Who We Are
AFSA National Committee
Focal Point for Farmers
Tammi Jonas
Tammi Jonas
Tammi Jonas is an agroecologist in practice, principle, and philosophy. Along with her hypercompetent husband Stuart, Tammi farms heritage-breed Large Black pastured pigs, cattle, and garlic on the unceded lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people in the central highlands of Victoria. She is also resident meatsmith at Jonai Farms, a thriving community-supported agriculture (CSA) with 80 wonderful household members. Tammi has been president of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) since 2014.
She is undertaking a PhD at the University of Western Australia on the biodiverse and decolonising practices of agroecological farmers, and investigating the logistical, financial, social, and legislative barriers to their efforts.
In her years serving AFSA, Tammi has been very active in the global fight for food sovereignty with comrades in the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), advocating in numerous UN governing bodies for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and peasants and their communities. She is an editor and co-author of Farming Democracy: Radically transforming the food system from the ground up (2019).
Treasurer
Simon Matthee
Simon Matthee
Simon lives on Wurrundjeri Country in the Macedon Ranges with his wife, Sarah, and their dog, Leah. He runs The Millett Road Maker, a small sourdough micro-bakery specializing in artisan crumpets and bread, bringing his passion for traditional, sustainable baking to the community.
As Treasurer of AFSA, Simon is deeply committed to fostering transparency within food systems and building meaningful connections between producers and consumers. With a focus on mutual benefit and engagement, Simon works to support AFSA’s vision to return the power in our food system to its consumers and producers.
Secretary
Caitie Tacey
Caitie Tacey
Caitie is an agroecological market gardener, working as a grower and educator in small-scale community farming projects. She currently works for Farm My School, leading the establishment of their second school farm site in Colac on Gulidjan land.
Having completed an MSc in Regenerative Food and Farming in the UK and a BSc in International Studies, Caitie’s daily work is inspired by and rooted in the global food sovereignty movement.
Her passion lies in facilitating greater socio-ecological resilience for farmers and farming communities through the fostering of relationships and networks which bridge divides and empower farmer-led transition in our food and farming system.
First Peoples Focal Point
Cal Callope
Cal Callope
I am a Butchulla, Anguthimri, and Bindal woman, raised on Yuggera Country, with connections to Koko-bera, Juru, and Wulgurukaba through my paternal and maternal grandparents. Our family also has strong ties to Wakka Wakka Country — a mission where my mother’s grandparents were forcibly removed to, and where many family members continue to live.
I have more than a decade of experience working in Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in Victoria, contributing to the development of an Aboriginal evidence base to support systems change. I have also worked with Black Duck Foods and participated in national and international food sovereignty forums and programs.
I am currently part of the Murnong Health Research team at Deakin University and am undertaking a PhD exploring how Aboriginal food sovereignty can support health and wellbeing.
These experiences, along with my family and community histories — the stories, knowledge, and resilience shared over food — continue to shape my belief in Aboriginal food sovereignty.
First Peoples Focal Group
Jacob Birch
ABOUT JACOB
Jacob Birch is a Gamilaraay man with family ties to Mungindi; a PhD student using system dynamics; a social enterprise entrepreneur developing innovative methods for processing native grains; a Churchill Fellow; and advocate for Indigenous food sovereignty. Jacob believes our food system requires systemic transformation if it is to survive the polycrisis. In Australia, this transformation must be grounded in an Indigenous food sovereignty paradigm. For Jacob, an Indigenous paradigm prioritises the health and wellbeing of community and Country; it prioritises education and capacity building so people have the tools and skills to make healthy food choices; and it prioritises integrated and circular economies. He joins AFSA to help grow Indigenous membership within AFSA, and Indigenous leadership in the food sovereignty space.
Joshua ‘Josh’ Williams
Joshua Williams
I’m a Ngarrindjeri and Narungga man and the owner of Tumpinyeri Growers, a First Nations-owned market garden in Central Victoria.
I’m passionate about growing food as a way to strengthen culture, community, and connection to Country. I believe food sovereignty is about more than producing food, it’s about creating opportunities for our people to reconnect with knowledge, build livelihoods, and shape our own futures.
Through my work, I’m exploring how agroecological farming can support healthy communities while caring for Country. I’m also a member of the Victorian Young Farmers Advisory Council, where I advocate for stronger First Nations representation and leadership in agriculture. I’m passionate about helping more First Nations people see agriculture as a pathway for self-determination, whether that’s through growing food, caring for Country, or building community-led enterprises.
As part of AFSA’s First Peoples Focal Group, I hope to connect with people who are interested in farming, food sovereignty, and creating a food system that reflects our values, knowledge, and responsibility to Country.
Kitana Mansell
Kitana Mansell
Kitana Mansell is a proud Palawa woman from Lutruwita (Tasmania) and is a passionate advocate for Aboriginal food sovereignty, cultural preservation, and community empowerment. Kitana plays a leading role in revitalising and celebrating Palawa food traditions, sharing the stories, ingredients, and practices that have sustained her people for thousands of generations.
Her work connects culture and cuisine, highlighting the deep relationship between land, sea, language, and identity. Through her engagement in cultural education and native food initiatives such as Palawa Kipli, Tasmania’s Aboriginal food business. Kitana brings visibility to native food systems and challenges colonial narratives around what is the Australian food cuisine.
At the heart of Kitana’s message, is the importance of Aboriginal people’s voices in shaping the future of food. She invites audiences to reflect on the power of traditional knowledge, sustainable practices, and the cultural richness embedded in every ingredient. Her contributions inspire a deeper appreciation for the land, waterways, and the stories it feeds.
Luke Williams
Luke Williams
Luke Williams is a proud Gumbaynggirr man of northern NSW. Luke’s research primarily focuses on the traditional uses of native Australian plants with an emphasis on understanding how these plants can contribute to our modern food systems. This includes the promotion of traditional foods in Indigenous communities to improve food security and cultural wellbeing, through to supporting Indigenous businesses to lead the bush food industry, so that the nutritional and environmental benefits attributed to native plants can be enjoyed by all.
Luke’s PhD examined the dietary safety assessment of Australian native foods. He continues this line of research today using a mixed-methods approach that includes working with Traditional Custodians to understand histories of use and cultural context, while supporting consumer safety through the generation of quantitative evidence, such as toxicological endpoints and chemical analyses. Luke is currently expanding this work to develop new laboratory approaches for characterising biological activity and potential toxicity, including emerging non-animal and high-content screening tools to better understand safety and mechanism of action.
Luke sees the growing native foods industry as a culturally appropriate economic opportunity for Indigenous Peoples. However, he also recognises that if these foods and plant-based products are to be made widely available, development must occur under Indigenous leadership and be supported by robust scientific evidence to ensure they are safe for general consumption.
General Committee Members
Mirella Gavidia
Mirella Gavidia
Mirella is a mother, food grower, and academic with a background in Law and Anthropology. She has 15 years experience working with communities in the Brazilian Amazon, as an academic, consultant, volunteer, friend, and ally. Mirella is an educator, or a learning facilitator as she prefers to call herself, committed to creating positive change in the way her students understand and live in the world. She mostly teaches First Nations, environmental, and global affairs, and has been casually designing and delivering courses at RMIT University (Wurundjeri Country) for 7 years.
Mirella lives on Djaara Country with her partner and son on a beautiful native bird heaven, where they currently work on the regeneration of an old orchard, and grow seasonal crops for themselves and their community. There are many plans in the pipeline to increase the use of the land using agroecology and regenerative principles.
Her main interest in becoming part of AFSA is to be further engaged in practical, on-ground, action when it comes to food sovereignty. Mirella is keen to share her skills to support the organisation’s work, especially on the First Nations and International fronts. She also aims at gathering more critical knowledge and sharing with her Brazilian comrades in the jungle, as a way of fostering their food sovereignty too.
Ivan Blacket
Ivan Blacket
Ivan Blacket is a farmer, educator and consultant with a focus on integrated regenerative food production systems. He grew up on a small goat dairy on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula and, since studying agricultural sciences at Melbourne University, has managed many different production systems around Australia from agroforestry market gardens to timber plantations and large fruit orchards.
He has developed food systems at The Farm at Byron Bay, Conscious Ground and Common Ground Project, and educated hundreds of aspiring farmers and homesteaders in the process. He is also currently a facilitator with Permaculture for Refugees.
Lucy Ridge
Lucy Ridge
Lucy Ridge (she/her) is an eater and ally living and working on Ngunnawal Ngambri land. Lucy is an AFSA member, a staff member of Southern Harvest Association, and an advocate for food sovereignty and local food in her area. Lucy also works part time as a food writer and draws from her many years experience in the hospitality industry as a chef to bridge the gap between chefs and producers.
Lucy has also undertaken several internships working with women across the food system all over Australia in an effort to further her own education and understand what it takes to be a farmer, butcher, cheesemaker, wild harvester, distiller and market gardener from the ground up. Lucy recently contributed a chapter to Eating Democracy and is also working on a book about her own journey through the food system.
Rob Arcidiacono
Rob Arcidiacono
Rob Arcidiacono (he/him) is passionate about food and agriculture, a connection fostered growing up as the son of an Italian migrant who emphasised the cultural significance of food, and through his family’s ties to a fourth-generation farm in Stanthorpe, situated on the unceded lands of the Kambuwal people. Rob’s exploration of food sovereignty began in university and continues to be both a theoretical and practical foundation for his work. Connecting dimensions of Indigenous knowledge of land stewardship, social and ecological justice, and a critical lens on the industrial food system, and the broader implications these have on rural development in Australia and globally.
Rob has contributed to participatory research projects into Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives in East Africa, climate change mitigation efforts that empower artisans in decision-making in Afghanistan, and refugee support projects in Syrian camps in Jordan. More recently, his PhD research focused on the perceptions of agroecology-oriented farmers in Australia toward digital and data-driven technologies. His work amplifies the voices of smallholder farmers, often marginalized in national agricultural policy and decision-making, and critiques the dominant narrative around ‘ag-tech’ that perpetuates the unsustainable business-as-usual approach to addressing ecological and social issues in the Australian food system.
Glen Chapman
Glen Chapman
As a farmer and consultant, Glen has been working in agroecology and regenerative farming for over 25 years. He has a passion for agroecology as a way to heal our land and our communities. As a Holistic Management educator, he is an accredited Field Professional with the Savory Institute, and works across Australia with farmers in all areas of farm production and marketing. Over the past 15 years he has traveled extensively overseas researching and investigating agroecology and regenerative farming. Along with training, educating, and sharing his passion for agroecology and regenerative agriculture, he and his wife run farms near Armidale on the Northern Tablelands of NSW, applying the principles themselves and supplying healthy grass fed meat to their local community.
Staff Members
General Coordinator – Antoine Lenique
General Coordinator
Antoine lives in Naarm and has a background in international trade and foreign languages, development economics, sustainable tourism and logistics. He grew up in Spain and France where food is an integral part of every citizen’s cultural identity. This particular experience made him realise how political and how culturally relevant it is to understand where, how, by whom and why the food we eat is grown.
Through his travels around New Zealand and Australia, Antoine developed a keen interest in agroecology and its potential to not only regenerate land and biodiversity, but also to tackle social and economic inequalities, climate change and current power dynamics in the food system. He’s been involved in hands-on food systems transformation for the last 8 years and keeps a keen interest in food systems and peasant literature, with a focus on agroecology, land reform and alternative distribution networks.
After navigating the values-based short supply chains of Sovereign Foods and Food Connect in Meanjin, and serving on AFSA’s National Committee since 2023, Antoine has now joined our ranks as General Coordinator while continuing his work at The Community Grocer, a not-for-profit food enterprise based in Naarm.
First Peoples Focal Group Coordinator – Tyá Dynevor
First Peoples Focal Group Coordinator
Tyá Dynevor (pronounced as Tia Den-nee-vah) is a proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Woman. Born on Dharawal Country in Campbelltown, Greater Western Sydney, she grew up between Darwin, Larakia Country, and Cairns, Gimuy-walbarra Yidindji and Yirrganydji Country, alongside her Mother. Her Mother’s heritage includes the Gudjal People near the Charters Towers area, the Gurindji People from Kalkarindji NT, and the Gumuligal of Wagedagam Peoples from Mabuiag Island in Western part of the Torres Straits. Her Father’s lineage is from the Kullili tribe in Thargomindah, South-West Queensland.
A qualified Ethnozoologist and Ecologist, Tyá finished her final year in 2026 at James Cook University (JCU) with the Bachelor of Science with a major in Zoology and Ecology degree.
Tyá’s first role in research was the Research Assistant at The Cairns Institute, contributing to the project: Developing genuine partnerships with Reef Traditional Owners: Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) research and management in the Great Barrier Reef (CCIP-R-09); funded by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) under the COTS Control Innovation Program (CCIP) for Dr Vincent Backhaus. Additionally, Tyá was recently employed as the Operational Officer for Queensland Government: Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) working in the TIEC team as the Operational Officer for Mr Gerry Turpin.
From January 2026, started her role in the Gilibanga backbone team as the Research Officer as an intern-type employee but now has pursued her current role as the Knowledge Sharing Officer. From June 2026, Tyá is also now the First Peoples Focal Group Coordinator for AFSA.
A long-term passion and goal of Tyá’s is to give back to communities across Australia and Internationally through using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and western Scientific methods as she can identify the need to understand the ecological importance to involve both Traditional knowledge and tertiary education. Her commitment to enable local communities to strive for self-empowerment to restore, maintain, adapt to Caring for Country and our Native wildlife through a holistic framework of knowledge-keeping, sharing and preservation.
Communications Officer – Margherita Dellantonio
Communications Officer
Margherita has grown up among apple orchards in the Italian alps, which has sparked a deep connection to the mountains and the care required for growing food in just ways.
She has a background in Art History, Performing Arts Studies and Publishing, developed across Europe and so-called Australia. Her work and research has mainly focussed on independent projects based on community and sane political ethos, carrying critical perspectives and aiming to create a better world through arts and culture.
Now residing in Naarm, Margherita has broadened her quests and delved deeper into her relationship with land and soil, food sovereignty and migrant activism. Margherita’s work with AFSA merges her enthusiasm for culture, food, land, and human rights. She strongly believes in the power of stories to create a just world and future for all.
Paralegal – Dharshna Baskar
Paralegal
Dharshna Baskar is a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Global Studies student at Monash University, majoring in International Relations. She is passionate about diplomacy, international law, public policy, food sovereignty, human rights and environmental justice.
Dharshna is currently a Paralegal with the Human Rights Law Program at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and an International Careers Conference Intern at the Australian Institute of International Affairs. She has also interned with the Royal Norwegian Embassy through the Girls Run the World program, and previously worked as a Policy Intern at FORE Australia and as a Research Assistant under a Monash University lecturer, gaining experience in legal analysis, policy writing, research and stakeholder engagement.
With a strong interest in the connection between law, policy and global systems, Dharshna hopes to deepen her legal expertise while leading with empathy to support more equitable and sustainable outcomes. She is excited to contribute to AFSA’s Legal Defence Fund and support work that strengthens the rights and resilience of farmers, communities and local food systems.
