Coffs Coast Local Food Futures Part A_Final Report - Coffs Harbour ...

Local Food Futures Project
Part A: Final Report
Embedding
Sustainability
Local food as a catalyst for a conversation about
sustainability
To many, sustainability is a difficult concept and
one that is difficult to define. This project has
demonstrated that using the issue of local food
is a fantastic theme around which to explore
and discuss real issues of sustainability. These
include consumerism, peak oil, climate change,
community resilience to sudden change, personal
choices, chemical usage, biodiversity, industrialised
agriculture and the centralised power of large
supermarkets and agricultural/chemical corporations
versus small scale community driven diversified
agriculture.
Offering best practice examples of sustainability and
spaces for conversations about sustainability – building
communities of change
Conversations around sustainability are now
happening and many have been triggered by the
project offering activities and events with the space
for people to network and discuss these issues in
greater depth.
On a local scale, the community gardens offer an ongoing
example of what sustainable food production
can look like, along with other examples of how to
live more sustainably (water conservation, waste
reuse, renewable energy, bush regeneration and
preservation of biodiversity). At the heart of these
gardens is also the idea of social sustainability –
building a community of change, a place where
people can come together to learn new skills and to
build a better future together where people share
resources. A sustainable future will need many more
spaces like these where people can come together,
to reunite as a community, moving us away from the
individualised and decentralised, isolating approaches
of the last 30 years.
In addition to the gardens, the project has helped
build significant networks and partnerships
throughout the community around local food and
sustainability that will be ongoing. The value of
the relationships that have been built through
undertaking these projects together is difficult to
quantify or measure but is critical to any movement
towards sustainability. Indeed it is at the very heart
of it.
Integration of sustainability in government policy
Some progress has been made towards integration
of local food outcomes into council’s policies, plans
and strategies and hence decision-making processes.
The role and value of local food has certainly been
elevated but there is still significant work to be done
in this area if, as a region, we wish to ensure that
we are best positioned to react to future shocks,
such as climate change and peak oil. The threat of
continued urban and sub-urban expansion on our
limited agricultural land remains. Over time however,
with growing community awareness and increasing
social capital, the momentum and pressure will build
to protect our agricultural landscapes and hence the
sustainability of our food supply.
Delays or Difficulties
Encountered
There were a limited number of delays and/or
difficulties encountered over the three year duration
of the project. These are discussed below:
Scope and Capacity for Delivery
The scope of the project, as detailed in the Business
Plan, was in hindsight, very ambitious for a $250,000
project. There was no inclusion in the budget for
salaries, other than nominal payments to cover some
volunteer costs. This meant that the work associated
with the project was undertaken by community
volunteers and in-kind contributions from Council
staff. The amount of work involved in delivering the
various aspects of the project was underestimated
which left people feeling stressed and over committed
at times.
The Project Manager had to juggle many projects
simultaneously limiting their time allocation to
the project. In addition there was a degree of
frustration felt by the Project Manager with a
lack of understanding within Council about it’s
important ongoing role around local food and
community resilience. Specifically, the importance
of council’s role in the development and running of
the community garden and the significant regional
role that the community garden will play was not
well understood. Generating understanding that
local food approaches have a critical role to play in a
sustainable future and that Council is a key facilitator
of this remained a challenge to this project.
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