The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) has been hard at work with a range of collaborators across many areas of interest, to deliver the updated Peoples’ Food Plan draft. This draft is now open for public consultation and collaboration from 1 June until midnight 1 September 2023. We are calling on First Peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, women, LGBTQIA+ peoples, academics and eaters to get involved and help us build a Peoples’ Food Plan by the people, for the people!
What is the Peoples’ Food Plan?
In 2012, AFSA developed the original Peoples’ Food Plan in response to the Australian Government’s National Food Plan. Unlike the Government’s National Food Plan, which was developed without participation from small-scale farmers and local communities, the Peoples’ Food Plan reflected the concerns and aspirations of eaters, farmers, community organisations, independent food businesses and advocacy groups. Developing the Peoples’ Food Plan was conducted as a model of participatory democracy in policy development – open, inclusive and democratic – because we knew the scale of the challenges and the urgency of the work needed to transform our dysfunctional food system, and that decision making is best located with those it affects.
Through the collectivising work around the original Peoples’ Food Plan, the food sovereignty movement in Australia emerged as an alliance of farmers, food systems organisations and individuals ready to take food justice into their own hands. 11 years on, AFSA has grown into a farmer-led civil society organisation championing the fight for food sovereignty.
With over a decade of evidence-based campaigns and policy submissions to government, AFSA is updating the Peoples’ Food Plan in 2023, drawing on key themes and recommendations put forward in our body of work.
What is public consultation and how can I get involved?
AFSA has already been working with members and allies through targeted consultation to get the updated Peoples’ Food Plan draft for a participatory process of public consultation. We now invite anyone and everyone to give us feedback on the key themes, issues, actions and recommendations. We want the Peoples’ Food Plan to be democratically determined by those involved in this process, which is why we’re inviting contributors to make suggestions directly in the document, or offer general feedback via the form. If you would like to dive into the document and make suggestions, email AFSA’s General Coordinator, Jess Power to gain access to the document for viewing and commenting.
How do I read the Peoples’ Food Plan?
The updated Peoples’ Food Plan draft is structured in a way that aims to give policymakers, farmers, educators and allies a clear snapshot of why we need urgent food and agricultural transformation in Australia. AFSA asserts that current crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and biodiversity loss expose the fragility of industrial agriculture and global food chains, while also presenting governments with an opportunity to improve social and ecological outcomes through farming and localised food economies.
In each section of the Plan, we provide context for key policy issues related to food systems and agriculture in Australia, followed by what the food sovereignty movement deems ‘false solutions’ pushed by corporations. We then put forward Peoples’ Actions from the ground up, offering guided actions for individuals, communities, collectives, schools, and universities as well as policy recommendations for all levels of government to enact a clear pathway towards food sovereignty.
To support how policy can enable socio-ecological benefits in food and agriculture systems, case studies from Australia and around the world are included in each section. The case studies demonstrate how the Seven Pillars of Food Sovereignty are already coming to fruition within the domestic and global food system.
Public consultation closes at midnight on 1 September 2023. All feedback will be reviewed and incorporated into the final document which will be designed and launched at the Australian Food Sovereignty Convergence on 15-16 October at SAGE (Brinja-Yuin Country, NSW).
If you have any questions about the updated Peoples’ Food Plan draft or public consultation, please email us.
