Food Hubs
We’re shaking up food systems
Our regenerative food hubs are on a mission to ensure every person globally has access to nutritious food, one pickle at a time.
Global food systems are broken
On one hand, food security is becoming a significant barrier to the health of global populations. On the other, an estimated one third of food produced globally is wasted. The irony is that while more precious resources go into producing food every year, more people are going hungry. Our regenerative food hubs provide solutions to these duel issues; sustainably growing and rescuing produce to provide communities with nutritious food, year round.
Local solutions to global problems
Our food hubs combat food waste by turning produce that would otherwise go to waste into nutritious products, and making it available to those who need it most. Built into repurposed shipping containers, the hubs - dubbed a “social enterprise in a box” - are designed to provide an accessible and adaptable framework that moves control from large corporations into communities, while ensuring minimal waste, economic empowerment and nutritious food for all.
Tailored to local circumstances
While the food hubs share a common mission, each is tailored to the needs, resources, climate and community of the specific geographical area in which it are located. Every location comprises a combination of initiatives - regenerative gardening, preservation kitchen, hydroponic growing, water captured and more - that are best suited to achieving impacts in that particular area. It’s why you’ll notice our hubs operate very differently across Melbourne and Timor-Leste.
For the community, by the community
We don’t assume to know what is best for a communities that aren’t our own. That’s why each food hub is co-designed with and for the community in which it’s located, before being managed by the same people it aims to serve. This approach empowers communities towards self-determination, moving them away from the traditional colonial models of charity and aid.
Prototyped in Melbourne
In Australia, the commercial food industry is energy, water and nutrient hungry, while privilege often affords us to be extremely wasteful. Our food hub in Oakleigh, fit out with a commercial kitchen, runs off the donation of produce by local growers and the donation of time by local volunteers. Participants are motivated by a desire to fight food waste and join a community of likeminded individuals. A portion of preserves is given back to the grower, a portion goes to food banks and the rest is sold in our shop with proceeds funding the program.
Tailored to Timor-Leste
In Timor-Leste, fresh food is abundant in the wet season and then scarce in the dry season, leaving families with barely enough to survive. Our Timorese food hubs focus on regenerative agriculture, economic participation and food security. Produce is grown on-site in the regenerative garden or sourced from farmers who have inadequate storage facilities. It is then preserved by local employees - mostly women - who are able to make a meaningful income while providing communities with nutritious food, year round.
Empowering women
We believe that one of the most critical impact pathways to address food insecurity is the empowerment of women. That’s why our food hubs specifically target and are made accessible to women. Our Timorese hubs house a live-in training facility where women from all over the country can come and learn preservation techniques. Using micro loans, they are then empowered to return to their communities and use their newfound skills to make an income while providing their villages with nutritional food.
Fighting climate change
We can’t ignore the disastrous impacts food waste has on climate change. Landfilling food results in significant greenhouse gas emissions; not to mention the waste of precious resources that went into growing, packaging and transporting produce. With every jar of fruit or veg we can preserve, we stop harmful emissions being released into the atmosphere.
Join the movement
Our vision is to see food hubs in local communities around Australia and in the least developed countries in the Asia Pacific region, who are often on the frontline of climate change. If you want to fund, expand or join the program in any capacity, we’d love you to get in touch. Together we can create a movement of local production for local consumption, ensuring every person has access to food while treading lightly on our planet.
