Can food be fairer? It’s the question that guides our work and over the years it’s evolved in sometimes surprising ways.

In the beginning the answer to “Can food be fairer” was providing an alternative to the shameful way Coles and Woolworths treated their farmers.

Back then we saw cents being paid for a head of lettuce that was then sold for dollars, extra marketing fees being charged to pay for celebrity spokes-chefs, and orders cancelled with little notice.

The fairer way was to support a growing movement of small organic and regenerative growers, paying fair prices and sticking with each other over many years.

The idea of fairer food expanded into employment as a wave of people escaping wars and persecution in Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka came to Australia seeking safe haven and a job in an unfamiliar and sometimes unfriendly country.

With the rise of the predatory gig-economy the fairer way to employ vulnerable people was a secure, meaningful job with award wages, Super, WorkCover and a pathway to promotion.

Later in our journey the revelation of great plastic rubbish patches in the Pacific Ocean got us asking how our packaging could be fairer?

The answers grew from returnable boxes manifesitng in compostable salad and bulk food bags, reusable ice bottles, recycled cardboard coolers, refillable milk bottles and soap containers and very soon, our own soda-maker refills (Fair Fizz anyone?).

Lately though, as people struggle with the cost of living the question has evolved from the fairest ways to work with farmers, workers and packaging to asking ourselves are there ways we can supply fairer food during tough times?

This question has no simple answers – but it has shifted our thinking about what fair food is challenging us to meet our customers where they are now.

From “only organic” to “organic and”  it has led us to source more affordable groceries; discovering produce from farmers practicing integrated pest management (IPM), milk from St David’s Dairy, new breads from Dench and Edwards bakeries.

It has widened our view and opened the way for more people to eat ethically and sustainably, but it has also led us to reaffirm our original commitment and to continue asking the question of every thing we do – Can food be fairer?

Have a great week

Chris