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Advocating for Change

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    Joel Orchard: Small scale farmer and big future thinker

    What started out as an aspiration to be self sufficient, has evolved into a vision to grow and support young farmers into a profession that has enormous reward, alongside huge risk, immense challenges and a great deal of fulfillment. What’s more Joel can see the future in small-scale farming and has a vision for how

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    • 27. Read or listen to a book or podcast on food and farming – okay, I know this is a bit of a double up of an earlier post but I wanted to share with you some really great resources in Australia where you can access ebooks and audiobooks for free. . It’s a bit crazy the list of books that I want to read. I’ve got quite a few books on my shelves I still need to read, plus there are new books released all the time that I add to my (endless) reading list. Does anyone else have this problem? One thing I’ve discovered in order to prevent me breaking the bank with all my book purchases is that I can access a heap of books online through my local and state library. If you live in Australia I would recommend checking out these Apps and joining your local library (if you haven’t already done so). @borrowbox and Libby are amazing and allow me to access a heap of ebooks and audiobooks (after I enter in my @BrisbaneCityCouncil library card number). I’m also a member of the @statelibraryqld which actually has a greater range of food books that I’m interested in reading. And the great thing is that they’re all free. If you’re not a member of your local library then I recommend joining and downloading these Apps. Even just to access all the other books they have available as well. . Podcasts are another fabulous resource for learning more about sustainable food and farming systems. Personally I really love listening to music over podcasts, and so despite subscribing to a heap of podcasts I very rarely listen to them! I’m hoping that if you do know of any great food or farming podcasts you’ll pop them in the comments below. 🙏
    • 26. Start a Food Policy Council (FPC) - yesterday I was honoured to be a part of an exciting workshop facilitated by Eric Holt-Gimenez talking all things Food Policy Councils. Before you scroll down to the next picture I ask for 2 minutes of your time. Okay, a Food Policy Council a bit of a foreign term here in Australia. While there are many FPCs in the U.S, Canada and the UK, in Australia we’ve opted to use the term Alliance rather than Food Policy Council. Personally, I’ve always loved FPCs. I wrote my MSc dissertation on why we need a FPC at a national level. A Food Policy Council is generally defined as a coming together of people from different sectors within the food system. This can include farmers, small business owners, community food groups, health professionals and everything in between. FPCs have been established at the national, state, city and local level and provide a platform for coordinated action and a forum to address food issues. They are often a grassroots or not-for-profit organisation, or they could be embedded in government. Food Policy Councils are places to make your voice heard on a wide variety of issues: environment, public health, food justice, local economies, labour and wages. FPCs generally work cross-sectorally and engage with a range of food chain actors and stakeholders, attempting to provide a more coordinated approach to tackle the failings of the food system. Their central aim is to propose policy solutions to improve the food system by making it more environmentally sustainable, socially just and stimulating the development of the local economy. Why are FPCs important? Because when we form a unified group with an agreed upon vision this gives us more power to create change. There’s a great short video on the LA Food Policy Council that highlights some of the wins it’s had in transforming LA’s food system. Do you like the sound of a FPC and what they can do?
    • 25. Choose wobbly fruit and veg where you can – I really struggle to understand why we need to have specifications in place for the size and shape of our fruit and vegetables. We all know that these 2 pears will taste the same, and yet why do we value one more over the other? On season 1 of the War on Waste, Craig Reucassel brought to our attention the great work that @harrisfarmmarkets are doing to minimise food that is wasted before it gets to the market. With their imperfect picks range you buy wobbly fruit and veg (at half the price) that was likely destined for landfill or compost previously. A leading supermarket has also introduced their odd bunch range, which is a positive step in the right direction, but it still only accounts for 1% of sales of the entire produce section. Supposedly, our expectations of what a fruit or vegetable is supposed to look like is driving this issue. It would be interesting to do a quick poll of the people who read this post and see what people value more – whether it’s eating veggies and fruit that are a bit misshapen or preventing the MASSIVE amount of produce that gets thrown out before it even reaches the market. But I’m well aware that people who are following a page on sustainable food systems are probably not representative of the entire population Sadly supermarkets are the ones who hold all the power in this case. If you’d like to see a wider range of imperfect fruit and veg available then let your local produce manager know. The more we speak up the more we’re likely to see change occur – just look at the plastics issue. Do you buy wobbly fruit and veg where you can?
    • 24. Backyard food swaps - there are so many benefits to swapping your excess produce (and other things) with your neighbours or community. Backyard food swap facilitate connections with your neighbours. They help to reduce food miles through growing and swapping with people who live close to you. It minimises wasting food that may have not been consumed by yourself and family. And they allow for networking and the making of friendships. Depending on where you live in Australia there are fantastic sites that I suggest you check out if you’d like to find out if there is an established backyard food swap near you. @cropswapaustralia, @spareharvest, @harvest_swap are great places to start. This picture is of a great backyard swap on the Sunshine Coast. If you live in Brisbane then check out the link in comments for a number of backyard swaps happening across the city. Do you know of any backyard swaps in your area? #Repost @harvest_swap with @get_repost ・・・ What an absolutely fantastic Harvest Swap. Look at that collection of delicious homegrown/made things! 💗 And a great talk and cooking demo by Monika and Trisha from @buddinacommunitygarden - and did I mention it was bucketing with rain? Thanks all who came - you are hardcore garden rebels. 🙌🏼🌿
    • It was a pleasure launching the 6 week Love Food Hate Waste challenge with my local member, Cr Steve Toomey this week at our local community garden. The challenge is for all @brisbanecitycouncil residents so if you want to learn how to reduce how much food you throw out check out the BCC Love Food Hate Waste website. #Repost @thegapward with @get_repost ・・・ Take on the Six-week food waste challenge with other Brisbane City Council residents and help reduce food waste. Brisbane residents throw away 97,000 tonnes of food each year. This equates to one in every five bags of groceries ending up in the bin.  You can start with week one or jump into the challenge at any point that interests you. Head to brisbane.qld.gov.au for more information #lovefoodhatewaste #thegapward #tgw
    • 23. Learn and participate in local, community and regional food events – did you know this week is Fair Food Week? Every year the @ausfoodsov coordinates Fair Food Week across Australia. The purpose is to engage and inspire people to build a fairer food system through a program of community events, talks and films. Attending local events is great way to get involved and learn and support a sustainable food system. I’ve popped the link to the events in the comments below. If you live in Melbourne @sustainaustralia also have a lot of conferences and events coming up that look really interesting. Living in Brisbane I know that @foodconnectbrisbane regularly hosts talks, run workshops and events. In fact, they’re hosting a talk this Saturday at @wanderingcooks with author Charlie Massey that I’m going along to 😁👌 You may even like to learn a new skill such as permaculture design or sustainable gardening. If you’re in Melbourne, @ceresbrunswick have an extensive program of courses and workshops that I would recommend checking out (link below). @milkwood_permaculture run numerous permaculture workshops as well. I’m sure there are many other places across the country that deliver courses and workshops. Where do you like to go to learn more about how we build and create and support a sustainable, fairer food system? If you’ve got any to recommend, please let me know. #Repost @foodconnectbrisbane with @get_repost ・・・ This Saturday at @wanderingcooks! Join us for a very special talk with Food Connect farmers and team members to hear radical farmer and author, Charlie Massy as he discusses the new wave of farmers providing ground breaking solutions to restore our degraded landscapes and putting us on a path to transform our broken food system.
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