Vegetable growers encourage people to buy local as price of lettuce skyrockets

For Sam Higgins and his wife, Susie, building a vegetable empire a year ago was never about making money. Key points: As lettuce prices skyrocket to $12, these Port Lincoln growers say they will not increase their prices Growers are instead encouraging people to buy local produce Sam and Susie Higgins opened their own vegetable farm around a year ago It started out as a labour of love caring for the environment with a chemical-free patch and a way to connect to Mother Earth. "For us, we just want to keep providing this service to the community, so we're going to keep our prices mediocre, so at some point when the prices are really low again people will still come back to us," Mr Higgins said. "We wanted to build the community by having something where people can come with their families, learn things, and share things," Mr Higgins said. "If we're getting all our food from one place and we have a weather event that's going to take out a massive crop, or whatever vegetable it may be, then we're just leaving ourselves open to feast and famine," Mr Higgins said.