DROMANA’S Torello Farm is set to add three new market stalls dedicated to selling locally produced wine, beer and cider. The White Hill Rd venue is a family-run market garden and farm gate selling produce grown on site and across the local region. It is also popular for its homemade meals, pickles and preserves cooked from its commercial kitchen with the same local produce they sell from their farm gate.
Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors at their 1 July meeting approved a planning permit amendment to allow Torello Farm to add three market stalls, bringing the total number of stalls onsite to 22. The business has had a planning permit to operate a market since October 2021 for primary produce sales and rural industry.
According to the application, the proposal is only for the sale of alcohol, not consumption, and “will be no different to the sale of other items in the market and will not impact on the amenity of the surrounding area”. Additionally, all liquor will be products local to the Mornington Peninsula with no new buildings or works proposed.
Torello Farm director Sophie O’Neil said she was pleased councillors had supported the application after “acknowledging our regenerative agricultural practices and the important role our business plays in supporting and strengthening our local food system”.
“Torello Farm is often linked to a farmers’ market, where on any given day visitors are likely to see one of our resident farmers dropping off bags of freshly harvested salad leaves grown less than 100 metres from the farm gate, alongside a Shoreham farmer unloading a few boxes of navel oranges, or perhaps a delivery of freshly baked bread from Tuerong,” she said. “We also sell our heritage-bred, grass-fed beef and lamb grown on our farm down the road in Tuerong.”
Deputy mayor Paul Pingiaro backed the application as it supported the peninsula’s food and beverage economy, building on a successful farm gate. “It showcases our local producers, wineries, ciders, distillers without a new build – and residents have told us they want quicker planning and less red tape,” he said. “This is not a bottle shop, it’s not a grocery shop, this is not a newsagency, this is not land banking – this is a business that supports multiple businesses and is now looking to support more.”
Cr Stephen Batty was also supportive, saying “it ticks all the boxes” in employing 28 people.
Councillors Gill and Patton voted against the application. Cr Gill said there was a “lack of understanding of what the green wedge farm gate is meant to be, and it all seems to be what is popular and popular is a one-stop-shop”.
First published in the Mornington News – 15 July 2025
