordland is quite isolated and doesn't have such a good growing season, but they're our neighbours, so we're adopting them as part of the push for resilience." 

Robyn Guyton

Resilience is one of the main goals of the scheme. 

"The supermarkets use huge trucks to deliver our food," Guyton says. "If there are floods, earthquakes or no petrol, then supermarkets in Southland empty out. 

"We've run a food co-op in Riverton for nearly two years, but if people have to travel from Nightcaps to bring tomatoes to sell, that's a 70k trip one-way. 

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"So the idea is to have trading posts every 10km, like in the old days. People can bring what they have and buy what they need." 

The other goals are community and the environment.

Guyton believes it is "crazy" that we import produce that can be grown in Southland, which would allow farmers to diversify, while we export the best quality food produced here.

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All that freight has a carbon cost and also sees millions of dollars taken out of rural communities by big business. 

"What can we grow here in Southland so we don't need to buy it from elsewhere? We should buy off each other first.

"We'll always have to get citrus and kumara from elsewhere, but we can surely grow potatoes and carrots. 

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"There was a moment, perhaps in the 50s, where there was the perfect balance of what you could get from your community and what you could get from elsewhere.

"It was all localised, but in the 70s, with the rise of the supermarkets, all those shops closed. There used to be rolled oats in Southland, flour, and now there's none. They come from Canada or Australia. 

"It's also about the community connections. If you get deliveries to your door, or go to the supermarket, you don't meet your neighbours."

Food growers and producers, craftspeople and cottage industries will have access to the low cost transport loop. Their market will grow to 4,000 plus people without having to leave their township, Guyton says. 

The loops will be run by volunteers but eventually 10% of trade will be used to fund the loop system. 

The Society still hopes to raise another $5k to buy LDV E with a larger battery, which will go the whole loop, rather than charging halfway. 

Find out more at The Longwood Loop website.