{"id":8987,"date":"2013-08-26T14:23:10","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T04:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=8987"},"modified":"2022-05-02T00:40:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:40:16","slug":"food-agriculture-debated-labor-greens-wills-reports-takvera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/food-agriculture-debated-labor-greens-wills-reports-takvera\/","title":{"rendered":"Food and agriculture debated by Labor and Greens in Wills: @takvera reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Englart<\/a><\/p>\n

25 August 2013<\/p>\n

Discussing Food and agriculture policy may seem a little bit incongruent in an inner urban electorate, but the forum held in Wills at the Coburg Farmers market on Saturday highlights that city people are concerned with farming and agricultural practices that affect everyone from farmers to city consumers.<\/p>\n

The public forum was organised by Transition Coburg<\/a>, initially with sitting Labor member Kelvin Thomson, Liberal candidate Shilpa Hegde and Greens candidate Tim Read. Shilpa Hegde withdrew<\/a> with no reason given and Margarita Windisch from the Socialist Alliance was added.<\/p>\n

\"Kelvin

Kelvin Thomson, Tim Read and Margarita Windisch talking agriculture and food policy at Wills Forum<\/p><\/div>\n

Questions followed short presentations. About 70 people attended the forum, quite a large number given the Farmers Market that was occurring around the forum.<\/p>\n

Kelvin Thomson provided a succinct analysis of the multi-layered issues involved with food security on a global level, the environmental challenges, the impacts on public health, problems with food and retail concentration and the impacts of urban sprawl on prime horticultural and farming land. He explained some of the government’s supportive programs with Ausbuy, funding support to farmers markets and food industry innovation. Watch Kelvin Thomson’s presentation:<\/p>\n