Many consumers are turning to farmers' markets to purchase fresh produce and ensure the majority of the money made from a sale is received by the grower.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 24 seconds 4 m 24 s Head of ecommerce platform operations at Australia Post Vivien Astl on Farm House Direct. ( Emma Brown ) Download 2 MB

To cater to the burgeoning trend, Australia Post has developed an online platform where customers can buy directly from growers and receive their groceries in the mail.

Head of e-commerce platform operations at Australia Post Vivien Astl said Farm House Direct allows producers to advertise their produce online and for consumers to buy directly from them, with Australia Post and the payment system taking around 10 per cent.

She said the platform, established in 2012, was helping to educate consumers about when produce is in season in Australia.

"We don't buy anything wholesale, we don't actually own any stock, it's very much a platform like Ebay or Etsy," she said.

"We are the platform and we connect the customers to the farmers and then the transaction happens online. The farmer puts the produce they've sold in the post and it gets delivered to the consumer."

"Part of our strategy is to educate our customers around the seasons, and when produce is available and when it is not available.

Online farmers market catering for 'niche' consumers

Over 350 producers are now using the platform as a means of selling their goods and Ms Astl said increasingly they are advertising value-added items, such as jams and oils.

But she acknowledged that buying from individual producers does mean customers lose some convenience when doing the weekly shop.

"We are not a weekly grocery shop; that's not what consumers come to us for," she said.

"They know that they can access a particular producer who is doing potatoes, but they are not going to get their weekly shop from one producer.

"It is a niche market. We don't appeal to everybody, we don't appeal to people who want their weekly shop delivered in one box.

"But I think the way people are consuming now, and you have a look at the cooking shows, everyone wants to know where their food is coming from.

"So this has really shown people that they can access food online... we've now got over 14,000 subscribers who buy regularly."