Farmer, activist & chef to join forces for Fair Food Campaign

January 23, 2016 by Alana Mann

Chef Guy Grossi, farmer and president of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance Tammi Jonas, farmers market founder Miranda Sharp and Fair Food editor and campaigner Dr Nick Rose will join forces on February 13 for a live forum in Melbourne titled “Beyond the Supermarket: fair food in a disconnected system”.

The forum is being presented as part of the Sustainable Living Festival’s Big Weekend to celebrate the launch of Pip Permaculture Magazine’s “Fair Food” issue which explores the campaign for food sovereignty in Australia and beyond.

“We live in the age of the supermarket duopoly and yet we see people flocking to farmers markets and community gardens, yearning for a stronger connection to their food,” said Dr Rose.

“We’re seeing our movement gaining momentum each year, and this forum will bring together some really fantastic people, with a wide variety of perspectives to discuss how we can transform our food systems into a fair one for eaters, growers, processors and makers.”

“We have chef Guy Grossi, who will bring us the perspective of business and the food industry, which is huge in Melbourne. We’ll have Tammi Jonas, from her crowd-funded farm just outside of Daylesford bringing her perspective as a producer and Miranda Sharp from Melbourne Farmers Market will bring us perspectives from the consumers and growers who frequent her events.”

“We’re really excited to be devoting an issue of our magazine to the campaign for fair food championed by Nick Rose and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance,” said Pip Permaculture founding publisher Robyn Rosenfeldt.

“Fair food is integral to what Permaculture is all about. Our three central permaculture ethics of fair share for everyone, earth care for our environment and people care for our society as a whole are really embodied by the fair food campaign.”

“Our fair food edition explores in depth the issues within the food system as well as larger systemic solutions, and down-to-earth change you can make in your own backyard by growing your own food, all of which will be really intresting to discuss at the forum,” she said.

Beyond the Supermarket: fair food in a disconnected system will be presented by Pip Permaculture Magazine and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance to celebrate the launch of the Pip #5 Fair Food issue and will be held at the Sustainable Living Festival in “The Shed”, Birrung Mar, 13 February 2016, 3pm.

For media enquiries contact: Maude Farrugia maude@pipmagazine.com.au 0417303389

AFSA Welcomes Food Sovereignty Day 2014

October 16, 2014 by Nick Rose

Food Sovereignty Day 2014 recognises pioneers of the fair food movement

The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) welcomes the awarding of the Food Sovereignty Prize to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and Community to Community Development (C2C).

The UAWC is a grassroots small farmer organization in Palestine that builds farmer cooperatives and seed banks and supports the leadership of women. The C2C supports immigrant farm workers in the US in developing worker-owned cooperatives and promotes domestic fair trade exchanges.

The sixth annual awards were made by the United States Food Sovereignty Alliance. First made in 2009 as an alternative to the production-focused World Food Prize, they are made to organisations developing solutions to the injustices in the global food system. According to the USFSA, the award honours those reclaiming and democratising their food systems and contributes to ending hunger.

[message_box icon=”fa fa-quote-left” background=”#556270″]

[quote author=”” image=”http://afsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nick-200.jpg” w=”200″ h=”199″ image_align=”right”]The UAWC and the C2C embody the vision of a democratic and fair food system for all, which is at the heart of food sovereignty”, said AFSA National Coordinator, Dr Nick Rose.

This is the vision that inspires our work here in Australia. In particular, during this International Year of the Family Farmer, we want to highlight the vital role played by innovative Australian producers who are working hard to feed their local communities and regions in ecologically sustainable ways, often in very difficult market conditions.

This is why AFSA launched a dedicated farmers’ chapter, Fair Food Farmers United (FFFU), in March this year.

Dr Nick Rose, AFSA National Coordinator[/quote][/message_box]

Some of the 97 events currently taking place around Australia during the AFSA’s annual Fair Food Week are workshops and tours organised by FFFU farmers.

For interview:

Dr Nick Rose (AFSA): 0414 497 819
Tammi Jonas (FFFU): 0422 429 362

Fair Food Week: fairfoodweek.org.au
Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance: afsa.org.au.au

Food sovereignty means we safeguard vital assets for future generations

February 17, 2014 by Nick Rose

Food Sovereignty Alliance calls for tighter controls on foreign ownership and control of Australian farmland

Australian farmers and communities lose while transnational corporations profit

17 February 2014

Debate rages about whether Australia should allow foreign investment in agricultural land. Transnational agribusinesses and financial institutions are acquiring stakes in agricultural land and infrastructure in land-rich countries around the world including Australia but to what benefit to local economies and communities?

Michael Croft, President of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) will argue at a St James Ethic Centre debate on 4 March 2014 that foreign investment in agricultural land and infrastructure works against Australia’s national and best interests unless the regulatory system and current model are changed.

[quote author=”…argues Mr Croft” image=”http://afsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Michael-Croft_original.jpg” w=”170″ h=”170″ image_align=”left”]There is an alternative – there is always an alternative.

Why aren’t we selling the food and not the farm?

Why don’t we prioritise the well-being of our communities, and the integrity of our soils and waterways, above the profit interests of transnational capital?

History and experience shows that the latter almost always comes at the expense of the former. These are the questions we have to be asking ourselves, as a matter of urgency.[/quote]

Media release

[button_link url=”http://afsa.org.au/afsa-home/” target=”” background=”#98CC66″ style=”” title=”” class=”icon-download-alt” id=”” onclick=””] Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land — 18 Feb. 2014 (pdf) [/button_link]

Interviews

Contact Michael Croft on 0413 387 686.

Event

[button_link url=”http://afsa.org.au/events/foreign-investment-in-agricultural-land-and-infrastructure-should-be-strictly-limited/” target=”” style=”” background=”#98CC66″ title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=“”]View event details[/button_link]

Just Food — a suitable case for crowdfunding

August 20, 2013 by Nick Rose

Here’s a different way to think about money — not as a substance for hoarding but an energy for making good things happen. That’s why we have crowdfunding… it’s an investment opportunity for citizens… an investment in our own future.

Now, your modest investment can make Just Food a reality because the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance and The Locavore Edition are collaborating to create Australia’s first fair food documentary. It’s to be a feature film highlighting some of Australia’s innovative fair food pioneers, the people creating — through their imagination and hard work — a new food system on this continent.

So join us in this adventure and become one of those people who make good things happen, people who put their dollars, no matter how modest the amount, behind the things they want to make real.

It’s like the polymath, Buckminster Fuller said — to change something you create something compellingly better, just as the people in this film are creating a better farming system for Australia.

The opportunity to do this awaits you on Pozzible… so just click and join us…

People making things happen — an auspicious start

In the 24 hours after launching our Just Food crowdfunding offering on 19 August, to coincide with Australia’s first Fair Food Week, more than $6000 had been raised towards a target of $25,000 to cover the production costs of Just Food. That’ an encouraging start and suggests to us that there’s a lot of people out there in our cities and countryside who care enough about our shared food future to offer their dollars to make this documentary video a reality.

Now, you can be part of making history by joining with other people who make things happen:

[button_link url=”http://www.pozible.com/project/31790″ target=”blank” style=”” title=”” i class=”icon-circle-arrow-right” id=”” onclick=””] Visit Just Food Pozible Campaign website [/button_link]

[button_link url=”http://afsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Media-Release-Just-Food-20.8.13.pdf” target=”blank” style=”” title=”” i class=”icon-download-alt” id=”” onclick=””] Download media release for Just Food — 20.8.13 [/button_link]

Orange Tree Blues — a taster of Just Food

from growing change.

“Growing healthy orange trees is hard work. Killing them is even harder”.
They’re the words of a farmer contemplating the destruction of his orchard as the economic realities of our globalised food market hit home.

But this is no tale of doom and gloom — it’s a story of redemption… redemption that comes through creative thinking and new opportunities creating direct links between farmers and the people who eat their food.

In this short documentary produced for the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, we sweep aside the bucolic images of the farming life to get to the reality.

Orange Tree Blues is a taster for what Just Food will be like, tales of reality and tales of hope. Introduced by ABC Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis and directed by Simon Cunich, Orange Tree Blues was filmed and edited by Daniel Gwynn. Music by Edwin Montgomery.

Green paper for a Corporate Food Plan

July 19, 2012 by Food Sovereignty

On 17 July 2012, the Federal Government released its green paper for a National Food Plan. The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance has made its public response to the green paper, which you can read by clicking on the link below:

AFSA Media Release – Response to Green Paper