Welcome to the Australian Local Food System Policy Database. This is a collection of policies from New South Wales (NSW) and Victorian local governments that relate to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems.
For further information about using the database and how it was created see How to use the database. You can search the database by using the fields below. Domain refers to eight broad categories under which various topics are situated. The domains and topics are based on a framework of recommendations for local government action on creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system (also located on the ‘How to use the database’ page linked above).
To cite the database: Reeve B, Carrad A, Rose N, Charlton K & Aguirre-Bielschowsky I (2021) Australian Local Food System Policy Database. Available at: https://law-food-systems.sydney.edu.au/policy-database (access date).
Suggested search terms
Hold Ctrl to select multiple terms. Using ‘any words’ functions as an “OR” search. Using ‘all words’ functions as and “AND” search.
Search Criteria:
| Document title | Relevant text in the policy | Domain | Topic | State | Local Government name | Council type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Brands are important marketing tools and opportunities abound for branding of local products. Many consumers want to understand the origins of their food and have indicated a willingness to buy more products branded as locally grown. Work is already underway through Destination Tweed and the Tweed Economic Development Strategy to establish a unique local brand. Such initiatives will require on-going support and involvement from all stakeholders. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Help farmers promote and market local products, including support to develop local food marketing and branding initiatives, strengthening links between local growers and local retailers and identifying and removing impediments to local food marketing, distribution and sale. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Collaborate on local and regional food initiatives involving producers, value adders, retailers, consumers and other agencies to address supply chain issues such as the distribution of local produce to local consumers, and food marketing and branding. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Brands are important marketing tools and opportunities abound for branding of local products. Many consumers want to understand the origins of their food and have indicated a willingness to buy more products branded as locally grown. Work is already underway through Destination Tweed and the Tweed Economic Development Strategy to establish a unique local brand. Such initiatives will require on-going support and involvement from all stakeholders. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Objective 4.2 – Increase community demand, access to and consumption of local sustainably produced food. Increased consumption of local produce is a great way to help growers improve their viability and sustainability credentials and reduce consumers’ ecological footprint. Direct sale options such as farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls, food co-ops, community supported agriculture or box schemes can provide affordable, fresh local food, while providing better returns to farmers. Farmers markets are growing in popularity and stock an increasing range of fresh, locally grown and manufactured products, but they are not well located or operated at times convenient to most people in the Tweed. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Develop a Tweed food/farm gate trail to showcase and give the community and visitors easy access to local products. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Outcome 4: Local sustainable agricultural production is valued by the community with widespread consumption of local products Food is a powerful tool for bringing communities together and consumers closer to the producer. However, most food consumers remain disconnected from the realities of food production, which leaves farming detached from the broader community and the environment. There is a need to reconnect farmers with consumers, with what they eat and how it is produced. While most people no longer have direct links to farming, they all have direct links to food. Our region boasts a steadily growing group of ‘food citizens’ looking for sustainably produced fresh, local produce. In particular, there is growing demand for organic, in-season products, opening up business opportunities for agricultural producers. Increasingly, consumers demand assurances of environmental stewardship, animal welfare and social equity along the supply chain – and they are often prepared to pay a premium price, empowering producers to make more sustainable choices. The Tweed is well positioned geographically to service the large, culturally diverse and expanding consumer needs in northern NSW and south east Queensland. However, farmers will only focus on growing crops for local consumption when there is a demand and there is an efficient supply chain. Making the Tweed a food destination and developing a brand based on the locality are emerging as important activities to reinvigorate the agricultural sector. Generating demand for local product, ensuring its supply and distribution and providing sufficient retail options are challenges that require collaboration and commitment from a number of stakeholders | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Objective 4.2 – Increase community demand, access to and consumption of local sustainably produced food. Increased consumption of local produce is a great way to help growers improve their viability and sustainability credentials and reduce consumers’ ecological footprint. Direct sale options such as farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls, food co-ops, community supported agriculture or box schemes can provide affordable, fresh local food, while providing better returns to farmers. Farmers markets are growing in popularity and stock an increasing range of fresh, locally grown and manufactured products, but they are not well located or operated at times convenient to most people in the Tweed. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | There is a need to continue to support the growth of farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls and ensure more local products are stocked in retail outlets, to improve consumer access to local food. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Outcome 4: Local sustainable agricultural production is valued by the community with widespread consumption of local products Food is a powerful tool for bringing communities together and consumers closer to the producer. However, most food consumers remain disconnected from the realities of food production, which leaves farming detached from the broader community and the environment. There is a need to reconnect farmers with consumers, with what they eat and how it is produced. While most people no longer have direct links to farming, they all have direct links to food. Our region boasts a steadily growing group of ‘food citizens’ looking for sustainably produced fresh, local produce. In particular, there is growing demand for organic, in-season products, opening up business opportunities for agricultural producers. Increasingly, consumers demand assurances of environmental stewardship, animal welfare and social equity along the supply chain – and they are often prepared to pay a premium price, empowering producers to make more sustainable choices. The Tweed is well positioned geographically to service the large, culturally diverse and expanding consumer needs in northern NSW and south east Queensland. However, farmers will only focus on growing crops for local consumption when there is a demand and there is an efficient supply chain. Making the Tweed a food destination and developing a brand based on the locality are emerging as important activities to reinvigorate the agricultural sector. Generating demand for local product, ensuring its supply and distribution and providing sufficient retail options are challenges that require collaboration and commitment from a number of stakeholders | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Implement actions identified in the Economic Development Strategy to build a resilient agricultural sector, including a review of ‘red tape’, investigating development of a food processing cluster, and investigate and further promote opportunities in organics | Sustainability and Environment | Local, sustainable food processing | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Promote direct sale options such as farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls, marketing alliances, cooperatives and community supported agricultural schemes | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Council recognises the importance of agriculture to the region and wants to see an innovative and adaptable farming community that can deal with threats such as pests, weeds and climate change and be able to take advantage of opportunities such as new farming techniques and market opportunities. | Sustainability and Environment | Food supply and food system resilience | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Support food initiatives that showcase local, sustainably produced foods and other agricultural products. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Objective 3.2 – Improve farm planning and preparedness for climate change and other threats Farm planning is an essential component of sustainable agriculture. It involves farm design and management based on environmental, financial and social considerations. Planning requires self-reflection to identify individual farm aspirations, resource challenges and opportunities and farmers’ strengths and weaknesses to achieve longer-term production goals. Critical components of farm planning include identifying natural resources and management issues and integrating agricultural and ecological systems, monitoring, adaptation, risk analysis and production requirements and farming within the land’s biophysical capabilities. Understanding and preparing for the potential risks of climate change and climate change policy – including climatic variability, biosecurity risks and fluctuations in non-renewable energy costs – are important for farm planning. Actions: Support the development and implementation of whole-farm management plans based on sustainable agriculture principles. Assist with biosecurity planning and adoption of on-farm biosecurity measures. Conduct regular climate change and energy forums for farmers, including climate conditions, carbon markets, farm management planning, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Provide advice and promote sustainable and cost-effective use of energy, including uptake of energy efficiency initiatives and renewable energy sources. Support research and development to better understand the local rate of change and adaptation options associated with the risk of climate change. Integrate farms to biodiversity corridor enhancement projects to provide resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts. Help farmers understand the inherent productive capability of their land and make the right farming choices, through farm extension and provision of advice. | Sustainability and Environment | Food supply and food system resilience | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Sustainable agricultural production is supported by the community, which appreciates the value of farming in the Tweed for its tourism and job opportunities and its contribution to the character of the rural landscape. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Responding to current and predicted pressures on agricultural land. | Sustainability and Environment | Food supply and food system resilience | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | There is a need to continue to support the growth of farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls and ensure more local products are stocked in retail outlets, to improve consumer access to local food. There are opportunities for smaller communities in the Tweed to initiate farmers markets as a way to attract local business and community involvement. Equally, there might be opportunities for smaller towns and villages to capitalise further on the food tourism industry, such as self-drive culinary tours, tasting sheds and farm stays. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Objective 2.4 – Increase utilisation of recoverable resources Waste is increasingly recognised as a resource that can be utilised for better productivity. Non-traditional nutrient sources such as municipal green waste and biosolids are largely underutilised and expensive to dispose of. Used correctly, they are ideal sources of organic matter and nutrients to restore agricultural soil health and reduce farm input costs. Actions: Enable agricultural use of soil ameliorants derived from the Tweed’s recoverable resources, including food organics, green waste and biosolids. Increase agricultural demand for local, carbon-rich soil amendments through advocacy and demonstration. Identify opportunities to minimise, reuse, recycle and divert farm waste from landfill. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Help farmers promote and market local products, including support to develop local food marketing and branding initiatives, strengthening links between local growers and local retailers and identifying and removing impediments to local food marketing, distribution and sale. | Economic Development | Public food markets and distributors | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Objective 4.2 – Increase community demand, access to and consumption of local sustainably produced food. Increased consumption of local produce is a great way to help growers improve their viability and sustainability credentials and reduce consumers’ ecological footprint. Direct sale options such as farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls, food co-ops, community supported agriculture or box schemes can provide affordable, fresh local food, while providing better returns to farmers. Farmers markets are growing in popularity and stock an increasing range of fresh, locally grown and manufactured products, but they are not well located or operated at times convenient to most people in the Tweed. | Economic Development | Public food markets and distributors | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Promote direct sale options such as farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls, marketing alliances, cooperatives and community supported agricultural schemes | Economic Development | Public food markets and distributors | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | There is a need to continue to support the growth of farmers markets, farm and roadside stalls and ensure more local products are stocked in retail outlets, to improve consumer access to local food. There are opportunities for smaller communities in the Tweed to initiate farmers markets as a way to attract local business and community involvement. Equally, there might be opportunities for smaller towns and villages to capitalise further on the food tourism industry, such as self-drive culinary tours, tasting sheds and farm stays. | Economic Development | Public food markets and distributors | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | 3. Farmers are well informed and equipped with the skills, knowledge and networks required to farm sustainably. | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Acknowledge sustainable agriculture operators through a sustainable agriculture award program | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Build farmers’ capacity to identify and control predatory pest animals and noxious and environmental weeds by participating in hands-on training programs and by developing education and awareness raising materials. | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Conduct workshops, field days and training sessions to give landholders strategies to enhance biodiversity and farm productivity and utilise natural processes. Rese | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Help farmers promote and market local products, including support to develop local food marketing and branding initiatives, strengthening links between local growers and local retailers and identifying and removing impediments to local food marketing, distribution and sale. | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Actions: Implement actions identified in the Economic Development Strategy to build a resilient agricultural sector, including a review of ‘red tape’, investigating development of a food processing cluster, and investigate and further promote opportunities in organics. | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |
| Tweed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy | Conduct regular climate change and energy forums for farmers, including climate conditions, carbon markets, farm management planning, energy efficiency and renewable energy | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Tweed | Regional |