Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance

Fair food for all Australians

AFSA National Committee 2018 Nominations

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AFSA's Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 24th October to finish up the Food Sovereignty Convergence in Canberra. Below are the nominations for AFSA's 2018 National Committee.

 

President- Tammi Jonas

Current AFSA President Tammi Jonas is re-nominating for President in 2018 to continue to lend her strong female farmer’s voice to the fight for food sovereignty in Australia.

Along with her hypercompetent husband and three #orsmkids, Tammi raises rare breed Large Black pigs and cattle in central Victoria at Jonai Farms & Meatsmiths. A former vegetarian academic, Tammi now does whole-carcass butchering on the farm (thanks to two successful crowdfunding campaigns to build a boning room, commercial kitchen, & curing room), and sells their ethical pork and beef predominantly through a thriving CSA (community-supported agriculture).

Jonai Farms is an ethically viable no-growth model – Tammi often says we need to multiply our farms, not scale them, to support more people working the land fairly and to revive rural communities and local food economies. Jonai Farms features in Australia’s first food politics documentary Fair Food, and Tammi also has a chapter in the anthology Fair Food, published by UQ Press.

Tammi has been writing about food culture, ethics and politics since 2006 at her blog Tammi Jonas: Food Ethics, and speaks regularly on food sovereignty at public events, on radio, and in print media. She is also a founding member and inaugural Chair of Fair Food Farmers United (FFFU), the producers' branch of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA).

As President over the past three years Tammi has worked solidly for fair and consistent regulation of farming and food production and distribution, and led the process to establish a Legal Defence Fund to protect and promote the right of people to determine their own food and agriculture systems.

She has helped AFSA establish its voice and authority on a range of issues and secured frequent meetings with a number of politicians to lobby for significant reform, as well as leading the process for submissions to government inquiries, including the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the impact of regulation on agriculture, and the Victorian Government’s Animal Industries Advisory Committee, and she is now leading the campaign to protect free-range farming in Victoria in the face of the Government’s proposed revisions to the planning provisions.

Tammi has also had the privilege to attend a variety of meetings of the global food sovereignty movement, including meetings of: the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), Urgenci: the International Network for Community-Supported, Slow Meat, the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), Slow Food’s Terra Madre, and the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) that relates to the UN World Committee for Food Security (CFS). She helped lead the process to gain membership of the leading voice of the global food sovereignty movement La Via Campesina (LVC).

The extent of Tammi’s work in Australia and internationally has deepened and broadened her understanding of the issues in the food system locally and globally and she is keen to continue applying that knowledge and experience to assist farmers and eaters, AFSA, the FFFU and the global food sovereignty movement in the role of President.

Nomination supported by:

Katarina Munksgaard

Ben McMenamin

 

Vice-President- Ben McMenamin

As a professional chef of 10 years and a graduate of the Bachelor Environmental Social Science at RMIT, Ben combines a strong knowledge of food research, education, and policy development with extensive hands-on experience in growing and cooking sustainable food at a commercial scale.

Working as a chef in a number of contexts has given Ben first-hand experience in understanding the challenges and opportunities for food systems. This culinary experience has also developed Ben's leadership skills and the capacity to collaborate and innovate under time pressure to deliver excellent results.

In 2015, Ben started a cause-based business called the Social Food Project which hosts pop-up food events that communicate ideas about sustainability.

Ben also works as a project-based sustainability professional with organisations including the City of Melbourne, RMIT University, and the UN Global Compact. This work includes project management, workshop facilitation, and program development. Ben has hosted a number of behaviour change programs, including the C16 Design Hack.

Nomination supported by:

Tammi Jonas

Katarina Munksgaard

 

Secretary- Penny Kothe

Farm Girl (herb and vegetable grower, cook, marketing, research, observation and assisting with larger projects)

Raised in Tumbarumba in the NSW Snowies, then Sydney and later Mudgee and the north coast of NSW. Coming from a farming family with a great interest in gardening, Penny feels right at home on the open spaces of the farm. Penny became interested in studying horticulture, then permaculture and holistic management and is continuing to learn and apply these principles each and every day. She completed her PDC with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton in 2012 as well as various courses including Forest Gardens, Natural Bee Keeping, Urban Permaculture and Holistic Management. She has recently completed a Diploma in Organic Farming.

Current Secretary of the Southern Harvest Association, Treasurer Bungendore Landcare.

Nomination:

Katie Johnson

Tammi Jonas

 

Treasurer- Deepa Dureja

Deepa is a CPA qualified accountant, having worked for Food Connect in Brisbane where her interest in food and ethical sourcing of food grew. She has worked for a number of not for profit organisations and public services in Melbourne before moving to Brisbane in 2011. Deepa has a strong interest in working with social enterprises and the not for profit sector and strongly believes in a fairer and more ethical food system.

Nomination supported by:

Tammi Jonas

Phil Stringer

 

Communications Officer- Katie Johnston 

Currently acting as AFSA Communications Officer, Katie Johnston wishes to renominate for 2018.

Katie is an avid gardener, studied Social & Environmental Science at RMIT, and majored in Plant Biology. She developed a passion for small-scale, regenerative farming while WWOOFing through North America in 2010, and subsequently undertaking her Permaculture Design Certificate. She believes that small-scale agricultural systems have the capacity to help regenerate long-neglected ecosystems in Australia. Once a vegan, after studying food systems as part of her undergraduate degree(s) and integrating herself into her local farming and urban agriculture communities via work experience (on farms and for Melbourne Farmers Markets), programs (e.g. Farmer Incubator) and general hanging about…Katie began eating ethically sourced dairy and meat products again.

Katie formerly owned a bar and restaurant with her partner Kyle, and acted as Social Media Manager for this business. In her former life she was a Photographer and has a passion for communication and storytelling, particularly about farming.

While Katie does not have vast experience in Communications, she wishes to work more effectively for AFSA, whose work she strongly admires and values. As such, Katie is committed to investing more of her personal time into training for this role, in order to better serve the organisation. This will likely look like spending time undertaking a social media management course and learning how to better write for the web, as well as becoming more adept at using WordPress for the purposes AFSA uses it. While Katie feels she is placed to properly contribute to AFSA in the Communications Officer role currently, she is excited to expand her abilities and work as a more effective team member in the future.

Nomination supported by:

Tammi Jonas

Ben McMenamin

 

International Liason- Katarina Munksgaard

Current interim vice president of AFSA, Katarina Munksgaard is nominating for the international liaison position for the 2017-2018 committee to get more involved with the international food sovereignty issues and communicate these back to AFSA’s members and subscribers.

Having grown up on an intensive pig farm in rural Denmark, Kat realised early the detrimental effects of industrial and intensive farming. She believes food sovereignty as a concept is fitting to start to tackle these issues because it emphasises people’s democratic right to access nutritious and culturally-appropriate food grown in ethical and ecologically-sound ways.

Kat is an anthropologist specialising in farming and interspecies relationships. She recently finished her master’s thesis on the food sovereignty movement in Australia. Kat got involved with AFSA to support her thesis work in 2015-16. She has interviewed and interacted with a large number of small-scale regenerative farmers all over Australia providing her with an in depth understanding of both the motivations behind choosing these farming methods and the current issues that farmers face. She has worked as a research assistant at Deakin University on the project Sustainable Fishing Families and can now also report on food sovereignty issues in the Australian fishing industry.

Kat has also worked specifically on the topic of genetically modified crops in India and the farmers who farm these crops. She has written extensively on the globalized and commodified food system and analysed the detrimental social and environmental effects these systems have on especially people in the Global South.

Nomination supported by:

Phil Stringer

Tammi Jonas

 

Fair Food Farmers United (FFFU) Chair- Phil Stringer

Phil Stringer is currently managing a small mixed farm in SE Qld, running free range purebred Tamworth pigs, a small herd of cattle and growing subtropical perennial tubers along with various cut flowers and vegetables.
He's also a director of the Mary Valley Country Harvest Coop which provides  weekly deliveries to the Sunshine Coast and valuable training, workshops and farm tours to local growers, as well as being actively involved in a project to get a local mixed species abattoir in the region again.

His background is in land management, and he continues to work off farm on revegetation projects.

He joined the AFSA national committee in August 2016.

Nomination supported by:

Tammi Jonas

Katarina Munksgaard

 

General Members

Ant Wilson

The catalyst for Ant's interest in food sovereignty was WOOFing on permaculture properties during an 11 month trip around Latin America in 2014/15. Since then he became a vegan; left the city; started working on small scale farms; built a sound understanding of sustainable food production; and started eating ethical meat again! Over the past 18 months, he's moved towards his goal of starting a farming enterprise by working closely with small scale farmers producing eggs, poultry, pork, beef, fruit, veggies and honey, and is currently exploring the possibility of running a fruit orchard with diversified production added over time. He is passionate about regenerating the land, producing ethical nutrient dense food, building strong Community Supported Agriculture and resilient localised food systems.

Ant is a strong believer that as sovereign individuals we should have the right to determine our own food systems and to access safe wholesome food that we choose, rather than be at the mercy of multinational agribusiness and its capitalist goals. As a general member of the AFSA committee Ant can harness his passion for food sovereignty to lobby governments, collaborate with other organisations and educate eaters. Together we can create radical change!

Nomination supported by:

Tammi Jonas

Kat Munksgaard

 

Fran Murrell

Fran Murrell co-founded MADGE, a group that looks at GM, it's effects on farmers, eaters, land, water and life, in 2007. MADGE strongly supports and promotes food sovereignty and a transformation from the current food system. Fran has spent over 20 years researching the issue and realises we need a much deeper and richer engagement with food, farming and the ‘culture’ that agriculture creates. She was a member of the original AFSA committee. In 2016 she attended the Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague. MADGE has always had a focus on understanding that the ills of the food system are global and so the networks for change need to be international too.  She has spoken across Australia as well as in the US and Canada, written articles and submissions and contributed to three books.

Nomination supported by:

Katarina Munksgaard

Tammi Jonas

 

Catie Gressier

Catie Gressier is a researcher and cultural anthropologist based in Freo, Western Australia. She grew up in Sydney, but spent school holidays hanging out on her uncle’s dairy farm, which kick-started a long fascination with farming. She worked in diverse roles after school, from hospitality, to tourism, to Native Title, before undertaking a PhD in anthropology at UWA. With a regional focus on southern Africa and Australia, Catie has since published widely on settler relationships to land, and the anthropology of food (meat in particular). Her first book, At Home in the Okavango, examines belonging and connections to land among the white citizens of northwest Botswana, while her second book, Illness, Identity and Taboo among Australian Paleo Dieters,explores the industrial food system and contemporary consumption practices via the Paleo diet.

After five years at the University of Melbourne, she has recently relocated to Western Australia, where she is developing a new project working with regenerative farmers in both Western Australia and Victoria. This research explores how livestock farmers are responding to the ecological, social and economic challenges they face, in order to determine how they can best be supported in producing high welfare, culturally appropriate and nutritious foods sustainably. She has great respect for the work of AFSA, and would be delighted to offer her skills, knowledge and networks to help the committee pursue its goals in 2018.

Nomination supported by:

Tammi Jonas

Katarina Munksgaard

 

Call for nominations for 2018 AFSA National Committee

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AFSA Annual General Meeting

The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance will be holding its Annual General Meeting during the Food Sovereignty Convergence in Canberra on 23 and 24 October 2017.

WHEN: Tuesday 24 October 2017

TIME: 3.00-4.00pm

WHERE: via Skype or join us at Burringiri Culture Centre
245 Lady Denman Dr Canberra Central ACT 2602

The AGM will involve the election of office bearers and general members of the National Committee. Nominations close 17th October. If you are interested in nominating for a position please email a short bio to us expressing your interest at: admin@afsa.org.au.

Please note that nominations for positions to the new National Committee must be endorsed by two members of AFSA. Please contact admin@afsa.org.au if you do not already know two AFSA members to endorse your nomination.

Details of the individuals who have nominated for the new Committee will shortly be made available on the website.

 

Office Bearer Position Descriptions

Role of the President

Charged with providing leadership and direction to the Committee, the President is responsible for ensuring that the Committee fulfils its responsibilities for the governance and success of the organisation. S/he also works to optimise the relationship between the Committee, any paid employees, volunteers and other members, and to achieve the organisation’s agreed goals. The President is generally the spokesperson for the organisation and should work to maintain key relationships within and outside of the organisation.

Role of the Vice President

The Vice President is responsible for assisting the President to fulfil his/her responsibilities for the governance and success of the organisation.  This may mean chairing meetings at short notice. The Vice President typically fills in for the President when s/he is on leave.

Role of the Treasurer

The Treasurer is responsible for the financial supervision of the organisation to allow the Committee to provide good governance of the organisation. The Treasurer’s tasks include the preparation of annual budgets, planning for the organisation’s financial future and monitoring the organisation’s revenue and expenditure. It is desirable that the treasurer is well organized and possesses a level of financial expertise.

Role of the Secretary

The Secretary is responsible for the documentation and communication of the activities of the Committee.  The secretary is the primary administration officer of the Committee and provides the links between the Committee, members and outside agencies. monitors memberships, and provides membership reports at each meeting of the Committee. S/he also leads membership drives and supports the Committee in developing strategies for growing and maintaining membership, and helps lead membership engagement through social media and a regular newsletter. The Secretary should be a good communicator, maintain confidentiality on relevant matters and have the ability to delegate tasks and supervise others. The Secretary oversees the preparation of agendas and minutes.

Role of the Communications Officer

The Communications Officer develops and implements effective internal and external communications strategies to maintain and build the reputation of AFSA with key publics including allied organisations, media, government and members. She/he supports the team with feedback on a range of communications pieces, and conducts research on relevant issues to assist in the implementation of public affairs activity including lobbying.. A key element of the role is media relations, requiring the monitoring of news media to identify opportunities to attain media coverage (environmental scanning), and the production of media releases, backgrounders and rich content for the website and promotional materials. Fielding inquiries from stakeholders including journalists, politicians, members and general public is an ongoing responsibility. The Communications Officer collaborates with the Multimedia Editor in planning, writing and distributing the electronic newsletter.

Role of the FFFU Chair

The FFFU Chair is the primary point of contact for FFFU members of AFSA. The Chair is also the primary liaison with farmer-led international organisations working for food sovereignty such as La Via Campesina, the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, and Urgenci: the International Network for Community-Supported Agriculture. S/he leads membership engagement with producers, and communicates regularly with FFFU members via the AFSA website and regular newsletter. From time to time, s/he may survey farmers about their needs and report back to the Committee. On matters where producers’ voices should be paramount, the Chair consults with the FFFU membership to develop positions and reports these to the Committee and to the public.

 

 

 

Join us in Canberra for the 2017 Food Sovereignty Convergence!

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Join us in Canberra on the 23rd and 24th October 2017 for two days of debate, stories, analysis, sharing, strategising and planning, all in the cause of building a fair food system for all Australians! Farmers, consumer advocates, right to food activists, urban agriculturalists, educators, communicators, innovators - whoever you are, wherever you're from - if you see yourself as part of Australia's food sovereignty movement, this is for you!

Food sovereignty asserts the right of peoples to nourishing and culturally appropriate food produced and distributed in ecologically sound and ethical ways, and their right to collectively determine their own food and agriculture systems. 

The Food Sovereignty Convergence will begin on Monday with a discussion on indigenous food sovereignty and land sovereignty led by Ngambri man Shane Mortimer. We will then move into a discussion about the global food sovereignty movement led by AFSA President Tammi Jonas, who has recently returned from the VIIth International Conference of La Via Campesina (the international peasant farmers' movement) and meetings of the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the UN.

The majority of Monday and Tuesday will be MC'd by Alex Bayley in unconference style - How does this work?

Early in the day, we will have an unconference scheduling period where people can propose sessions.

Proposed sessions will be scheduled using large post-it notes on the wall, and facilitators will help ensure that sessions have as little overlap or conflict as possible.  Sometimes, two sessions may be combined together if the topics are similar.

At the end of the day, we’ll come back together for a closing session to gather feedback and talk about what we’ve gained from the day’s activities.

The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday afternoon, details TBC.

Sunday night, we will gather at local restaurant A. Baker, sharing seasonal food and drinks and meeting with our hosts for the next few days. This is a self-funded dinner/drinks.

On Monday night, Convergence attendees will gather at Canberra City Farm for a potluck dinner. Tickets are also sold separately for this event. The evening will begin with a tour of Canberra City Farm followed by the main event:

Bruce Pascoe, author of the acclaimed Dark Emu, and regenerative farmer Tammi Jonas discussing 'how we can reconcile indigenous land management with the new movement of farmers' regenerative land management'.

2 days convergence (including potluck dinner) $110
2 days convergence (govt)(including potluck dinner) $160

Potluck dinner only $20

Lunch and refreshments will be provided for both days of the Convergence so please let us know if you have any dietary requirements via email at admin@afsa.org.au. You can also email us for information about interstate and local car pooling or if you're interested in being billeted within the local community.

This event is not a fundraiser, however, you're welcome to donate to the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance's Legal Defence Fund when you purchase a ticket.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Book now!

23 and 24 Oct 2017
09:00 AM - 4:00 PM

LOCATION

Burringiri Culture Centre
245 Lady Denman Dr Canberra Central ACT 2602

CONTACT DETAILS

admin@afsa.org.au

A few changes for the AFSA National Committee

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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!

Strategic Report

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AFSA Strategic Retreat, Lorne, December 2016

The AFSA National Committee gathered in Victoria’s Lorne for almost two days of reflection on the year past, some pretty incredible food, and the rare space to think deeply about 2017. We’ve come away from the retreat renewed in our commitment to create and fight for a democratic and resilient food system - one based on agroecological principles which nourish a community of eaters connected to their food supply and the people who grow it.

For all eaters and growers, whether urban, regional or rural dweller, food which is accessible, clean, nourishing and delicious is a right not a privilege. Food which is grown with the building of the soil’s health in mind, with the rights of the workers of the land in mind, with the ethical treatment of the animal in mind, and with the well being of the farmers in mind – these are the things we must continue to fight for.

Unfair, inconsistent regulations, illogical planning laws, a lack of transparency in labelling (including ingredients, GMOs and country of origin), food deserts, lack of education around cooking whole foods in season - these issues abound. If we do not continue to push back against the heavy-handed regulatory creep and continued erosion of our democratic rights as food eating citizens, we stand to further lose a genuine farming culture and supply of food which benefits us all.

AFSA’s mandate for 2017 is to support, raise funds for, and run the Legal Defence Fund (LDF) and to continue to cultivate the nexus between farmers, producers, and eaters, by way of advocating food hubs, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and other direct models of sale.

In thinking about the relationships between small producers and eaters, AFSA would like to see the creation of more CSAs. A solidarity economy brings the risks and rewards of real food production and distribution into sharp relief, whilst popular in Japan, North America, Europe, and many other parts of the world, it is a system not well known in Australia. What can we do to change that?

It’s that old chestnut of education. AFSA will be talking more about eating seasonally, ethically, and the benefits of solidarity economies with small-scale producers. As multiple AFSA committee members are small producers who offer CSA shares within their own farming practices, we are well-placed to provide forums for advice and discussions on how they best work, how to get them up and running, and how to market them. Let’s not lose any opportunity to mentor and “grow the growers”. As a personal aside, my family farm, Colin and Sally’s released its first CSA shares on January 1 2017, and we sold all of them within 11 hours. This highlights the incredible opportunities that exist for small producers to better connect with their eating community. The need and the want are there. AFSA is a member of Urgenci: the International Network of Community Supported Agriculture and we will be sharing more resources over 2017 as a way in which to better educate and support this method of exchange between farmer and consumer. A system of economy which better supports the relationship of eater to producer, eater to the seasons, and the economic strength of a local community is the healthiest of food systems.

Sounds simple. Should be. Unfortunately, regulatory overreach in the planning laws, lack of access to abattoirs (for poultry in particular), and overly burdensome and expensive processes are standing in the way of many small producers from feeding their communities. A decline in confidence in the kitchen, a persistent uncomfortable reliance on supermarkets due to convenience and a price model that disrespects every aspect of the growing of the food, and a lack of awareness of just what it takes and what it costs, environmentally and ethically, for an item of produce to go from tractor to trolley, these issues need highlighting and addressing. Alternative models of purchasing will be championed heavily in 2017.

2017 will see AFSA continue to run and fundraise for the LDF. Having now ratified the LDF’s Terms of Reference at the last AGM, a Steering Committee is being established and legal expertise drawn upon, in efforts to both address current illogical planning regulations and producers’ regulatory burden and to anticipate where next we might focus our energies. After a successful crowdfunding start, which many of you may have supported directly, we have the funds to commence the LDF’s work in earnest in 2017. This will be expensive but essential work for argoecological farming systems to fight for their rightful place in the food system

So. Perhaps you have already heard, or perhaps this finds me the bearer of some pretty exciting news, but in late-February 2017 AFSA is hosting a fundraiser for the LDF at Jonai Farms, near Daylesford, with the amazing Joel Salatin, in all his cowboy-hatted, intellectual, straight-talking glory. Jonai Farm embodies many of the values AFSA is fighting for; a resilient, diverse family farm that utilises many of Polyface’s teachings about using animals for optimum soil health, respecting the ‘pigness of the pig’, with control of their supply chain in their on-farm boning room and farm gate shop, plus a thriving CSA that has already demonstrated the value of the model by supporting them through a period of low fertility in their herd. The Save the Date is here. AFSA members will get first dibs on tickets which will be released for sale in the very early new year, so if you are not a paid-up member, we invite you to join us.

Moving along the calendar year and the AFSA National Committee has committed to shaking things up at the Fair Food Convergence and AGM in October 2017. To be held in Canberra, we are hoping a number of committee members will be able to conduct a few whistlestops along the way, collecting stories from eaters and small producers, with the idea of presenting our experiences, grievances and recommendations on fair and agroecological ways forward, to members of Parliament during their sitting week. A Fair Food Convergence, converging on Parliament – brilliant. We’ll let you know more in the new year what this will look like, and a Save the Date will be up soon.

By becoming a member of AFSA, you are committing to support the volunteer national committee achieve its mandate. Whilst we do seek out services for AFSA in the pro bono space, and we most certainly are reliant on these amazing volunteers, there are a range of needs that AFSA cannot acquire without funds. Pamphlets and other collateral, website maintenance and server costs, funding committee members to travel to conferences and speak at events – all to further grow the food sovereignty movement in Australia.

A membership-based organisation can be powerful, but in order to sit on the world stage, we need to turn up. In 2016 Fair Food Farmers United (FFFU), the farmers' branch of AFSA, was officially accepted as a member of La Via Campesina (LVC), the leading voice of the global food sovereignty movement. LVC brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. AFSA is also a proud member of both the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty and Urgenci: the International Network of Community Supported Agriculture. These connections put AFSA in a strong position within the global food sovereignty movement. By joining us as a member, you will be invited to have your say every year about what the issues are that we will focus on. There’s strength in numbers.

At the AFSA retreat in Lorne, there was an article and idea we kept coming back to, which was Toward thick legitimacy: Creating a web of legitimacy for agroecology - “To achieve real change in how food is produced and eaten, we need to change people’s expectations of what “normal” agriculture should look like”. Like Joel Salatin, Maywa Montenegro and Alastair Iles argue that our movement needs to change the narrative. The industrial food system has failed us, and to add insult to injury, along the way they have usurped the narrative of normalcy and justified the failures as only modernity, nothing to worry about, just keep moving “forward”.

The many allies who’ve come together to make up AFSA today haven’t bought into the lie. The industrial food system is harming people, the environment, and our barometer of normal. Rather than continually positioning ourselves as the alternative, let’s remember that a regenerative and agroecological approach to food production was the norm until recently; industrial agriculture is the new, albeit powerful beast that requires the checks and balances proportionate to the risks that it has inflicted upon all areas of the food system. It’s time to redress the narrative.

As always, I thank the AFSA committee for their intelligence, time spent away from family and businesses, and their commitment to change. Onwards!

A peek into the mind of Joel Salatin is a fitting place to finish, this should whet your appetite for late-February: “From zoning to labor to food safety to insurance, local food systems daily face a phalanx of regulatory hurdles designed and implemented to police industrial food models but which prejudicially wipe out the antidote: appropriate scaled local food systems”.

 

Sally Ruljancich

President

Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance

 

 

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