Local Food Connections

Helena Norberg-Hodge is a pioneer of the World Localisation Movement, advocating a radical shift of power from global actors to local economies, especially in relation to food production. Such a shift would place humanity back in right relationship with nature and result in a happier, more just world.Here she is in Part 1 of a conversation with permaculture educator Morag Gamble at the recent Festival of Wild and Kind Ideas, convened by Morag to make as many participants in this movement visible to each other as possible and foster local and international dialogue about the myriad actions people are taking in their local communities.https://www.localfutures.org/about-local-futures/who-we-are/helena-norberg-hodge/https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org/morag-gamble/Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

As a Malaysian, Dr Elaine Pratley understood, at a gut level and from an early age, the conviviality of sharing food and conversation.  As she grew up in different countries her understanding of the power of kindness and connection deepened. Perhaps it is not surprising that she brought this knowledge to her academic studies in Peace Building. Her doctoral thesis was titled Hungry for Peace. This and her recently published book of the same name explores the role of food in both human conflict and human connection and therefore its power as an instrument of peace.Elaine is the founder of The Peace Kitchen https://www.peacekitchen.com.au/

Jo came back on the show for this episode so we could chat a bit about the 'hows' of money-free living after leaving so much unanswered in the last episode, which concentrated more on the 'whys'. After our chat Jo was off to make banana bread with home-grown grain, bananas and local honey, all grown or availaible through the gift economy.

This episode is less about food and more about community resilience through shared energy. In the studio are Graeme Martin and Ana Spataru. Graeme is the president and Ana a Board member of Village Power, which yesterday launched the Alphington Community Battery after eight years of community organising and political lobbying. You can contact them and find out more about Village Power the Alphington Community Battery, and the Alphington- Fairfield Community Energy Program by going to villagepower.com.au

Driven by concern for the state of the world, by strong moral values and by a desire for a simple, connected life, Jo Nemeth decided to see if it was possble to live well in the modern world without money. It was! As a result she has been living a life of service in the gift economy for the past decade.Jo recommends the work of Irish writer Mark Boyle, author of The Moneyless Man and The Moneyless Manifesto for those interested in how renouncing money can result in non-monetary riches. Speaking of money, this show needs to raise some! if you enjoyed this or any other episodes of Local Food Connections please donate to our 2026 Radiothon campaign. Help us raise $1300 of the $300,000 that 3CR needs to keep going. As volunteers at an independent community radio station we rely on donations from our loyal listeners to keep going and stay radical.Please donate whatever you can (no need to follow the suggested amounts) here:https://www.givenow.com.au/cr/localfoodconnectionsorhttps://www.3cr.org.au/donateor03 9419 8377

There are two jobs available for a farmer and a farm hand at Silvertine Farm, an organic and biodynamic market garden at Wesburn, 70Km east of Melbourne. Full job description here: https://localfoodconnect.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/silvertine-head-grower.pdfThe Local Food Connections CrowdRaiser page is here!https://www.givenow.com.au/cr/localfoodconnectionsPlease support the show and independent, community-funded radio by donating what you can.Morag Gamble, as convenor of the International Festival of Wild and Kind Ideas, had 33 inspiring conversations with permaculture leaders and other visionaries from around the world, including one with Andrew Millison, the start of which you can hear in this episode. Listen to them all here:https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org/festival-2026/

This is the second part of my interview with Morag Gamble, convenor of The International Festival of Wild and Kind Ideas. This outstanding event took place in May but replays of all the speakers are free by registering here:https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org/festival-2026/Day 1: Wednesday 20 MayMorag Gamble: Myceliating humanKINDness Fritjof Capra: Principles of life Satish Kumar: Peace is possible Louis De Jaegar: Food foresting festivals and film Helena Norberg-Hodge: LocalisationCharlie Mgee & Brenna Quinlan: Permaculture artivismDay 2: Thursday 21 MayJeremy Lent: Ecocivilisation 9am AESTNate Hagens: The great simplification 10:00am AESTKatharine Burke: Earthwards: learning as seed 5pm AESTDaniel Christian Wahl: Bioregioning & place-based design 6pm AESTManda Scott and Rupert Read: Thrutopian stories 7pm AESTDay 3: Friday 22 MayPerdita Finn: Mothers of magic Tyson Yunkaporta: How ancient stories can guide usAlfred Decker, Yara Ward and Boulos Saad: Permaculture in Lebanon in crisisMazin Qumsiyeh & Rosemary Morrow: Palestinian permaculture & resistance Rob Hopkins: Falling in love with the futureDay 4: Saturday 23 MayEmma-Kate Rose & Dheepa Jeyapalan: Transforming the public plate Stuart Cowan: Design for life thrivingAnsiima Casinga Rolande, Megan Banda, Afshan Omar: Afroecological futuresNora Bateson: Who can I be when I am with you?Vandana Shiva: Seeds of LifeDay 5: Sunday 24 MaySamantha Sweetwater: The earth misses youAndrew Millison: Rehydrating the planet Mini-film Fest: Campfire Stories Mattias Olsson: Radically Kind film-makingManish Jain: Deschooling our livesMary Reynolds: Acts of restorative kindness Day 6: Monday 25 MayHannah Moloney: Why we gardenMichelle Maloney: Bioregions and Rights of NatureNatalie Topa : Water ResiliencePella Thiel: Creating a bioregional embassyMaddy Harland: Wilding permaculture and publishingCate McQuillen: Deliberate optimism

Morag Gamble has been practising permaculture for over 30 years and is a prominent figure in the global permaculture movement. As the director of the Permaculture Education Institute, Morag is hosting a 6-day free global online festival of ideas about  permaculture and building regenerative community from 20-25th of May. The purpose of the Festival is to explore wild and kind responses to today’s ecological and social challenges.  The event is free because the hosts and all guests are here in the gift economy. https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org/festival-2026/  https://www.youtube.com/@MoragGambleOurPermacultureLifehttps://ourpermaculturelife.com/https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org/podcast/

In this episode I'm joined by Katy Swain and Jessie Winter. Both Katy and Jessie have an interest in the economics of sustainablity and in Modern Monetary Theory. Jesse has a masters in sustainable economics and Katy, as part of her studies, has written a paper on the impact of Australia's supermarket duopoly on the producers and suppliers of our food. Together they unpack some of the ramifications of the concentration of power that the duopoly represents. Katy has kindly supplied these notes and resources: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-13/does-a-supermarket-duopoly-mean-more-food-waste/103559734This is a really shocking report based on submissions to the Senateinquiry led by the Greens' Nick McKim.https://theaimn.net/us-iran-war-threatens-australias-food-supply-delivery-crisis-looms/A very good recent article by our colleague Martha on the fragility ofthe global food system. (I have to say I have a lot less faith intechnology — particularly "AI" — than she does.)https://theconversation.com/price-check-how-a-public-grocery-chain-would-disrupt-nzs-supermarket-duopoly-265844An interesting article from New Zealand advocating for publicly-ownedsupermarkets, a particular hobby horse of mine. We're planning aRadioMMT episode about (in part) my peculiar ideas about how to addresssupermarkets, probably going to air in one of the "J" months.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-29/food-supply-chain-freight-costs-farmers-and-remote-communities/105382150Another startling ABC article about the maddeningly inefficientefficiencies of supermarket logistics.More here:https://katyswain.me/tag/supermarkets/linkagehttps://katyswain.me/tag/food-insecurity/linkage

On this morning's show I'm joined by Emma Watts, the new CEO of Cultivating Community. Cultivating Community started as a grassroots movement in 1998 inCollingwood. It now supports nearly 700 gardeners 24 community and communal gardens across Melbourne and has become a large not for profit social enterprise. This of course requires skilled management. And that's where Emma comes in.