Impact Through Collaboration

Sustainable Table is regenerating food and farming from the ground up. That’s our tagline. But what does it involve and how are we making it happen?

Many know Sustainable Table as an organisation that connects philanthropy with regenerative projects and change makers. While that’s a big part of what we do, our team is also hard at work initiating and participating in efforts to connect the dots and foster collaboration. You see, no one farmer, foodie, business or organisation can regenerate Australian food and farming alone. In fact, we need to seize every opportunity to work together, learn from each other and grow our impact.

It’s not revolutionary to suggest that collaboration is key to systems change but this work often goes unseen. We thought it was high time we shone a light on what has been happening behind the scenes at Sustainable Table. Below we share 5 examples of projects and initiatives we have been involved in and the impact this is having.

1. Atherton Tablelands Integrated Collaboration (ATIC)

The Atherton Tablelands Integrated Collaboration (ATIC) delivered by Sustainable Table provides support to agricultural enterprises within the Atherton Tablelands by facilitating a transition to regenerative agriculture. The intention is to enable and scale regenerative agriculture opportunities to restore, improve, and enhance the landscape’s biological vitality, carrying capacity and ecosystem services.

ATIC will also assess the options for developing a regional food hub in Cairns by connecting the regenerative farmers in the Atherton Tablelands with the Cairns market. These activities are anticipated to deliver benefits for agricultural systems and improve the quality of water flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.

Funding of $1.5 million has been provided through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program. The government’s investment will be matched by an equal contribution from Sustainable Table and an anticipated $500,000 of in-kind contributions across the life of ATIC.

2. The Australian Regenerative Food and Farming Map

The Australian Regenerative Food and Farming Map was led by Sustainable Table and designed by a working group made up of industry leaders and funders. The map features regenerative food and farming businesses and community food organisations from across the country and gives visibility to an industry that until now, has operated under the radar and away from the attention and understanding of policy makers. It also allows us to grow connections and collaboration across the sector between farmers, eaters, aggregators, educators and change makers.

The Sustainable Table map now also feeds into Open Food Network’s Regenerative Produce Discovery Portal which aims to increase market demand and access to regenerative produce in Australia.

3. Good Grain Fund

When BCorp beer brand, Stone & Wood approached Sustainable Table with an idea to collaborate on a fund to support regenerative grain growers, maltsters, distillers and brewers, we jumped at the opportunity and Good Grain was born. Our values align beautifully, as Stone & Wood ‘believes in a sustainable future, where the ingredients they use also replenish the earth, regenerate our soil and contribute to a thriving planet’.

In Year 1, we have set a fundraising goal of $100,000. We aim to distribute $25,000 grants to four regenerative grains-centric projects. Both Stone & Wood and Sustainable Table will each contribute $25,000 towards the fund. We are raising the remaining money through a fundraising campaign (live from May until August, 2024).

Not only will the fund enable projects to transform beer and gin supply chains, but we will also work with Stone & Wood to educate brewers and distillers on the benefits of regenerative grains through an event and online content.

4. Regenerative Communications Circle

After speaking with many people in charge of communications at organisations working in regenerative food and farming, our team realised a few things:

1. Those responsible for communications in these organisations are almost always severely under-resourced and time poor.
2. Organisations are often working on similar projects but are operating in silos, duplicating content and therefore underutilising scarce resources.
3. Talking about regenerative agriculture is complicated as there isn’t a solid mainstream understanding of what it is .
4. There is a lot we can learn from each other.

Sustainable Table initiated the Regenerative Communications Circle, a quarterly meeting of communications experts, to discuss these challenges and understand how we can better work together to catalyse change. We all share a common goal and we are more likely to achieve it if we work together to create a shared message for impact.

5. Investment Readiness Program

While those who work in regenerative food and farming are experts at what they do, they often aren’t equipped to navigate the complexities of securing appropriate funding, finance and investment. Sustainable Table is designing an investment readiness support program in collaboration with Sefa, an organisation that partners with for-purpose businesses and investors to unlock social impact. The program addresses the critical capability gap of enterprises in the sector to take on growth finance and has been piloted with two initial organisations.

We are also collaborating with Sefa to develop an Enterprise Capability Assessment Tool to support targeted, impactful funding, financing and investment readiness support for businesses in the sector.

But wait, there’s more!

Sustainable Table has also:

• Participated in the Community and Farmland Trust Models Working Group to explore what different models might look like.
• Supported Moving Feast, a network collaborating for a connected, fair and regenerative Victorian food system.
• Organised a solidarity session in the lead-up to grAiNZ to discuss the needs and concerns of people working in regenerative food and farming.
• Participated in the AFSA Agrarian Trust conversations.
• Convened the Regenerative Women Farmer Circle.
• Organised monthly meetings between Open Food Network and Soils for Life to streamline operations, develop a collaborative strategy and amplify impact.
• Co-funded and supported the development of the program for the Soils for Life Soil Stewardship Summit.
• Worked with Regen Melbourne to learn about and use their SOIL framework for convening partners to enable greater outcomes.
• Worked on the Grounded Working Group to deliver the December 2024 regenerative farming gathering in Tasmania.

If you would like to support the work Sustainable Table is doing to regenerate food and farming in Australia, please donate today.