Collaboration to support food security and sustainable agriculture

Cape York NRM and the TNQ Drought Hub’s Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise (SATSIE) Program are joining forces with local councils and businesses to support agricultural projects and food security through a Cultivating Climate-Smart and Sustainable Agriculture project in Cape York Peninsula.

A project planning meeting recently occurred to discuss the establishment of communities of practice (CoPs) at both the local community/business and regional scales. These CoPs will identify priority needs to support sustainable agriculture and food security and share learnings within and between communities, businesses, and regional capacity partners.

SATSIE Program Lead, and Chair of Cape York NRM, Dr Jim Turnour said, “We know that there is a need to support the re-establishment of agriculture enterprises in remote discrete communities to achieve food security. We also know there have been farms in the past, but these have eventually failed for various reasons.”

“It will be important therefore to work at the local scale to support enterprises develop but also at the regional scale with capacity partners to create a sustainable model for long term success and the CoPs are being designed to support development at these different scales.”

“Cape York NRM will focus on engagement with local communities and businesses to identify projects and activities to support food security, grazing and farming enterprises. While the SATSIE team will bring together at the regional scale retail stores and supplier representatives, government and non-government investors and researchers to look at the agriculture and food system. Depending on the needs of communities and businesses, the SATSIE Program will also link local CoPs to expertise within the hub and JCU, including Regional Soil Coordinator Dhiraj Gajera.”

Dhiraj is currently working with Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council providing technical support and advice to develop a community garden. Through soils testing and building the community's skills and knowledge to grow produce, the region's supermarkets will now have a local supplier. 

“Working holistically on the food and agriculture system at these different scales with local communities and businesses and a broad range of partner stakeholders we hope to align investments and capacity-building to achieve long-term food security for communities in Cape York Peninsula,” Dr Turnour said.

The Cultivating Climate-Smart and Sustainable Agriculture in Cape York Peninsula project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Natural Heritage Trust under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program and delivered by Cape York NRM, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

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