Join us in Canberra on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th October 2017 for two days of debate, stories, analysis, sharing, strategising and planning, all in the cause of building a fair food system for all Australians! Farmers, consumer advocates, right to food activists, urban agriculturalists, educators, communicators, innovators – whoever you are, wherever you’re from – if you see yourself as part of Australia’s food sovereignty movement, this is for you!
Food sovereignty asserts the right of peoples to nourishing and culturally-appropriate food produced and distributed in ecologically sound and ethical ways, and their right to collectively determine their own food and agriculture systems.
Special Evening Events
Sunday night, we will gather at local restaurant A. Baker, sharing seasonal food and drinks and meeting with our hosts for the next few days. This is a self-funded dinner/drinks.
On Monday night, Convergence attendees will gather at Canberra City Farm for a potluck dinner. Tickets are also sold separately for this event. The evening will begin with a tour of Canberra City Farm followed by the main event: Bruce Pascoe, author of the acclaimed Dark Emu, and regenerative farmer Tammi Jonas discussing ‘how we can reconcile indigenous land management with the new movement of farmers’ regenerative land management’. And then we will delight in feasting, potluck style!
Monday/Tuesday Unconference
The Food Sovereignty Convergence will begin on Monday with a discussion on indigenous food sovereignty and land sovereignty led by Ngambri man Shane Mortimer. We will then move into a discussion about the global food sovereignty movement led by AFSA President Tammi Jonas, who has recently returned from the VIIth International Conference of La Via Campesina (the international peasant farmers’ movement) and meetings of the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the UN.
The majority of Monday and Tuesday will be MC’d by Alex Bayley in unconference style – How does this work?
Early in the day, we will have an unconference scheduling period where people can propose sessions.
Proposed sessions will be scheduled using large post-it notes on the wall, and facilitators will help ensure that sessions have as little overlap or conflict as possible. Sometimes, two sessions may be combined together if the topics are similar.
At the end of the day, we’ll come back together for a closing session to gather feedback and talk about what we’ve gained from the day’s activities.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided for both days of the Convergence so please let us know if you have any dietary requirements via email at admin@australianfoodsovereigntyalliance.org.
The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday afternoon, details TBC.