Queensland farmers are targeting the booming billion-dollar snack food market in the hope of landing produce in the lunch boxes of Australian school students.
Kalfresh carrot farmer Richard Gorman from the Scenic Rim region said he decided to get into products such as snacking and pre-cut carrots after seeing success in other countries.
"So … we brought it back on the farm and built a facility, and the rest is history," he said.
"It has double digit growth year on year and would grow faster if it just had more products, so it's huge."
Bent carrots that would otherwise go to the restaurant trade or be sold in bulk at a lower price could instead be redirected to the snack market.
"Sometimes you also have to dip in and use first-class product because once you start, you can't stop," Mr Gorman said.
He said there was still demand for one-kilogram bags of carrots, but the snack market would be a major focus for his business into the future.
"We do a mini melon, which is a much smaller watermelon, we do snacking carrots, [and] the snacking sized portions of beans is one of the products we're working on next," Mr Gorman said.
Meat snacks growing
Jim's Jerky founder Emily Pullen, from Toowoomba, said the universal parenting "trauma" of making lunches in the morning inspired its latest range of dehydrated beef.
"When I think about my peer group that have kids, we've all got cupboards full of stuff that we're putting in our kids' lunch boxes and I think it's something that can grow," she said.
The company's dried sausage was made from Australian beef and vegetables and did not require refrigeration, and its packaging was specifically designed to target the lunch box market.
"These aren't refrigerated and they're not cooked, they're just dehydrated," Ms Pullen said.
"So it can sit on a shelf for 12 months."
Ms Pullen said the meat-snacking market had grown substantially in Australia.
"Whether it's jerky or even things like pork crackle, [it] has just exploded in the last few years," she said.
"Parents are looking for functional foods, not just junk snacks, but actually something that they know their kids will eat, but they're actually getting some goodness out of them as well."
Ms Pullen said the company was also exploring the export market.
"So we might be putting snacks in kids lunch boxes overseas in the next few months too, which would be really exciting," she said.
Lunch boxes on social media
Teacher and farmer Nel Byrnes has been documenting her son's lunches on Instagram.
She said she hoped to expose her "very fussy eater" to a different variety of foods in a safe, comforting way.
"I'm an art teacher so I tend to like the things to be a bit visually appealing," Ms Byrnes said.
"We're on a farm ourselves, sourcing local produce or just starting that conversation with kids about where it all comes from."
She said lunch boxes needed an overhaul and were often full of sugary, refined foods, but cost remained the biggest factor.
"Fruit, a while ago, it was very expensive. It was ridiculous and so the parents [at school] were just saying, 'It's too expensive to pack fruit in lunch boxes'," Ms Byrnes said.
She said simple swaps and cutting things into smaller pieces could make a big difference.
"For example, the sandwich cutters, they're like, just a push and pull type thing," Ms Byrnes said.
"She's [Ms Byrnes' youngest child] only just sort of experimenting with sandwiches, so if I cut them smaller, I think she finds that more comfortable and more manageable.
"The state government should just send out, as part of your enrolment package, one of those bento lunch boxes to try and encourage parents to pack fresh food."
