Food prices have been going up for some time now. According to OECD data Australia has the highest food price inflation in the western world and for the first time, Australia is now importing more fruit and veg than it exports.  The reasons for this are many: global demand has pushed up prices as populations increase, severe and prolonged drought locally has lead to shortages, demand for oil is increasing whilst production is decreasing and the loss of biodiversity as our land becomes infertile due to unsustainable farming has caused widespread soil erosion, salinity and depletion of water resources. (more…)

I’ve been keeping an eye of Carrotmob for a while. For those of you who don’t know… “Carrotmob is a type of consumer activism in which businesses compete at how socially responsible they can be, and then a network of consumers spends money to support whichever business makes the strongest offer. We harness consumer power to make it possible for the most socially-responsible business practices to also be the most profitable choices. It’s the opposite of a boycott”.  This is a such a fantastic idea and well worth supporting.  Coming to Melbourne soon.. check out the video which is a lot of fun too. (more…)

Along the Merri creek bike path, less then 10kms from the city center you will stumble across an urban jewel, a 150-year-old productive market garden. A market garden is a place where fruit and vegetables are grown to sell to the local community. The Merri Creek Market Garden was once farmed by a local Italian, Joe Garita, who at 65 decided to retire from the 2.5-acre market garden and offer his lease on the garden to CERES. Joe continues to act as a mentor to CERES farmers, a new generation of urban farmers. (more…)

Once were farmers
Over the past 12,000 years, the age of agriculture, most of us were farmers.  We were wedded to the land that fed us.  The foods we grew defined who we were; people of wheat or corn or rice.   The seasons dictated our diets, the harvests our festivals.  Then less than a hundred years ago in a burst of incredible oil-fuelled ingenuity humanity managed to do what 600 starvation weary generations of farmers have dreamt of – created a cheap, abundant food supply grown by a handful of producers freeing the rest of us to pursue our dreams in the cities and towns. In Australia in 1900 1 in 7 of us were farmers, today only 1 in 33 grow the food we eat. (more…)

Locavores will be pleased to know that SlowDown!@HarleyCourt is a new sustainable restaurant that has opened in St. Kilda focusing on serving  local, sustainable produce – an ethos heartily shared by CERES Food Connect. Good luck SlowDown! – Doron Francis

Take a look at the write up here.

A recent French report confirms that organic food is healthier than food produced conventionally (contrasting with last years report by the British Food Standards Agency).

Good press for organics, however these reports are not taking into consideration the production values of organic farms when compared to conventional farming practices. Isn’t it time to look beyond the nutrient value of the food and compare the amounts of chemicals, herbicides, pesticides and hormones used in production? Why not measure the effects on the environment, farm workers health or the amount of petroleum that’s used in producing food conventionally compared with organic producers.

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/new-study-confirms-organic-food-far-healthier-than-conventional/