Our Food Security is threatened by climate change, strategic disputation, disease and technical supply chain factors. It’s not going away anytime soon, in fact its likely to get worse. The economic, health & wellbeing and environmental arguments are strong for well-conceived government and private investment in local sustainable food systems. If you doubt that, just keep an eye on empty shelves in your local supermarket. The FAO has called for all cities to build up local and accessible local food buffers with a shorter supply chain. We need much more local food to support our traditional supply chains to prevent food shortages and to smooth out further periods of disruption. But how to do it?  This seminar will present an approach conceived right here in Canberra but with national applicability and, perhaps, just in time.

About the speaker

Michael Claessens was appointed CEO of Regional Development Australia (RDA) ACT in July 2018. As a proud long-time ACT resident, he has more than 20 years’ experience in industry policy and investment, specialising in food, agribusiness and advanced manufacturing. As the originator of award winning national projects in workforce and skills, Michael understands the value of innovating to build collaborative networks as a vehicle for delivering profound, sustainable improvements in community wellbeing and business competitiveness. He had dedicated the last 4 years to initiating the Canberra Region Food Collaborative – Australia’s first fully integrated City-Region Food System