By JESSE GRAHAM
SUSTAINABLE living and buying local were two key messages at a documentary screening in Upwey last week.
The Hills Food Frontier (THFF) gathered a full theatre of people at Upwey’s Burrinja Theatre on Thursday 19 March for a screening of a new documentary, Fair Food.
Featuring interviews with farmers around the country, community members and academics, Fair Food focuses on new approaches to food production and distribution, circumventing supermarket systems.
These new approaches attempt to connect people with fresh, locally-made food, which farmers are able to be paid a fair sum for.
Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance national director Nick Rose told the Mail that he hoped the screening would help hills residents to look at how they get their food.
“We’re hoping that people become informed about what’s happening with the Australian food system … knowing local producers, opting out of the big, industrial duopoly system and getting involved politically, pushing their council and the State Government to make changes,” he said.
He said there had been a strong, positive response to each screening of Fair Food, with around a dozen across the country so far.
Interviewee in Fair Food and free-range pig and cattle farmer Tammi Jonas said the documentary also had a message of support for farmers, which she hoped would be carried on in the Yarra Valley and Dandenongs.
“I would say the first thing they (farmers) can do is talk among themselves and then, broader, beyond themselves,” Ms Jonas said.
“Talk to other farmers about how they’re reducing their inputs.
“Through lots of interaction with other farmers, seeing what’s possible and supporting each other with these kinds of practices, including direct sales and transitioning to that model – the connection with the people who eat your food changes how you grow your food.”
The screening was organised by The Hills Food Frontier, which posted on its Facebook page that it is able to lend its copy of Fair Food to individuals and groups of less than 10 people for a donation.
For more information, visit www.hillsfoodfrontier.com.
