Our food system is broken…

  • our food is being sprayed with poison
  • our farmers, farmland and farm workers are being exploited
  • our food is travelling huge distances and being kept in cold storage for lengthy periods of time
  • our food is also being wasted, farmers can’t sell the so called uglies, shops throw good produce to landfill as soon as an imperfect shows up and there is food waste in our homes as well.

I know… it all sounds pretty dim, what can we do? How can we change this?

I have been asking myself these questions for a while now, learning more as I go along and getting more and more…and more involved in the Fair Food movement that is going on all around the world.

I have found that one of the biggest things that we can do is get to know our food. When we start asking questions like where it came from, who grew it and how it was grown, we are digging deeper into the maze that is the food system. The answers to these questions can make us feel good, or not so good and they allow us to make decisions that feel right to us.

I’m probably preaching to the converted here, but even so, I challenge you to find more alternatives, take the next step away from the supermarkets, they have made this system. Find real Farmers Markets such as this one!, Local Food Boxes and honest providore and wholefoods stores… I also challenge you to bring a friend along for the ride!

Fair Food is about making changes to our current food system, it’s about paying farmers right, ensuring workers have the right conditions, ensuring we all have good access to food and fundamentally growing our local food systems rather than importing the majority of our food.

Southern Harvest, as you may or may not know, is dedicated to growing local and regional food communities in the ACT and South East NSW through education, market opportunities, networking and advocacy – if you are not already become a member, we invite you to join us. www.southernharvest.org.au/join/