Post by Food Connect Foundation

The tricky thing about inflection points is you don’t always know you’re in one until the moment’s gone. But SEQ has a huge opportunity on our plate - we're in one, but we KNOW it’s crunch time. 🍎Our region is growing rapidly - another 1.5 million people in the next fifteen years. 🍎As climate pressure intensifies, our subtropical home is in the firing line of rising sea levels, natural disaster, high temps, and all their health, environment and supply chain implications. 🍎Cost of living is squeezing households and businesses alike. 🍎The Olympic and Paralympic games are coming, with all the infrastructure, procurement decisions and community expectations in its orbit 🍎The Federal Government is working on the national food security strategy. The calls being made in the next few years - about how we feed our growing community, what gets grown (and where), what gets bought, how we get it around, and who benefits - will shape this region for a generation. But we're not starting from scratch. SEQ has extraordinary food producers, a brilliant hospitality scene (and leading hospitals), excellent research, and communities who care about where their food comes from and what it costs - financially and ecologically. SEQ Food Summit is providing the table for farmers, chefs, policymakers, researchers, procurement leads and communities to sit down and create aligned action. A room of bright minds, cutting insights and practical know-how shared on stage, and partnerships made in the moments in between. Sunday 19 July: People’s Day A free, high-energy community workshop for young people and the communities around them. Big ideas, real voices, and a direct line into the conversations that follow. Monday 20 July: Industry Day Farmers, chefs, wholesalers, food rescue orgs and procurement leads sharing and working through what local, sustainable growing and sourcing actually looks like in practice - and how to make it the norm. Tuesday 21 July: Policy Day Government, institutions, funders and advocates. Looking at the new policies (and gaps), the levers to pull, and what can make good food policy succeed. Each day feeds into the next. Community voices inform industry conversations. Industry priorities land in front of government decision-makers. It’s crunch time - come and take a bite.