Robert Pekin, founder of the original Food Connect in Brisbane, speaks about the 600 million dollar Australian organic food industry and the new Organic Federation of Australia and protecting the integrity of organic standards with Paul Barclay on Australia Talks. See abc website here for audio link.

Sharing the risks of food production

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a unique arrangement in our modern financial system. It steps outside the traditional model of modern industrialised food production and places both the farmer and the consumer in a direct risk sharing relationship which offers the benefits of mutuality and community. RMIT proides a succint overview about global sustainability in food production and the widespread benefits of CSA.

busy beavers @ FoodConnect Adelaide

So much to do! Launch dates loom. The team at Food Connect Adelaide are working hard to ensure that Food Connect Adelaide hits its launch date 2010. Keeping everyone busy right now are preparations for funding applications for Green business grants, attending farmers meetings, organising a Food Connect Adelaide volunteers meeting for early December where tasks can be shared and some fun can be had. We are planning the final machinations of Food Connect Adelaide before launch and have been doing lots of pavement pounding to ensure that the Food Connect Adelaide word spreads and to generate as wide spread support as we can for this community building venture. We love your support and input, it really helps keep motivation up and enthusiasm going.

local or organic? what should I choose?

Sometimes the decisions on buying local or buying organic can be confusing. The key to working your way through this often conflicting dilemma is to educate yourself and understand where your food comes from and how it has been produced. Are organic potatoes flown from Tasmania a better choice than some spuds grown on the Adelaide plains with minimal sprays? This article from The Green Guide helps you to work your way through the issues.

Reality check in aisle nine

Professor Phillip O’Neill ,director of the Urban Research Centre at the
University of Western Sydney talks about food security, abundance and waste. Read the article here

Soul Food Farm- an inspiring CSA story

This story of Soul Food Farm’s recovery from a devastating fire is a wonderful illustration of the relationship that is possible between a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm and its city based consumers. When Soul Food Farm went up in flames in the recent California fires, with a little help from their city ‘friends’ , Soul Food Farm went from the brink of folding to a viable business once again. CSA forms a viable and exciting new model of farming, business, consuming and community development.

Sally Fisher from FoodConnect Adelaide talks about food miles

Sally Fisher, co-founder of FoodConnect Adelaide, talks to Radio Adelaide about FoodConnect, reducing our food miles, food freshness and a fairer go for farmers.

Food Connect Adelaide Workshop Nov. 10, 2009 – update

Food Connect Adelaide is well under way now, following our successful workshops over November 1 & 2 with Robert Pekin from Brisbane Food Connect.

Forty-five interested customers and farmers  attended  the Sunday (Nov 1) meeting to  hear from Robert the advantages of the Food Connect way of doing business. A further nine growers from the Riverland attended a second meeting. Many more growers and customers were unable to attend and sent apologies. A very promising start!

Robert explained the myriad of problems with our current food system which include:

• Farmers are receiving an ever smaller percentage of the total food dollar as food becomes more processed, transported further and marketed more heavily. These trends have negative impacts on farmers and producers alike.

• Our  environment will face great challenges to produce more food with less inputs into the future whilst moving into a warmer climate.

Food Connect will pay farmers with a better return whilst staying affordable for customers because we eliminate much of the wastage in the food system.  Food Connect also deals directly with local farmers which means that farmers can take more control over the price they are paid and will not be forced to compete with cut-price produce flooding in from interstate or from overseas.

What do farmers think about this?

The response from SA farmers has been very favourable so far. Twenty-five growers have expressed interest in Food Connect and/or attended our workshops so far. We will be talking to more farmers and following up expressions of interest so make sure you contact us if you want to be involved in supplying us.

Farmers are interested in Food Connect because it will save them on :

• Transport
• Packaging
• Grading costs

And give them and the customer a fair price.

What do customers think about Food Connect?

We are excited by the enthusiasm. So far we’ve had 20  offers  to volunteer and 17 people to become  City Cousins as we establish Food Connect! We are steadily going through the volunteer list and some have been recruited into tasks which require immediate attention already. Stay tuned – there will be more happening! Expressions of interest in subscribing continue to arrive via the website as well.

What can I do to support Food Connect?

a)      Please register your interest at the Food Connect Adelaide website: www.foodconnectadelaide.com.au This will help greatly in planning and seeking funding.  Keep an eye on the website for updates as well as we get closer to launching.

b)      Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS about Food Connect. We don’t have a big advertising budget so will be relying on community support and word of mouth.