Plotting a Future: Alternative Food Initiatives in Australia during COVID-19

Abstract

The research informing this article was conducted as part of my (Brooke's) Master of Arts in Environmental Advocacy (MEA) at UNE, Armidale. I pursued the topic after witnessing first hand empty supermarket shelves, panic buying and 'panic planting' during COVID-19, prompting a desire to explore how and whether these events were changing Australians' attitudes towards food security. Food security is <i>"when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, scife and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life"</i> ...( Food and Agriculture Organisation [FAO] 2008:1). Food security is expected to worsen in the face of climatic changes in Australia and the rest of the world, with higher temperatures and erratic weather likely to intem1pt growing seasons and the transportation and storage of food. Thus, it is important to understand Australians' vulnerability under such conditions, and bow this might be addressed at the community level.