Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change - weADAPT

social enterprise modelling a new form of more direct exchanges between farmers andconsumers in Melbourne. CERES FairFood (and related initiatives such as FoodConnect in Brisbane and Sydney) sources fresh produce and processed items on fairterms from 32 farmers and suppliers, most located within a 150km radius of Melbourne.The project then markets the produce to urban consumers in Melbourne, and employsa team of packers and drivers to make up vegetable and fruit boxes and deliver them toits customers. The enterprise has been in operation for just over two years, andcurrently delivers around 600 boxes of fresh produce per week, supplemented withvarious processed ‘extras’ such as bread, grains, cheeses, soy products, honey, tea,and coffee.The Green ShedThe Green Shed emerged from the commercialization needs of local food producers onTamborine Mountain, in the Gold Coast City hinterland. The Green Shed provides anopportunity for small and medium sized farms to sell their produce on a weekly and cooperativebasis. Farmers harvest and deliver produce to the Green Shed, and at theend of the day they collect their money and any remaining goods.Bunyip Food BeltThe Bunyip Food Belt was conceived during the years of drought as a large-scaleinfrastructure project, designed to extend the existing irrigation piping that deliveredrecycled water from the Eastern Water Treatment Plant into Cardinia, Cranbourne andKoo-wee-Rup. The project is a consortium of three councils – the cities of Casey,Cardinia and Mornington Peninsula, together with three water companies – South-eastWater, Melbourne Rural Water, and Southern Water. It was intended to ‘drought-proof’the highly-productive market garden areas on the south-east fringes of the city. Afeasibility study carried out for the consortium in 2010 revealed that the additional landbrought into irrigated production as a result of the new water infrastructure wouldgenerate over $200 million of added value to the regional economy, and an additional2,400 jobs by 2030. Subsequently, a Bunyip Food Belt brand has been created and onthe basis of that brand and the assumption of increased agricultural production, Casey-Cardinia Council is seeking to attract investment to the region, with a focus on foodprocessing and manufacturingCasey Food HubFood Hubs, conceived as ‘centrally located facilities with business managementstructure, facilitating the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and marketingof locally/regionally produced food products’ (USDA 2011), emerged in the UnitedStates over the past decade as the ‘missing piece’ of infrastructure in emerging localfood economies. Figure 2 below shows the multi-functionality of Food Hubs, in terms oftheir diverse economic, social and educational activities. While their operations andgovernance structures vary considerably, nearly all Food Hubs appear to share two keycore objectives: improving the livelihoods of local farmers and growers; and increasingaccess to healthy fresh food for all residents.In 2011, the City of Casey and VicHealth commissioned a team of consultants to scopethe potential for a Food Hub to be established in the Casey-Cardinia area. Based onUrban food security, urban resilience and climate change 125