Say hello to our 7 Future Healthy Food Hubs partners!

Organisation name: United African Farm 

Local Government Area: Cardinia   

Ubuntu Food Hub will infuse culture into agricultural practices to work towards a healthy, harmonious, and empowered community by increase and promote equitable access to fresh, affordable, and culturally appropriate food for all. 
 
Existing partnerships with The Community Grocer, HopeWorks Community Solutions, Cardinia Food Movement, CERES, 3000acres, Food Mackies, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and others will provide opportunities to produce, market, and distribute this produce to target communities.   

Connect:
@unitedafricanfarm
Facebook

Organisation name: Common Ground

Local Government Area: Surf Coast 

Common Ground Project Food Hub exists within a 4-acre regenerative farm and social enterprise based in Freshwater Creek that focuses on promoting food security, empowering agency and advocacy, and fostering community collaboration. The Food Hub is providing a connection to regenerative agriculture through produce grown onsite, whilst creating a hyper-local network of the region’s small-scale food producers and supporting community empowerment and education through workshops on food and farming systems.

The Food Hub aims to create demand for produce that is environmentally responsible and locally sourced. The region surrounding Freshwater Creek has opportunities for more small-scale food and farming enterprises to be connected by a common space for distribution and sale in the pursuit of a fairer system, as there is currently a lack of small-scale growers in this G21 region. The Food Hub team believe if they can reduce the barrier for farmers to sell their local food, including hobby and backyard farmers, greater demand will be generated by the public all year round, thus supporting the growth of small and micro enterprises in the Surf Coast and Greater Geelong regions.  

A community garden is in the process of being designed to support the Food Hub. Connect with us to find out more about our Pop Up Markets as well as our Workshops.

Connect:
@common_ground_project
Facebook
LinkedIn

Organisation name: Acres and Acres

Local Government Area: Towong

Acres and Acres Food Hub will address barriers to short supply chain, age demographics of farming industry, social isolation, food literacy, access to seasonal and affordable foods and provide opportunities to come together and celebrate community and food. This critical work creates invaluable benefits to producers and consumers and improves economic resilience and health of the community. 

The aim of this Food Hub is to create a network of market gardens across the Upper Murray and North-East of Victoria. Acres and Acres hope to share knowledge, tools and skills allowing people from all walks of life an opportunity to grow their own business or community income with minimal outlay. 

Connect: 
@acres.and.acres
Facebook

Organisation name: Bendigo Food Share

Local Government Area: Greater Bendigo

Grow Cook Share Food Hub is an agreed vision with Bendigo Foodshare and the Bendigo Community to further strengthen Greater Bendigo as a leader in food sustainability, being Australia’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy and having a Food Systems Strategy that places the whole community at the centre of the solution.       

Grow Cook Share Food Hub is co-designed by the community to ensure an inclusive, accessible, and inspiring food system. They are working with local producers, young people, and multicultural communities, to grow, cook, share, and sell food and to showcase the region’s amazing food culture.       

The key to achieving this vision is to meet community where they are at. So, Grow Cook Share Food Hub is a hub and spoke model, living at places where community can access, feel safe and connect, including Golden Gums Farm market garden, local Growers’ Markets, schools, and community houses. In addition, they are working towards a new purpose-built facility and food precinct, due to open in 2024.  

Connect:
@bendigofoodshare
Facebook
LinkedIn

Organisation names: Sunrayia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council (SMECC) & Food Next Door (FND) 

Local Government Area: Mildura   

This Food Hub aims to nourish Sunraysia’s diverse multicultural community with access to locally grown, culturally appropriate healthy food. To achieve this goal, SMECC will partner with Food Next Door Co-operative (FND), which is committed to nurturing land and nourishing people. Partnering new migrant and refugee farmers with unused farmland, FND trains and supports them, using regenerative farming practices to strengthen resilience in community.   
 
The project will facilitate FND to expand their program, educating multicultural communities in farming, growing, and producing foods familiar to them for market. It will also reduce the Food Hub’s reliance on canned and processed food brought in from Melbourne by replacing inputs with locally grown, organic produce from FND. The partnership will foster a true collaboration, including business viability and sustainability skills while ensuring local food security continues well beyond the funding end date.

Connect:
Facebook
LinkedIn

Organisation name: Centre For Participation

Local Government Area: Horsham 

Wimmera Food Collective is an inclusive and vibrant space providing food programs, where people can sell, buy, and celebrate local, affordable, and culturally desired fruit, vegetables, herbs, grains, and legumes. 
 
Located on site, the food hub will provide for the producers and the Wimmera-Southern-Mallee community. Leveraging their deep connections with the multi-cultural community and targeting non-English speaking people and young people living across the region, the food hub will build on their work to change lives and strengthen communities through food.   
 
Projects include a social garden, social pantry, Laneway Cafe Without Borders, Migrant Hospitality Pathways Program, Micro-Business Program, retail food outlets, bulk buying groups, a storage facility, food enterprise incubator/co-working space and a community kitchen.

Connect: 
Facebook
LinkedIn

Organisation name: Whittlesea Community Connections

Local Government Area: Whittlesea 

The Whittlesea Food Collective Food Hub will create a more equitable and sustainable food system, by supporting households experiencing financial hardship, strengthening community connections, improving health and wellbeing, and increasing training and employment opportunities through community-based food production and distribution.  

Launching in February 2024, the Wollert Community Farm will initially provide an opportunity for community food growing for food relief, with plans to supply the market via a social enterprise urban farm and to propagate cultural and heirloom edible seedlings in addition to local indigenous plants.  

Connect: 
@whittlesea_foodcollectivehub
LinkedIn