In July 2008, Julie Shelton from The Village Organic Farm was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to conduct a research project entitled "Nourishing Local Food: shortening the distance from farm to fork".
The aim of the project is to investigate initiatives in selected overseas countries with a view to developing a stronger artisanal food sector and thriving local food economy in Australia.
I will examine how these countries are addressing the regulatory impediments to artisanal food production. I will also study initiatives that nourish relationships between producers and consumers. Part of the investigation is to gather transferable educational material that will alert Australian consumers to the benefits of a strong local food economy for our health and the environment.
During my tour I will attend workshops and activities convened by Slow Food and other organisations, and confer with organisers of Farmers Markets, local food feasts, food producer cooperatives and farmers and food producers themselves. My itinerary targets France and Italy where a strong and celebrated local food culture thrives, and England and Ireland where a food culture renaissance is taking place. I will also investigate the fledgling USA local food culture that is being nurtured amid a dominant fast-food culture.
On my return, I will work with groups such as local Slow Food convivia, producer networks and food cooperatives to apply what I have learnt about local food initiatives and promotion of cooperative producer/consumer relationships. My overseas investigations will inform on-going work in the Sunshine Coast region out of which models will be developed that may be applied in other areas of Australia.
The project itinerary includes a number of centres where there are relevant initiatives happening to encourage, protect and foster artisanal food producers and local food economies. It includes attending several Slow Food events - Slow Food Nation in San Francisco, Terra Madre Ireland in Waterford and Terra Madre International in Turin - as well as visiting the Soil Association in Bristol. Julie will be travelling with her husband, Pat Forsman, and their three-year old son, Oliver.
We're particularly excited about visiting Ireland, where we hear they have been doing some wonderful work to preserve Ireland's heritage foods. When we get back to Australia I hope to trial a model like the one in place in Ireland, where producer/consumer groups are performing an advocacy and lobbying role at all levels of government, and influencing policy change to ensure that small-scale and artisanal food production is protected rather than regulated out of existence.
In 2002-2004 Julie worked on a project called the Mary Valley CAN DO Project, which was funded by the state government, sponsored by the Catholic Church and managed by a community-driven committee.
As Project Officer, I got to meet hundreds of local food producers, many of whom had the same message - that they were doing it tough. Three principle barriers emerged: the cost of labour, getting their product to their customers, and the crippling over-regulation and bureaucratic hurdles over which they were forced to leap. Our experiences at The Village Organic Farm endorsed these sentiments. So my project is very dear to my heart and I hope will bring direct benefits to my community.
Julie and Pat are members of Slow Food: its core philosophy that food must be "good, clean and fair" encompasses everything they believe in and have been working toward. Julie has been included in the Australian Delegation to Terra Madre in Turin and Pat will attend as an observer.
For more information on Slow Food go to http://www.slowfood.com/
On the 27th of August 2008, Julie, Pat and Oliver embark on the research project - watch this blog site for news of their adventures!
To see the Sunshine Coast Daily article on Sunshine Coast recipients of a 2008 Churchill Fellowship click here.
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