Connecting & Inspiring a Movement: New Economy Conference 2018

New connections were made, old connections rekindled and inspiring stories of recreating our economy were shared at the 2018 New Economy Network Australia conference.

With several overseas speakers and presenters and over 200 participants gathering in Melbourne, we heard hundreds of inspiring stories of change and resilience over the three days.

The three days took in leading thinking and practice in the fields of food systems change, new economy theory, sustainable business models, law and governance, community energy, indigenous sovereignty and reconciliation and cooperatives.

The strong theme on sustainable and resilient food systems throughout the event was well attended and received by all. International keynote speakers included:

• Dr Eric Holt-Gimenez, Director of Food First in California;
• Dr Jose Luis Vivero Pol, author of the Food as Commons Handbook (Routledge) and consultant to the World Food Programme in Myanmar;
• Dr Charles Levkoe, expert in community and government food policy from Ontario. Read his guest blog post here

With Victorian / interstate food case studies featuring:

• Food Next Door (Mildura - awarded $600,000 in the current State budget);
• David Holmgren (co-founder of the Permaculture movement and author of Retrosuburbia);
• Joel Orchard and Sally Ruljancich (Community-Supported Agriculture Network Australia-New Zealand);
• Amelia Franklin (Amelia Franklin Coffee) / Joe Molloy (Rumble Coffee) / Leon Kennedy (Proud Mary Coffee) - transparency and integrity in coffee supply chains;
• Sophie Jamieson, Victorian co-convenor of the national Right to Food Coalition

In case you missed it, we were regularly posting on our Instagram and Twitter.

We were also fortunate to have Dr. Jose Luis Vivero Pol and Dr. Charles Levkoe attend a number of side events to delve deeper into their subject fields including:

Meeting with Councillors, Managers, staff and community members at Cardinia Shire Council on Monday 22nd October;

Presenting on their work together with Tanya Massy from the Cardinia Food Movement to an audience of 35 people at William Angliss on Monday 22nd October, watch the presentations here;

Charles and Nick also presented to staff across the three campuses of the University of Tasmania in Launceston, Hobart and Burnie on sustainable food systems on Wednesday 24th October.

All presentations from the NENA conference are being shared soon via https://www.neweconomy.org.au/conferences/2018-conference/.