Food Security " allows access for all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life" (Radimer 20002)
Australia currently is one of the most food sourced nations in the world and produces enough food to feed the nation three times over. In Australia 93% of food is grown within our country which employs 15% of the population is employed in the Agriculture Industry. This is all sounds very positive for the Food security of our country.
But did you know that only 1/2 of our land is vailable for grazing and 1/4 of it is desert, most of the land is naturally infertile. The harsh weather conditions and the changing environment also provide many challenges.
Once farmers have over come these obstacles and been able to produce more than enough food to feed our nation we are throwing away more than 8 million tonnes of that food each year. That is 361kg per person per year.
It is no wonder that many people believe that Food Insecurity only occurs in 3rd world countries. But this isn't true it can also occur in wealthy countries like Australia.
" People go hungry mainly because they can't grow or buy enough food."
There are three components of Food Security that should be available to everyone
1. Adequate access to food -
- ability t buy and transport food
- home storage, preparation and cooking facilities
- knowledge and skills to make healthy choices
- time to shop and prepare
2. Adequate supply of food within a community
- Food outlets
- Availability of food within stores
- Price quality and variety available
3 Appropriate use of food
- Nutritional understandingand use of food
If this isn't occurring then we have Food Insecurity.
This occurs in different groups of people and can occur at different times
1.Unemplloyed
2.Single parent
3.Low income
4.Low Income
5.Indigenous, Culturally Linguistic
Why does this occur?
Food Insequrity occurs because of
1.A lack of resources
2.Lack of access to food at affordable prices
3.Lack of food to geographical locations
4.Lack of knowledge of a nutritional diet
Food and Agriculture are Fundamental to human survival.
The ability of this industry to adapt, innovate and form successful connections, will continue to support strong and prosperous Australians with Sustainable Food Security.
These connections are really imortant in terms of Australia's Food Security as it is linked to the Political stability of a region and has the ability to affect national security.
Agricultural production is important to our economy. Traditionally we as a nation have been able to keep food prices low. while keeping farmers in business. Our farmers and Agriculture have been one of the first Industries and still remains one of our most important in terms of our economy.
The chance of a food crisis in Australia is unlikely as we have all enjoyed cheap, safe, high quality food for decades and produce enough food to feed 60 million people. Australia only accounts for 3% of all global trade with food exorts worth more than A$30 billion anually.
To be able to continue producing food to support the growing world population, we as a nation need to adapt our farming practices to face the challenging environments and weather patterns that we have been experiencing. Salinity and Alkalinity of our soils and drought, flooding and frosts which are all major threats,as well as disease. By providing Education about climate change and Food Security to our farmers and communities this will also benefit our economy in the long term.
Climate Change and Food Security
Australia is the hottest, driest country in the world with only 6% of it's land suitable for growing crops. If we don't address this situation as a nation in the future food will become more scarce and expensive which in the long term could threaten Australia's Food Security.
Extreme Weather conditions are not only occurring within Australia but all throughout the world. Bushfires, droughts, cyclones increased rainfall and increased temperatures are occurring more regularly decreasing production across all Agricultural sectors.
In NSW presently we are experiencing one of our worst droughts ever recorded with 99% of the state and 2/3 of QLD drought affected. Communities are already starting to feel the impact with increased prices and lessfood availability.
As a nation we need to start looking for alternatives to cater for food production as this will also affect our status as a premier food exporting nation and the health and well being of our population.
For Future farming scientists are currently looking at ways of farming that don't rely on large amounts of water and energy to drive productivity. Some of the ways that they are looking at to increase food production include
- The development of new technologies
- farming without increasing the areas under production as arable land is limited
- developing robust plants that can withstand the dry and salty land
- Energy efficient plants helping them to survive under less ideal conditions
- continued research
- drought salt tolerant crops
- Climate change research
"Food Security is a right for all people'(WHO)
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