Co-hosted by SUSTAIN: The Australian Food Network and City of Sydney, the Sydney Urban Agriculture Forum held on Fri 11 Nov is the centrepiece of the 2nd national Urban Agriculture Month. This Forum will be a celebration of the fantastic work underway across Sydney to strengthen the city's food system in face of mounting and serious challenges.

It will also be a deep dive into some of the policy and practice responses to those challenges, at the global, state and local levels.

The Forum will be held at Sydney City Farm, on the land of the Gadigal people, in collaboration with Sustain: The Australian Food Network and City of Sydney, as part of a nationwide program of events to highlight the critical role that urban agriculture plays in dealing with health and wellbeing, sustainability, climate change and food security issues.

MC: Costa Georgiadis (ABCTV, Costa's World, and Sustain ambassador).

Guest speakers include: Alex Greenwich MP, Clarence Slockee ABCTV's Gardening Australia & Director Jiwah Pty Ltd, Lauren Flaherty City of Sydney's Strategy Advisor – Social, Belinda Thackeray from Sydney City Farm, Councillor (Waskam) Emelda Davis from City of Sydney, Chris Sara from Pocket City Farms, Brenden Moore Community Greening Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, and Dr. Nick Rose from Sustain: The Australian Food Network.

The day will start off at 8.30 am with a tour of the farm. Official proceedings commence at 9 am. Morning tea & lunch will be provided.

Please note that ticket pricing is scaled to suit your budget.

At Sustain: The Australian Food Network we believe everyone has the right to access food and food security education, so for this forum we will reserve a few spots for our community members who feel restricted in attending financially, to attend for free. If you feel this applies to you, please email us for more info.

Sydney City Farm

Bios:

Alex Greenwich MP is the Independent Member for Sydney in NSW Parliament. He was first elected in 2012 with the endorsement of his predecessor Lord Mayor Clover Moore. During his time in NSW Parliament, Alex has achieved major social reforms including leading Australia's marriage equality campaign to victory in 2017, decriminalising abortion in 2019, and legislating voluntary assisted dying in 2022. He is the Chair of the Legislative Assembly's Planning and Environment Committee, he is the co-author of "Yes, Yes, Yes Australia's Journey to Marriage Equality" and was a participant in season 2 of the SBS series "Filthy Rich and Homeless".

Ms. (Waskam) Emelda Davis is a passionate resident of Pyrmont with strong links to the local community, as well as a strong advocate for cultural diversity and greater inclusion for her Indigenous, Pacific, and Australian South Sea Islander communities. Emelda Davis is proud of her diverse indigenous ancestry as a second-generation Australian South Sea Islander of First Nations and Caribbean descent. Emelda has worked for federal, state, community and grassroots organisations where she has exhibited diverse expertise in community development, education, training, media, and marketing.

Lauren Flaherty is a Strategy Advisor – Social at the City of Sydney. She has been leading the City’s participation in the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, a global network of more than 200 cities committed to sustainable and resilient food systems. Lauren oversees and drives the City’s strategic direction on sustainable and inclusive food systems and collaborates with key sector partners on local food systems research and programs. Lauren is completing postgraduate studies in global sustainability and social impact at the University of NSW.

Clarence Slockee is a Bundjalung Aboriginal man and a graduate of NAISDA Dance College and UTS Business School. A broad range of experience, his passion remains with his culture and ensuring the biodiversity of native species. He is Director and founder of Jiwah Pty Ltd a 100% Aboriginal owned company that delivers a range of collaborative projects including urban native species greenspace.

Belinda Thackeray is a horticulturist and environmental educator with a passion for nurturing productive and sustainable environments. Working as the City Farm Project Manager at the City of Sydney, Belinda is creating opportunities and developing spaces and programs to connect urban communities with agriculture and local food systems. She spends her spare time at home growing an abundance of food for her family.

Costa Georgiadis This amazing human surely needs no introduction...Costa Georgiadis is a much loved Australian landscape architect, television presenter, author, columnist, radio guest amongst other things. He is a second generation Australian of Greek descent and host of ABCTV's Gardening Australia, regular on DirtGirl, and his own platform Costa's World.

Chris Sara is the future of farming! After studying Biology, Chris first volunteered with Pocket City Farms and quickly took on the role of Sustainability Educator. During 2022 they have been part of PCF's first Farm Incubator program and at the end of 2022 will take on the role of Farm and Community Manager. Chris is passionate about working alongside communities, schools and businesses to set up and maintain urban farms, food forests, and food gardens to increase urban greening, biodiversity and food security in our cities.

Brenden Moore is a highly valued member of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden’s Community Greening team. The team comprises of environmental and cultural horticulturalists and educators that support schools, communities, and social housing entities in creating garden spaces across NSW. Beyond helping create the gardens, Brenden provides ongoing support and assists by helping create healthy meal choices and utilises his artistic skills by designing Aboriginal art-work and music with the community for their gardens.

Dr. Nick Rose has been the Executive Director of Sustain since its establishment in January 2016. With a background In law and community development, Nick brings more than a decade of working at the grassroots and institutional level in several Australian states in food sovereignty and sustainable food systems. He is the editor of "Fair Food: Stories From a Movement Changing The World (2015)" and the co-editor of "Reclaiming The Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Food Growing in Australian Towns And Cities (2018)." Nick is also a lecturer in food systems, food policy and governance and food movements for William Angliss Institute in their Bachelor of Food Studies and Master of Food Systems and Gastronomy.

https://events.humanitix.com/sydney-urban-agriculture-forum

We thank our event hosts who made this forum possible.