In this introductory episode of the Fair Food Futures podcast, Dr Kiah Smith, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland; and landscape architect, TV presenter, and gardening superstar Costa Georgiadis, engage in a conversation about the diversity of grassroots fair food initiatives in Australia. 

Imagining he had a 'magic wand', Costa describes his ideal 'fair food future', and talks with Kiah about how civic food initiatives can be scaled-up to transform the wider food system.  The conversation also touches on the challenges and opportunities for materialising these fair food futures through the Australian policy making space. 

This first episode provides details on the participatory design and findings of the Fair Food Futures Project, as well as the themes, guests, scenarios and pathways for transformative change in the food systems that will be discussed in the upcoming episodes. 

 More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios:  

 https://fairfoodfutures.com/explore-the-scenarios/  

 Costa's website: https://costasworld.com.au/         

 Organisations mentioned by Costa Georgiadis and Dr Kiah Smith: 

https://foodconnect.com.au/      

https://sustain.org.au/   

https://www.facebook.com/CropSwapAustralia/   

https://communitygarden.org.au/     

https://ceres.org.au/  

https://www.northfreosocialfarm.org/  

https://www.farmitforward.com.au/   

https://loopgrowers.com/    

 Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX9Jg67LCCUWV9on5gGLtTg  

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

In this second episode of the Fair Food Futures podcast, the world-famous author, filmmaker, activist, and academic Dr Raj Patel shares an overview of some of the structural problems with the global food system, in conversation with Dr Kiah Smith, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. 

 By drawing on evidence gathered during more than 30 years researching (and fighting) the global and US food systems, Raj shares his insights about the history and potential of food justice as a vehicle to build more sustainable and fair food systems at various levels. Kiah talks about the concept of food justice from the Australian perspective, delving deeper into the diversity of fair food experiments already taking place at a national level, and describing the key pathways that the Fair Food Futures Project identified to build food justice in Australia. 

 The conversation touches on the interplay between capitalism, food justice, resistance, and transformative social change in the food system, from a political economy perspective and a social justice standpoint, based on the experiences of real-life movements currently transforming food systems, both globally and in Australia. 

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the pathways for food justice:   

https://fairfoodfutures.com/explore-the-scenarios/  

Raj Patel website: https://rajpatel.org/ 

Links mentioned by Dr Raj Patel during the podcast episode: 

Landless Workers' Movement: https://mst.org.br/ 

2023 US Farm Bill: https://www.rafiusa.org/2023-farm-bill/

The Durban Shack Dwellers’ Movement: http://abahlali.org/a-short-history-of-abahlali-basemjondolo-the-durban-shack-dwellers-movement/

Fairbairn, M. (2014). ‘Like gold with yield’: Evolving intersections between farmland and finance. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(5), 777-795. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2013.873977 

 Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX9Jg67LCCUWV9on5gGLtTg  

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

In this episode of the Fair Food Futures podcast we begin our journey alongside leaders of civic food networks in Australia, learning from them how they uphold intersectional solidarity and care practices in their work. This episode brings together three examples of how the “Long Table” scenario identified by the Fair Food Futures project can look like in practice. 

Francis Nona and Dr Preetha Thomas, from the UQ Reconciliation Garden, explain how the garden aims to promote the voices of First Nations peoples and embed indigenous food knowledges within the public and academic discourse, while providing a safe space for First Nations students and community members. 

Dr Daniel Cruz from the Green Pea Community Farm talks about the community building and partnership-building strategies they employ to facilitate the empowerment of the 61 refugees of the community farm, who come from Bhutanese , Solomon Islands, and Karen backgrounds primarily.  

Susannah Holmes, from Your Farm, narrates the story of how this community-based organisation succeeded in establishing a spray-free farm in the middle of a racecourse, as well as a veggie distribution network at Deagon. 

Our guests speak about the deeper meanings of food (e.g.: spiritual, cultural), based on their experiences working in partnership with First Nations, grassroots, and refugee communities. They discuss the encounters with marginalisation experienced by these communities in their interaction with the food system and describe how their initiatives have promoted ways of caring between the members and supporters of these projects. 

Finally, our guests reflect on the key role that intersectional strategic alliance building plays in the transformation of the food system, and share their lessons and advice to progress a fairer food future that is more inclusive. 

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios for food justice HERE.   

UQ Reconciliation Garden: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/article/2022/06/indigenous-heritage-and-flora-flourishing-uq-reconciliation-garden 

 
Green Pea Community Farm ABC’s documentary and associated pages:  

https://www.sandbag.org.au/visit-green-p-farm/ 

https://www.facebook.com/greenpfarmdeagon 

Your Farm Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/yourfarm.4017

Article: “3 ways community gardens often exclude migrants and refugees — and how to turn this around” 

Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia.

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

In this episode inspired by the “Fair Food in the City” scenario, small-scale producers Jacki Hinchey from Blue Dog Farm, Matt Bakker and Micah Oberon from Neighbourhood Farm, and Phil Garozzo and Alice Star from Loop Growers share their first-hand experiences with recent crises, such as the 2022 floods and the COVID19 pandemic. Our guest speakers explain how their ongoing resilience was possible thanks to the social connections they built with their communities over the years, which played a key role in their recovery and adaptation processes.  

Our guests share their insights on what a truly resilient food system looks like, touching on elements of hyper-localization, direct producer-consumer networks, the role of education about food system dynamics, the need for policies supporting small-scale producers, as well as the essential contribution that regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and agroecology make to agrobiodiversity and soil quality. 

The conversation also brings our guests to demonstrate, from first-hand experience, how resilience is increased through alliances with a broad range of stakeholders across the food system, such as consumers, chefs, activists, academics, agri-food movements, and indigenous peoples, among others. Examples of alliances and networks such as REKO, Young Farmers Connect, and the Moreton Bay Food & Agribusiness Network are described as examples of the possibilities that alliance-building brings for more resilient, sustainable, and fair food systems in Australia. 

Lastly, our guests share down-to-earth advice on how listeners can improve and grow resilience for the future. 

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios for food justice HERE.   

Important links:

Loop Growers 

Neighbourhood Farm 

Blue Dog Farm 

Moreton Bay Food & Agribusiness Network 

REKO Australia 

Young Farmers Connect 

Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia 

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

This time, our food justice conversations welcome Dr Hope Foley from Growing Forward, and Andrew Ward from Regen Farmers Mutual, who share their ideas about understanding food and land as “commons”.  

Hope explains Growing Forward’s approach to land sovereignty and common ownership, which reclaims unused public land to grow food to feed local communities, including refugees, all with the support of First Nations Elders. From the perspective of Regen Farmers Mutual, Andrew talks about their strategy to establish a mutual that enables farmers to assess the environmental assets of their farms, and their digital approach to assist farmers to directly participate in environmental markets.  Our guests highlight the importance of ensuring that farmer’s data remain in their hands, and that land remains in the hands of First Nations communities. 

As organisations well versed in the creation of mutual and cooperative associations, our guest speakers reflect on how to better bridge the rural-urban divide in the Australian food system. This requires fostering better connections between producers and consumers in both the city and the country, supported by food systems education initiatives and the establishment of alliances with various stakeholders across the food system. 

This episode provides examples of the diversity of civic food initiatives in Australia, across a continuum between reformist, progressive and radical approaches, which complement one another to build fairer food systems in pursuit of the common good. 

Important links: 

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios for food justice HERE.    

Growing Forward Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardGardens/

ABC’s Gardening Australia “Guerilla Gardens” episode showcasing the work of Growing Forward   

Regen Farmers Mutual

Landcare Australia

Holt-Giménez E, Shattuck A. (2011). Food crises, food regimes and food movements: rumblings of reform or tides of transformation? Journal of Peasant Studies 38(1): 109-144.

 Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia 

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

In this episode, Dr Rachel Carey, Senior Lecturer in food systems at the School of Agriculture and Food from the University of Melbourne, and Emma Brindal, the Youth Education Coordinator of the Northey St City Farm and co-founder of the Decolonisation Action Group, take us on a journey to understand what the right to food means, based on their work with civic food networks in Australia. 

The conversation sheds light on “hidden hunger” in Australia, where women and children, including First Nations communities, experience food insecurity due to the over-emphasis on exports in the Australian food system, under-emphasis on local food, and the lack of an integrated national food policy plan. 

Our guests elaborate on policy mechanisms that can support the protection of the right to food in Australia, and the key role that civil society participation in policy making spaces at different levels plays to build fairer food systems. 

Food policy councils, sustainable procurement, food systems education, and decolonisation action groups were highlighted as strategies to progress the right to food in Australia, and successful policies and initiatives from other countries are showcased to provide the listeners with an understanding of the possibilities available.   

Important links: 

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios for food justice HERE    

Australia’s Right to Food Coalition 

Foodprint Melbourne (Research Project of The University of Melbourne) 

Dr Rachel Carey academic profile 

Northey Street City Farm 

Decolonisation Action Group 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food 

United African Farm (Cardinia Food Movement)

Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia 

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/

In the final episode of this podcast series, we reflect on the learnings gathered from our conversations with food systems experts and leaders of civic food networks, and ask how policy can help scale up fairer food systems in Australia. 

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Nora McKeon, professor at the Rome Tre University, who has worked extensively at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation on food systems governance and rural peoples’ movements; Maggie Carter, Research Analyst at the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD); and Dr. Kiah Smith, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and project leader of the Fair Food Futures Project. 

Our guests explore the connections between local food justice initiatives and food policy making, both at global and national levels, and discuss different governance pathways to reconfigure food systems. 

Our experts highlight the importance of establishing networks of collaboration between all stakeholders across the food system, the need to work in partnership with policy makers, and the current challenges that civic food networks face in the Australian food policy space. 

The podcast concludes with reflections on the actions that listeners can pursue to actively participate and influence food policy making in Australia and globally. 

Important links: 

More information about the Fair Food Futures Project and the scenarios for food justice HERE.    

UNRISD Research and Action Network for a New EcoSocial Contract

People’s Consultation on grassroots impacts of COVID19

Civil Society and Indigenous People’s Mechanism (CSM) for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) 

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Green Economy Coalition

Care Australia

Farmers for Climate Action

Co-Building a New Eco-Social World – Online Global Conference, 29th June to 2nd July 2022  

Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance 

The New Economy Network Australia 

Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates about fair food systems in Australia 

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The Fair Food Futures project is led by Dr Kiah Smith from The University of Queensland and funded by The Australian Research Council (DE190101126). This podcast is produced by Dr Kiah Smith, Dr Daniel Cruz, Joanna Horton and VMP Studio, and funded by the Future Earth's Pathways Initiative.

Visit our website at: https://fairfoodfutures.com/