Earlier this month, AFSA sadly farewelled Sally Ruljancich and Chris Balazs from the National Committee due to changed circumstances for both of them.

Sally was co-opted onto the Committee mid-2016, and served as President from October 2016, bringing a wealth of knowledge around fundraising, and promoting the principles of food sovereignty and AFSA’s objectives both on her own farm and her work for the Committee.

Chris has served as both Vice President and Secretary over nearly two years, and has contributed his knowledge and experience as a small-scale farmer with on-farm processing to the growing movement of farmers taking control of their value chains. He has been an ongoing support on the Executive, and we are grateful for his willingness to just get in and do whatever work needed to be done.

Thank you, Chris and Sally, for your contributions and commitment to working for a fair food future for Australia!

The Committee has appointed Tammi Jonas as interim President and Katarina Munksgaard as interim Vice President to serve until the AGM in October, which will take place at the Food Sovereignty Convergence to be held in Canberra 23-24 October.

AFSA also has several new committee members including Penny Kothe of Caroola Farm as secretary, Deepa Dureja as treasurer and Katie Johnston as Communications Officer. Phil Stringer of Tamworth Flyers is stepping into the role of Chair for Fair Food Farmers United.

Cheers from the AFSA team!