By Callum Ludwig
With climate impacts affecting food supply, inflation of food prices high and the supply chain issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in recent memory, could turning to local sources be the safe solution to food security?
While Australia’s overall food security has improved between 2012 and 2022 according to the latest data from the Global Food Security Index, it has slipped down the rankings from 14th to 22nd in the world, while food prices have gone on to increase by 8 per cent in the year from March 2022 to 2023.
Executive Officer at Yarra Valley ECOSS Chelsea McNab said they want local people to have access to really good food, to know how to grow their own food and to be a little bit more self-reliant.
“With the rising cost of living it’s hard to afford to buy healthy food and we know that people in the lower socioeconomic bracket don’t eat as healthy, so we want to support thriving industries, we want to support farmers to grow food but also to support access to that food,” she said.
“I just think there’s a lot of missed opportunity in the Yarra Ranges to be growing more food for the community, every person can grow an item of food for themselves, even if you are in an apartment you can grow a few herbs on a windowsill.”
At the time of the 2022 Global Food Security Index’s release, Australia was ranked first of 113 countries for food affordability but with the high periods of food inflation, this achievement feels offset, while food availability was rather low at 48th.
Ms McNab said due to climate change, we’re entering a situation where we don’t know if we’ve got a solid supply chain in case of disasters.
“What happens if supply chains stop and we have a few days where you can’t get things at the supermarket, we saw it in Covid in regards to panic buying,” she said.
“It made everyone realise how insecure our systems are and how we really do need to be a little more intelligent about the way we live our lives.”
An ongoing inquiry into food security in Australia was launched in October 2022 by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator Murray Watt.
Melanie Wilson who runs the Melganics shop at Yarra Valley ECOSS said the Yarra Valley is one of the most fertile areas for growers.
“We have every resource here, we have the people with the knowledge and skills, we have the space, the land, we have the fertile growing and everybody would prefer to eat from the area where things are grown so we have to support local farmers and growers,” she said.
“I think there’s a lot of education that goes on at these farmers markets and shared resources and people will pass things around, like the guys from Silvertine Farm who we have here, they’ll share their knowledge.”
Yarra Valley ECOSS has a number of programs, workshops and seminars encouraging visitors to look at how they can grow their own or support local, from volunteers who help in the Community Garden and the Food Forest, to workshops and education on regenerative farming and biochar and welcoming stallholders to the weekly ECOSS Market every Friday.
Community Engagement, Market and Events Coordinator at Yarra Valley ECOSS Leanne Hall said the need to localise our food was why the market started in the first place.
“When food chains got broken and people couldn’t travel, markets, shopping and sourcing food locally was really highlighted so supporting local businesses is really important, otherwise they can’t continue and we’ll lose that vital link that we have to food locally,” she said.
