This year I had the pleasure of attending the Urban Agriculture Forum (UAF), and let me tell you, I was fan-girling hard. Who fan-girls at an Urban Agriculture Forum, you may wonder?

A food-lover that's who!

Hi, I’m Gemma, a food-lover who has dedicated the better half of my life to unraveling the complexities of our modern food system. I live in Sydney, Australia, and the forum was there at Pocket City Farms in Camperdown.

• ***Pocket City Farms*** ***in Camperdown, about 40 minutes walk from the central business district of Sydney***

My journey started with wanting to know why unhealthy food is so cheap when it's so expensive (health, inequities, environmental degradation, and more) for people and the planet and to understand how the world can produce food sustainably. At the UAF I was among my people. I connected with and learned from hard-working growers, researchers, community builders, and more. Like me they are all dedicated to addressing social and environmental issues through food.

The UAF is hosted by Sustain: The Australian Food Network.

Nick Rose, the Executive Director, shared with me that the organisation was founded to address social health through resilient and sustainable food systems.

Don’t we have a resilient food system, you may ask? Not particularly.

For a recent example, think back to early COVID pandemic days when toilet paper ran out and seeds were cleared from the shelves. Around the same time, the world witnessed a loaded cargo ship get stuck in the Suez Canal, temporarily halting a global trade route.

One of the speakers, Rebekha Siebert, the Urban Ag Plan Manager in Dallas, Texas, reminded us that without a more robust local food system, we have approximately three days before all food would run out should distribution halt. With global conflicts and climate disruptions, we are precariously close to this reality. Oh, and 30% of all global emissions come from agriculture. That’s more than the fashion industry and air travel combined! And most of it is due to transporting food all around the world. What would we do without strawberries year round?!

There are many increasingly urgent reasons to build a more sustainable food system.

***• Food can grow in our cities, too***

My research was confirmed by the UAF speakers, that to maintain resiliency, our food system must transition from global to local. So what can you do? A lot! We have a chance to not only build local food systems but restore entire ecosystems in the process. First and foremost, it involves grounding yourself and connecting with community. Understand the sad realities we are facing and know that the grief is indicative of how important it is to fight for what we have.

Listen openly to First Nations elders and take lead from the deep relationship they’ve sustained with Country for tens of thousands of years. After all, sustainable food systems are not a novel concept. Sit on a Cool Seat in Chippendale (next to Camperdown) and admire Michael Mobbs’ ingeniously engineered streetside garden systems. Explore resources from permaculturalists and practivists like Morag Gamble and Hannah Moloney, two formal and informal teachers who changed my life. Join a community garden and read about the benefits. And I’m dedicated to helping you go from intention to action! Join me on an Edible Excursion where we explore local sustainable food connect with Sustainability GEM for resources and actionable steps towards sustainability.

Be assured that you are not alone, the 50+ speakers at the UAF made it clear that I am not alone in my efforts to live sustainably. And maybe next year I’ll see you at the Urban Agriculture Forum. I hope so! After all, we may not (yet) produce food ourselves, but to each and every one of us, food is everything.

Gemma