Organic food in Cairns and Far North Queensland

Guide · 2026-10-17 · 4 min read · by the Blueberry Bear Team

Far North Queensland grows food most of Australia only sees in the shops: tropical fruit, bananas, papaya, coffee, cacao and more. Cairns has a small but committed organic scene, and the Atherton Tablelands, an hour or so up the range, has dairy, mixed farms and food co-ops. This guide lists places to start and some tips for shopping through the wet season.

Please read first

The businesses below come from our Queensland organic directory, listed from information on each business's own website. They are not Blueberry Bear sellers or partners, and we have not verified their organic certification. Descriptions sum up what each business says about itself. Check websites for current hours and ranges.

Is your business listed and you'd like it corrected or removed? See our contact page.

Cairns

• The Healthy Hub, North Cairns: a grocer that says it has FNQ's largest selection of organic, fresh and local produce, with an online store and a plant-based food court.
• Community Foods Co-op, Cairns City: a non-profit, volunteer-run co-op selling bulk organic wholefoods since 1998. Bring your own containers.
• The Organic Collective, Cairns: a non-profit supplying local and Australian organic produce and groceries, with a café.

Atherton Tablelands

• Atherton Food Co-op, Atherton: a community food co-op supplying organic, biodynamic and local produce, plus certified organic and biodynamic groceries.
• Mewali Organic Family Farm, Millstream: a market-garden style family farm that says everything it grows is certified organic.
• Mungalli Biodynamic (Mungalli Creek Dairy): a dairy farm describing itself as biodynamic, with a farmhouse café.

"Biodynamic" is a farming system with its own certification (in Australia, the Demeter mark is used by the Bio-Dynamic Research Institute). As with organic, look for a certifier and number if certification matters to you.

Further south: Mackay and the Whitsundays

• The Organic & Natural Store, The Leap (Mackay): a store that describes itself as certified organic, delivering to the Mackay area, Airlie Beach, Proserpine, Bowen, Nebo and Moranbah.

Shopping through the wet season

The wet season in the far north generally runs from about November to April. It brings heat, humidity, heavy rain and, some years, cyclones and flooding that cut roads. For organic shoppers that means:

• Expect gaps. Leafy greens and many temperate vegetables are hard to grow in the wet, so supply can be thin. Tropical fruit, by contrast, is often at its best.
• Stock up on pantry staples before storms. Bulk co-ops are handy for this. Keep rice, oats, legumes and flour in airtight containers, because humidity and pantry moths love an open bag.
• Check delivery updates. Box schemes and couriers may pause when roads close.
• Store produce for the heat. Our storage guide has tips.

What's in season (approximately)

Seasons in the tropics vary by variety, rainfall and altitude (the Tablelands are cooler than the coast). Use this as a rough guide and ask growers.

Our tropical fruit seasons guide goes into more detail.

How to check it's certified

1. Look for a certifier logo and number on packs, signs and price tickets.
2. Ask to see the certificate at farm shops and market stalls.
3. Look it up on the certifier's public register using our certificate checking guide.
4. Remember that a co-op or grocer can sell certified products without being certified itself. Check each product's brand.

Where Blueberry Bear fits

We're building Australia's organic and low-tox marketplace, where every product carries an honest label badge. Far North growers and makers are very welcome; see Sell with us. Until real sellers join, the stores and products on our marketplace pages are fictional and marked SAMPLE.

Business details from each business's own website, checked 16–17 October 2026. Seasonal timings approximate. Not an endorsement. General information only.

— the Blueberry Bear Team