Is the Northern Rivers food secure?
In the face of already numerous adversities, the Northern Rivers of NSW is grappling with yet another concern: food security. Floods, bushfires, and the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic have exposed vulnerabilities in the area's food system.
We have conducted a new study , in partnership with UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures and Wild Community, and with funding from the Northern Rivers Community Foundation, to address these issues by exploring the state of food chains in the Northern Rivers.
The scoping study began in late 2022 and developed an understanding of regional food networks in the Northern Rivers, identifying food security challenges and opportunities during recent disaster events and providing recommendations for developing greater resilience within the regional food system.
The study found that food insecurity is widespread across NSW and Australia. Affordable and healthy food is not always accessible, particularly for disadvantaged communities. Long food supply chains have compounded the vulnerability of the Northern Rivers food supply during disasters. Interviews underscored that while some opportunities arose during COVID for food businesses to shift their practices such as using online sales, the impacts on livelihoods from the compounding events of 2019 bushfires, pandemic and then multiple unprecedented floods shed a light on significant problems and a government response that was too little too late.
One of the major findings of the study is the lack of a coordinated government approach to disaster food security, with the burden of addressing food insecurity falling on the community. “The strength of the community response in the Northern Rivers is a hidden contributor to food supply during disasters” said Jean Renouf, CEO of Plan C.
In February and March 2022, home kitchens were swept away, farms inundated, supermarkets empty, refrigeration lost power and road freight ceased. Meanwhile, community-led farmers markets, pop-up kitchens, food charities and farmer networks responded quickly to feed people. This experience shows reliance on importing and exporting food is a risk and vulnerability for the region but has also presented an opportunity to re-think how food is grown, distributed and consumed.
Northern Rivers community champions have been localising the food system for years and our social capital is a hidden strength. Community-led and local farmers markets, social networks and retailers adapted quickly following the floods and were able to continue supplying food to the region.
Our study presents ten key recommendations for transitioning to a circular food economy in the Northern Rivers. These recommendations include the development of regional food policies and planning, delivering rapid response across the food supply chain during disasters, strengthening food system connections and collaborations, and supporting local food champions and community food efforts. The report emphasizes the need to support food charities, build food hubs, protect arable land for food production, amplify Indigenous voices in the food system and develop a comprehensive knowledge base. Therefore, “a food systems approach is necessary to tackle this complex problem” explains Fiona Berry, Research Principal at UTS-ISF.
Read our report here.