CHINA’s food manufacturing company COFCO is negotiating to take over Australia’s fourth biggest sugar producer. Julian Cribb is interviewed on Radio Australia about this move and discusses the shortage of good quality land in Australia.
In direct contrast Bolivia is just set to pass the world’s first laws which will protect the land, including food production, from resource development by granting all nature equal rights to humans.
THE ABC Breakfast program journalist Fran Kelly interviews Gawain Kripke, Oxfam’s Director of Policy and Research about their latest report on “Growing a Better Future” “Hunger along with obesity, obscene waste and appalling environmental degradation is a by-product of our broken food system” Read full report Echoing the recent talk given by Paolo di Croce CEO of Slow Food International in Perth there is a lot of issues about our broken food system that need to be addressed. Oxfam have started a campaign in Australia called “Grow” with suggestions on what we can do. Link to Grow Campaign here “Grain” the small international not for profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements says that ‘small farmers can help by using existing sustainable farming techniques. We can increase soil organic matter and in the process capture some of the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere. Link to Grain.
In an article on Monday 23rd May,The West Australian echoes the talk given by Paolo di Croce, CEO of Slow Food International on Saturday 21st May about food waste. Too much of the food that is grown here in Western Australia is thrown out before it gets to market, consumers are told that we do not want food that is blemished or misshapen or too large to fit on the shelves of our supermarkets. As mentioned in a recent article on our web site. and as the West reports, “Food can be wasted due to quality standards, which reject food items not perfect in shape or appearance,”
The peak horticulture body in Queensland Growcom web site article earlier this week, also echoed much of what was spoken about at the Regional meeting in Pemberton of Slow Food Convivium Leaders, members and the local community with the CEO of Slow Food International. Growcom called for the urgent integration of food policy and programs by the federal government to plan for future food security. Mr Livingstone of Growcom, said the government continued to take a ‘she’ll be right’ approach to food policy issues, spruiking figures showing that Australia produces significantly more food than we consume at a time when the World Bank is warning of increasing global instability with food prices increasing 36 per cent in the past year and 44 million people forced into poverty. Read full article
SLOW Food’s international executive director, Paolo Di Croce, has been interviewed by ABC Perth 720 statewide gardening programme presenters James Lush and Sabrina Hahn about food labelling, food miles and reconnecting eaters with farmers. The broadcast on 21 May 2011 coincided with Paolo’s visit to Perth as part of a series of meetings with Slow Food branches in Australia. Listen to the ABC interview. (The interview with Paolo begins 21 minutes into the download.)
Philip Adams of ABC Late Night Live 4th May leads an interesting discussion on farming in Tasmania. Why is it such a struggle for small farmers to remain viable and to get a fair price for what they produce? Last year there was a Senate Select Committee inquiry on agriculture and food production; the question was asked “how do we produce affordable food from a sustainable environment to a farmer that is viable.
The speakers interviewed on Late Night Live by Philip Adams include, Richard Bovill leading farming activist in Tasmania, Neil Armstrong Co-Owner of Tasmanian fresh vegetable company “Harvest Moon”, Deputy Premier of Tasmania, Bryan Green and Angelique Abbott who runs a dairy farm. Listen to the interview
A VOCAL American advocate of ‘local food’, Mark Winne, argues in his latest book, Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners and Smart Cookin’ Mamas, that the clash between the industrial-food system and the alternative-food system is undermining health, environment and democracy . He told Culinate’s Amy Halloran that ‘we need to get our hands in the soil, our vegetables on the chopping block and our voices down at city hall’. Winne, who for 25 years was the director of an emergency food programme in Hartford, Connecticut, says that moves by local communities to reject the dominant ‘industrial-food’ system by turning urban wastelands into farms, creating local dairy collectives, preserving farmland, and refusing to use genetically-modified seed offer hope for enduring change.
SLOW Food members will have the opportunity to exchange ideas about the future of the organisation with Slow Food international executive director Paolo Di Croce and Asia-Oceania programme director Elena Aniere when they visit Western Australia towards the end of May 2011.
All members are being given advance notice of a meeting with Paolo and Elena in Perth on Saturday 21 May. This will be followed by a meeting for southern region convivia members – from Denmark, Margaret River and Southern Forests – in Pemberton on Sunday 22 May.
Paolo (above), a graduate of the University of Turin, began working for Slow Food in 1998, co-ordinating its biodiversity defence programmes known as the Ark of Taste and Presidia. He has also led planning for Terra Madre, Slow Food’s biennial world meeting of food communities, which last was held in 2010.
The Perth meeting presents an important opportunity to discuss the major challenges confronting food. Elena Aniere says that the meeting will enable local members to learn more about Slow Food principles and projects. Paolo and Elena also want to hear about convivia activities and the ways in which communications and food networks might be developed.
A detailed programme will be released by 1 May. For more information please email Slow Food Perth.
FOOD Rescue: “A Fresh Approach”, was launched today at Melbourne’s Prahran Mission by Victorian Premier and SecondBite supporter Ted Baillieu. SecondBite is dedicated to achieving a sustainable and healthy food supply that all community members can access. SecondBite said that the 7.5 million tonnes of food thrown out annually in Australia would feed 13.6 million people a hearty meal, three times a day, for an entire year. SecondBite requires urgent food donations, especially supplies of fresh dairy and fruit. Last Friday the charity received a donation of 1.5 tonnes of fresh Atlantic salmon left over from catering at the Grand Prix. Read article about the food rescue.
THE Spencer Gulf prawn fishery in South Australia was recognised in 2010 as being one of the best-managed fisheries in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. In a recent comment by the South Australian Minister for Fisheries Michael O’Brien on the new sustainable seafood policies of Coles and Woolworths, he suggested that,
“While this approach should be commended, both supermarket chains should look beyond seafood certified by environmental groups to also look to South Australia as a world leader in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture management,” Minister O’Brien says. “Just because a fishery does not have an independent certification such as those offered by the Marine Stewardship Council or WWF, that does not mean it is not sustainable. Read further
ONE of Yaubula’s projects is “The Sustainable Table“, it is a collection of recipes and stories from notable chefs, farmers, producers, winemakers, gardeners and everyday people who are reducing their impact on the environment by altering their food choices. These inspiring people eat seasonally, shop locally, buy organic, reduce food waste, purchase ethically and make backyards and public spaces productive.
Yaubula is registered as an Australian not-for-profit organisation with the objective of supporting sustainable development projects locally and globally. Read Hayley and Cassie’s stories on Yaubula’s origins.
