Food Security in Australia: Challenges and Prospects for the Future

465 Pages·2012·7.792 MB·English

by  Quentin Farmar-Bowers, Vaughan Higgins, Joanne Millar

Food Security in Australia
wwwwwwwwwww
Quentin Farmar-Bowers (cid:129) Vaughan Higgins
Joanne Millar
Editors
Food Security in Australia
Challenges and Prospects for the Future

http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield
Editors
Quentin Farmar-Bowers Vaughan Higgins
Deakin University School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Geelong Charles Sturt University
Victoria , Australia Wagga Wagga
New South Wales , Australia
Joanne Millar
School of Environmental Sciences
Charles Sturt University
Albury
New South Wales , Australia
ISBN 978-1-4614-4483-1 ISBN 978-1-4614-4484-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-4484-8
Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012947379
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, speci fi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on micro fi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection
with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied speci fi cally for the purpose of being entered and
executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this
publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s
location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions
for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to
prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a speci fi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for
any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein.
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
The purpose of this book is to inform the debate on food security in Australia by
providing information on a range of relevant issues. This debate is needed because
although Australia is a net exporter of agricultural products some Australians are
food insecure and many suffer diet-related health problems. The current problems
are complex due to a host of future uncertainties including those associated with
climate change, globalization and increasing competition for resources both in
Australia and internationally.
The process of bringing information together on food security started in mid-
2010 with a call for papers on food security in Australia as a special theme for the
Australian and New Zealand Agri-Food Research Network Conference held at the
Gippsland campus of Monash University in December 2010. The authors of these
papers and a number of other people were asked to develop their ideas into book
chapters. We also asked a number of people to write ‘case studies’ about speci fi c
items of interest for food security in Australia. Five case studies on food equity and
access are set out in chapter 11 and three case studies on food production, policy
and trade are set out in Chapter 24.
Most books on food security tackle the global issue of food security in develop-
ing nations. However, we focused our work on Australia because of the concern
about the future ability of our land, water and human resources to continue to pro-
vide food and maintain the unique ecology in this island continent. We hope that the
information in this book will boost the food security debate in Australia, encourage
people to become more f ood literate and stimulate debates about food in other
countries.
This book is divided into three parts:
1. Food equity and access comprising eleven chapters
2. Food production, policy and trade has thirteen chapters
3. Land use planning has fi ve chapters followed by a concluding chapter for the
whole book
Summaries of the papers are available at: h ttp://www.afrn.org.au/category/conference-papers/ .
v
vi Preface
We start with F ood equity and access because this is the main issue in Australia
regarding food security. There is not a lack of food but rather an inability of disad-
vantaged households to afford nutritious food. The in fl uence of rising food prices,
remoteness and institutional capacity are discussed. Programs for food relief,
community supported agriculture and local food distribution are presented as solu-
tions to a growing issue.
The second part of the book F ood production and trade covers challenges and
opportunities for Australian food production such as climate change, water use,
environment and food standards, global food chains, labour deployment, rural sub-
division, local and native foods.
The third part Land use planning deals with concerns about urban development
into farming areas, including the lack of long-term planning regarding food security
or opportunities for urban agriculture.
Quentin Farmar-Bowers
Vaughan Higgins
Joanne Millar
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank fi rst and foremost all contributors for their commitment to
the production of this book. This collection would not have been possible without
their intellectual contribution and willingness to support the project. We are also
grateful to the efforts of Susan Safren and Rita Beck from Springer who provided
editorial advice and assistance, and who enthusiastically supported the book.
Our thanks go also to the following people who generously gave their time to review
chapter drafts: Jon Altman, Godfrey Baldacchino, Andrew Butt, Michael Buxton,
Jenny Cameron, Jacqui Dibden, Jane Dixon, Barney Foran, Andrea Gaynor, Gillian
Hewitson, Stuart Hill, Mark Imhof, Mark Lawrence, Kristen Lyons, Freya Mathews,
Alexandra McManus, John Martin, Damian Maye, Dave Mercer, Michael Mitchell,
Barbara Pini, Carol Richards, Chris Rosin, Wendy Steele and Beverley Wood.
vii
wwwwwwwwwww
Contents
1 Introduction: The Food Security Problem in Australia ...................... 3
Quentin Farmar-Bowers, Vaughan Higgins, and Joanne Millar
Part I Food Equity and Access
2 Food Security in Australia: The Logistics of Vulnerability ................. 21
Adriana Keating
3 Ethics of Food Security ........................................................................... 35
Emma Rush
4 Interdisciplinary Conversations on Complexities
of Food/In Security.................................................................................. 49
Roslyn Foskey, Alan Avery, Margaret Sims, and David Brunckhorst
5 Institutional Capacity of Local Government
to Embed Food Security into Policy ...................................................... 63
Christine Slade
6 The Question of a Reasonable Price for Food:
Policy Alternatives to Control Food Price
Inflation in Developed Economies ......................................................... 79
Brigit Busicchia
7 Selecting Interventions for Food Security in Remote
Indigenous Communities ........................................................................ 97
Christina Pollard
8 Hungry for Change: The Sydney Food Fairness Alliance ................... 113
Frances Parker and Elizabeth Morgan
9 Community Supported Agriculture and Agri-Food Networks:
Growing Food, Community and Sustainability?.................................. 129
Robin Krabbe
ix
x Contents
10 The Emergency Relief Sector in Victoria, Australia ............................ 143
Ric Benjamin and Quentin Farmar-Bowers
11 Case Studies on Food Equity and Access .............................................. 153
Darren Ray, Leah Galvin, Claire Palermo, Erik Eklund,
Stuart Auckland, Quynh Lê, Rebecca Lindberg, and Russell Shields
Part II Food Production, Policy and Trade
12 The Impacts of Climate Change on Australia’s
Food Production and Export ................................................................. 173
Geoffrey Lawrence, Carol Richards, and David Burch
13 Increasing Food Production Sustainably
in a Changing Climate: Understanding
the Pressures and Potential .................................................................... 187
Beverley Henry, Richard Conant, John Carter,
Veronique Droulez, and Peter Grace
14 Enhancing Food Security in Australia by Supporting
Transformative Change .......................................................................... 205
Sarah Park, Steven Crimp, Simon Attwood,
Nadine Marshall, and Mark Howden
15 Framing the Research Needs for Food Security in Australia ............. 219
Quentin Farmar-Bowers
16 Water Sovereignty and Food Security ................................................... 235
Francine Rochford
17 Food Security and Soil Health ............................................................... 247
Declan McDonald
18 Australian Food Security Dilemmas:
Comparing Nutritious Production Scenarios
and Their Environmental, Resource and Economic Tensions ............ 259
Graham M. Turner, Kirsten A. Larsen, Chris Ryan,
and Mark Lawrence
19 ‘Sustainable Standards’? How Organic Standards
in the EU and Australia Affect Local and Global
Agrifood Production and Value Chains ................................................ 281
Amelie Bernzen
20 How do You Eat the Elephant in the Room?
Agri-Food Sustainability and King Island ............................................ 297
Lea Coates
21 A New Harvest of the Suburbs ............................................................... 311
Brendan Gleeson