About the Event:This event was held as part of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.  The Victorian Independent Food Systems dialogue explored key challenges and opportunities facing Victoria's food system now and in the coming decades. With the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 as well as intensifying non-linear climate change revealing significant vulnerabilities in our food system,...

Join Nasser Mashni, 3CR presenter & Vice President of APAN (the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network), as he hosts a global discussion on food sovereignty in Palestine. Coinciding with World Food Day, Saturday the 16th, this conversation will feature guests & voices from an international network of food justice champions & agencies.

Within the Gaza Strip, there are over 1000 women-led, small-scale agri-enterprises. These farms and agri-enterprises maintain seed banks of locally cultivated crops & produce a great diversity of foodstuffs - from fresh vegetables, fruit & herbts to poultry, livestock and traditional ingredients such as ajweh (date paste), maftool (hand rolled couscous), stevia sweetner & jam and pickles.

In May 2021, it is estimated that over half of these enterprises were either partially or completely destroyed in the conflict, overlaying already existing vulnerabilities and marginalisation of women agripreneurs in Gaza, highlighting the inequalities in their ability to resist the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

These women agripreneurs have shown an amazing resilience in challenging circumstances. An international network of agencies and individuals, including Sustain, GUPAP, Global Gardens of Peace, Just Food Collective and EcoCARE Pacific Trust, are working to provide these women farmers the resources they need to continueworking towards achieving food security and food sovereignty for their communities.

Seetihiin! Join the East African Sisters onsite at the Cardinia Community Food Hub for a delicious multi-course, share plate feast featuring produce grown locally in the heart of Cardinia Shire. A celebration of 'casual fine-dining' and served with a side of social impact, the Long Farm Feast connects paddock to plate with a feast of Somali...

Seetihiin! Join the East African Sisters onsite at the Melbourne Food Hub Farm for a delicious multi-course vegetarian lunch featuring fresh, seasonal produce grown from the very soil underfoot.  Accompanied by a guided farm tour with Farmer Clare, the Farm Lunch is a celebration of 'casual fine-dining', connecting plate to paddock with food and stories that celebrate female farmers & producers. There'll...

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In 2021, Trust for Nature secured funding from the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation to collaborate on an innovative project: Protecting our Sustainably Managed Farmland. The project, also supported by the McLeod Family Foundation, identifies a number of permanent protection and collective ownership models that can secure important peri-urban landscapes threatened by encroaching development, and support new and young farmers seeking access to sustainably managed farmland. A feature of the project is the real-world case study in the context of the establishment of the Natural Agriculture Community by project partner Cassinia Environmental, in Rokewood, Victoria.

Presenters

- Joel Orchard, Founder and Coordinator, Young Farmers Connect

- Annemaree Docking, Principal, PlanItRural / Proprietor, Dalhousie Farm

- Linda Martin-Chew, Principal, PlanItRural

Panellists:

- Cecilia Riebl, Policy Advisor, Trust for Nature

- Nick Rose, Executive Director, Sustain: The Australian Food Network

- Rohan Clarke, Ethical Fields / Regen Farmers Mutual

- Andrew Ward, Ethical Fields / Regen Farmers Mutual

- Ash Knop, Cassinia Environmental

At this concluding event, the project partners will present their key findings and recommendations from the year-long collaboration. They will be joined by presentations from two pieces of complementary research, funded by the McLeod Family Foundation and conducted in collaboration with Sustain: the Australian Food Network.

Urban agriculture - the growing of food in urban and peri-urban areas - is as old as the first world’s first cities.

In early 2022 Sustain worked with Agriculture Victoria to conduct a first-ever mapping and survey of the urban agriculture sector in Victoria.

What did we learn? Urban agriculture is always about much more than growing veggies. Now more than ever, urban farmers in all their diversity can play an important role in helping governments and communities meet the challenges of climate change, wellbeing, and food security.

Presented by Drs Nick Rose and Kelly Donati, this William Angliss Institute Research Seminar series presents the findings and Sustain's roadmap for urban agriculture in Victoria to launch our 2nd national Urban Agriculture Month.

Patrick Turnbull, co-founder of Farm Raiser, will share a unique urban agriculture partnership with the Waratah Special Development School in Melbourne’s north. This inspiring story is a lesson in what is possible when passionate urban farmers and schools join forces to nurture a more inclusive (and delicious!) community.

We will enjoy a tour of the unique William Angliss Rain Garden featuring native medicinal and culinary plants in the heart of the city. The presentations will be followed by canapes and beverages on the deck of the Angliss Restaurant, featuring seasonal produce from Farm Raiser's very own urban farm.

Because we love food but hate waste, bookings are essential so we can cater appropriately.

This free event is made possible by the generous support of the William Angliss Institute Faculty of Higher Education. The Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation provided support the editing and design of the final report.

Co-hosted by Sustain: The Australian Food Network and City of Sydney, the Sydney Urban Agriculture Forum held on Fri 11 Nov is the centrepiece of the 2nd national Urban Agriculture Month. This Forum will be a celebration of the fantastic work underway across Sydney to strengthen the city's food system in face of mounting and serious challenges.

It will also be a deep dive into some of the policy and practice responses to those challenges, at the global, national, state and local levels.

The Forum will be held at Sydney City Farm, in collaboration with Sustain: The Australian Food Network and City of Sydney, as part of a nationwide program of events to highlight the critical role that urban agriculture plays in dealing with health and wellbeing, sustainability, climate change, and food security issue.

MC: Costa Georgiadis (ABCTV's Gardening Australia, Costa's World and Sustain ambassador.

Guest speakers include : Alex Greenwich MP, Lauren and Belinda from Sydney City Farm, Councillor (Waskam) Emelda Davis from City of Sydney, Dr. Nick Rose from Sustain: The Australian Food Network, with more to be announced.

The day will start off at 9.15am with a tour of the farm. And offical proceedings commence at 10am. Morning tea & lunch will be provided.

Sustain: The Australian Food Network is hosting our third signature event for this year's Urban Agriculture Month in Canberra. This Urban Agriculture Forum: Churchill Fellows Speak with Senator David Pocock at the Endeavour Centre on 7 December will discuss the importance of urban agriculture and edible town, cities and suburbs. We feel strongly this is a movement whose time has come.