Earth Matters

Food sovereignty is the ability to make informed choices about our food, to define our own food systems, and to access healthy, culturally appropriate food that is produced sustainably. Food sovereignty puts the needs of the people who produce and consume food at the heart of food systems, and is key to addressing the overlapping crises of climate, hunger and inequality.  On this show, you’ll hear some ways this is put into practice, through the work of four different food initiatives and advocacy groups operating in ‘Australia’.The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) is a farmer-led civil society organisation of people working together towards socially-just and ecologically-sound food and agriculture systems that foster the democratic participation of Indigenous Peoples, smallholders, and local communities in decision making processes.Supporticulture Cooperative is a specialised disability cooperative based in Greensborough that provides agricultural work opportunities for people living with intellectual or physical disabilities. Its public face, Caring Farms Cooperative, is an agroecological food enterprise in Greensborough, featuring a market garden tended by a collective of people living with disabilities and their supporters. The Just Food Collective is a not-for-profit advocacy organisation founded in 2021 by emerging food systems leaders. Comprised of graduates in Food Studies, ex-hospitality workers, young researchers and people working in advocacy and grassroots organisations, Just Food mobilises youth and future leaders in the battle for a more equitable, just, and sustainable food system. Guerilla Gardening Narrm is a collective creating community gardens on public land in Narrm, Melbourne. Their first garden, the Radicle Roots garden, was established in 2023 in De Chene Reserve, Coburg. The project aims to respond to the escalating cost-of-living and climate crises by creating localised food systems grounded in ‘the commons’. Organisers of the Food Sovereignty Day put together a thorough list of reading materials, podcasts, videos and food sovereignty groups.Earth Matters #1508 was produced by Mia Audrey on Wurunjderi Woi Wurrung Country.