Earthshot Goal
Our food system is currently designed to support profit above human health. And the cracks are beginning to show. Communities across Greater Melbourne are struggling with food affordability and access to nourishing food. And the environment and our farmers are straining under the pressure of an ill-designed globalised food system. The pandemic exposed just how fragile things really are. Vulnerable supply chains broke as supermarket shelves were stripped bare and record numbers of Melburnians turned to foodbanks for help. Why? The city’s food system is simply not equipped to handle shocks like climate events and global pandemics. It can barely function under optimum conditions. Despite Australia importing only 11% of its food, our food system remains vulnerable because profitability has become the sole measure of success. Not the nourishment of people, equitable access to fresh local food or the protection of the environment needed to grow it.
Melbourne’s identity as Australia’s “food capital” is central to our local culture and economy. This reputation drives tourism, bolsters neighbourhood economies, and enhances our city’s livability. But the city’s food system is under immense strain. If we don’t address this now we risk rising grocery costs, food shortages, diminishing access to local agricultural land and fresh food, corporate consolidation of the food industry and fracturing of local business and communities. By building Nourished Neighbourhoods we can evolve the city’s cherished cultural identity to support a reality where people and ecosystems thrive. Where every dollar spent in your suburb helps bolster a resilient food system that is local, healthy and affordable.
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Food is not just fuel. It is culture, community and care. When food systems are local and healthy, they do far more than feed people, they circulate money through neighbourhoods, sustain farmers, support biodiversity and build the social bonds that make cities liveable. Localising and regenerating our food systems means a Melbourne where food is no longer a commodity but the glue that connects our communities – sustaining the environment and promoting a healthy, thriving city. By designing neighbourhoods where food comes from as close as possible to where it is sold, Melburnians can access fresh, affordable food, regardless of external climate or economic shocks, while supporting local businesses and farmers. Every dollar spent in a nourished neighbourhood circulates in the community, creating a resilient web of mutual support that re-centres the health of people and planet.
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The conditions for a healthy, equitable and resilient food system are shaped in multiple places. This includes federal agricultural policy and state planning rules to city-wide infrastructure investment and the choices made on a single street corner. No single intervention is sufficient. The challenges, and the opportunities, are often upstream of what any one community or organisation can shift alone. Our response is a multi-scale portfolio: a connected set of initiatives, projects and partnerships that operates simultaneously at the national, city and neighbourhood level. At the national scale, we work to influence and advocate for policy and economic conditions that enable local food economies to sustain. At the city scale, we ground action in the connective infrastructure - public markets, wholesale hubs, procurement pathways, planning frameworks - that make local food systems viable. At the neighbourhood scale, we support those who are demonstrating what's possible: thriving local markets, community food hubs, urban growing and local food businesses who are nourishing us every day.
Greater Melbourne's food system is shaped by actions and decisions made at the neighbourhood, city and national scale. And so changing it requires working coherently across each of these scales. Hence, our multi-scale portfolio is a connected set of initiatives, projects and partnerships that work to enable neighbourhood scale change, act across the city context and influence national scale change. Working in this way unlocks new possibilities at each of the scales. Local demonstrations build the evidence for policy change. National policy change opens new conditions for local action to flourish. Together, they create the momentum a network of local food economies to emerge.
Greater Melbourne's food system is shaped by actions and decisions made at the neighbourhood, city and national scale. And so changing it requires working coherently across each of these scales. Hence, our multi-scale portfolio is a connected set of initiatives, projects and partnerships that work to enable neighbourhood scale change, act across the city context and influence national scale change. Working in this way unlocks new possibilities at each of the scales. Local demonstrations build the evidence for policy change. National policy change opens new conditions for local action to flourish. Together, they create the momentum a network of local food economies to emerge.
The neighbourhood is where food is grown, sold, shared and experienced, where a local market becomes a weekly ritual, a community garden becomes a gathering place, and a greengrocer becomes part of the fabric of a street. Our portfolio approach works to shift the enabling conditions for neighbourhood action. We work to support demonstrations of how people, businesses, growers and organisations are already building local food economies.
The neighbourhood is where food is grown, sold, shared and experienced, where a local market becomes a weekly ritual, a community garden becomes a gathering place, and a greengrocer becomes part of the fabric of a street. Our portfolio approach works to shift the enabling conditions for neighbourhood action. We work to support demonstrations of how people, businesses, growers and organisations are already building local food economies.
The city scale is where we act. Melbourne's planning system, procurement decisions, infrastructure investment and economic development all shape whether a local food economy can take root and thrive. We work at this level to build the connective infrastructure that local food systems need. Things like city wide infrastructure of our public markets, neighbourhood houses, wholesaler hubs and importantly the stories we tell of our food identity here as a city.
The city scale is where we act. Melbourne's planning system, procurement decisions, infrastructure investment and economic development all shape whether a local food economy can take root and thrive. We work at this level to build the connective infrastructure that local food systems need. Things like city wide infrastructure of our public markets, neighbourhood houses, wholesaler hubs and importantly the stories we tell of our food identity here as a city.
National conditions enable or disable local food economies. The potential of local food economies is entangled in agricultural subsidies, trade policy, supermarket regulation, institutional procurement and competition law. Our portfolio seeks to influence and advocate for the systemic shifts that would enable a network of local food economies in Greater Melbourne. We work alongside national partners, policy advocates and food system reformers to make the case for a food economy that prioritises resilience, nourishment, equity and ecological health.
National conditions enable or disable local food economies. The potential of local food economies is entangled in agricultural subsidies, trade policy, supermarket regulation, institutional procurement and competition law. Our portfolio seeks to influence and advocate for the systemic shifts that would enable a network of local food economies in Greater Melbourne. We work alongside national partners, policy advocates and food system reformers to make the case for a food economy that prioritises resilience, nourishment, equity and ecological health.
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