Supporting local food systems

The coronavirus pandemic was a wake-up call about many things we take for granted in life, including where our food comes from.  As the lockdown began in late March, uncertainty took hold and people began hoarding and scrambling for whatever food stocks they could find.

The National Farmers Federation was moved to reassure people that Australia produces enough food to feed 75 million people, more than three times our population, and that 89 percent of the food Australians eat is Aussie-grown.

With many global supply chains fractured through the pandemic, local production and manufacturing is arising to be more strongly grounded and appreciated in regional communities.

Earlier this year on February 15, Pine Rivers Heritage Museum had hosted a conversation to highlight how we can support local farmers in the Moreton Bay region which is home to a plethora of agricultural industries including berries, pineapple, avocado, macadamia nut, other specialty crop businesses as well as livestock production. (There’s a follow-up session planned for September 12, so put that in your diary if you are in the region.)

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Supporting local farmers

Buy local and eat in season are simple ways to support local farmers. Most of my career has been in agriculture, so it was great to be invited by Moreton Bay Regional Council to moderate this conversation about community supported agriculture with these awesome women speaking the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum at the weekend.

Jenni Guse, Tash Johnston, author Jane Milburn, Flora Bradley and Amanda Schultz talk local farming

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Bring on 2020

On the Textile Beat enews December 2019 is in your inbox now if you’re subscribed, or you can read here or register on the right hand side of this website.

There’s been so much change in the past decade, it is exciting to think about what the next decade might bring. This time 10 years ago, I was on a journey of self-awareness with the Australian Rural Leadership Program. A pivotal decision to stop drinking alcohol (after having early stage breast cancer) enabled me to focus energy in a creative and purposeful way. Through Textile Beat, my background, interests, skills, experience and knowledge have come together to influence change and create awareness of more sustainable ways of dressing (Here’s one of my early Stitch in Time columns). Since 2013, I’ve had nearly 600 engagements around Australia spreading ideas for reducing our material footprint and have seen so much change in that time. I’ve been awarded a Churchill Fellowship based on that work which enables me to travel to Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe next year to investigate ways that upcycling/mending can help reduce our textile waste and enhance wellbeing. Wishing you and me well for our next decade of life.