WORLD Environment Day, Sunday 5 June, saw community-led grassroots action group OzGREEN launch a Food Resilience Vision and Action Plan for Bellingen Shire at a community event in the old barn at Levenvale Farm in Valery.

The event was attended by interested community members and stakeholders along with Bellingen Shire Mayor Steve Allan, Cr Jennie Fenton, Clare Danby and Luke Barbagallo from Bellingen Shire Council’s Community Resilience team.

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The funding for the project comes from Commonwealth Disaster Recovery Arrangements and was backed and supported by Bellingen Shire Council.

Anton Juodvalkis, CEO of OzGREEN, opened the showcase posing the question, “What does food resilience mean to you?”

That was the crux of the past six months’ journey OzGREEN has navigated, asking the same question to a diverse range of local people who have attended workshops and contributed their input.

With the philosophy that everyone would be heard, the body of responses has shaped and created the Bellingen Shire Food Resilience Vision and Action Plan for the next ten years.

This Vision and Action Plan contains eight food resilience themes identified by the people of Bellingen Shire and outlines a set of priority actions for the next ten years: climate change, local food systems, circular food economy, regenerative agriculture, Gumbaynggirr food values, food security and equity, community education and local food networks.

The online plan is filled with links to click on to and deep dive into the myriad of resources currently available, see https://www.ozgreen.org/foodresiliencevision and click on the Vision tab.

“We don’t want to reinvent the wheel and there are a lot of resources and initiatives that are already available to the community,” Anna Juodvalkis, Partnerships Manager at OzGREEN said.

“My action focus now that the plan is complete is to work with stakeholders and community members to seek funding to establish a physical food hub in Bellingen Shire.

“This is something the community has wanted for many years, and it will create jobs, increase income, improve wellbeing and provide a business management structure that oversees the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution and marketing of local food.

“It’s a super exciting action outlined in the plan and if we all work together I know we can make this happen.”

A statement welcomed by the attendees with enthusiastic cheers.

Next up to speak was Alison Heeley, President of the Northbank Community Garden in Bellingen, who supported Anna’s statement saying, “Let’s make that happen.”

Alison’s dream, and goal, is to have the community sit down to a plate of food and know where that food came from, and the farmer(s) who grew it.

“Knowing the farmer who grew our food is super important,” she said, “as is understanding seasonal eating.”

Mayor Steve Allan praised the Food Resilience Vision and Action Plan saying, “For every identified challenge there are equivalent actions to address them.

“It is an ambitious plan and requires acceptance of change,” he said.

Commenting on the work being done by Sam and Georgina Baker, owners at Levenvale Farm, Steve said the farmers were at the vanguard of food production and have created a model that others can be guided by.

Georgina says their farm is a dream come true.

“Sam is a fourth generation traditional farmer but with our first child having eczema I started looking into health and Sam looked at regenerative farming practices and we found that we could do things differently.

“Our regenerative farming framework is based on a set of soil principles and a grazing management plan.”

Providing attendees with a mini farm tour with Sam, the morning rounded off with digging a hole in the paddock and counting the worms.

By Andrea FERRARI