Introducing the Collaborative Logistics Pilot: Strengthening Local Food Systems in the Atherton Tablelands

The Challenge

The Atherton Tablelands is home to some of the most diverse and abundant produce in Far North Queensland. Yet getting this food from farm gates to local retailers, restaurants, and cafés remains a major hurdle. Farmers lack the time to leave their properties to make deliveries, while retailers often don’t have the resources or capacity to collect produce themselves.

The outcome is costly: much of the region’s produce is sent south, only to be sold back into the region through large markets. This adds unnecessary food miles, reduces freshness, strips value from the local food economy and reduces the region’s resilience, including during severe weather events.

Our Response

Starting in late 2024, the Atherton Tablelands Integrated Collaboration (ATIC) kicked off small-scale trials to test the value of shared food delivery models in the Atherton Tablelands region. The lessons from these trials have been put into action with the launch of the Collaborative Logistics Pilot on 14 September 2025.

Prior to the launch of the pilot, Sustainable Table hosted an in-person stakeholder roundtable with a small group of farmers, retailers, and distributors to examine existing routes and explore how additional stops could be added more efficiently to connect paddock to table. This ensured the pilot remained grounded in the real needs of local businesses and communities in the region.

The pilot will run for 12 weeks and aims to create a smarter, more cost-efficient and connected food system in the region. It has four clear goals:

• Keep food local – increase the availability and accessibility of fresh, locally grown produce in FNQ.
• Support farmers – save them time, reduce fuel costs, and ease the burden of self-delivery.
• Strengthen connections – build trust and relationships between growers, retailers, and distributors.
• Explore long-term solutions – test collaborative approaches that could evolve into a participant-led logistics cooperative

More Than Logistics

While the pilot focuses on transport and distribution, it is about far more than just logistics. By connecting farmers with new and existing markets, the project is opening up fresh opportunities for growth in the region. Communities benefit from better access to genuinely local produce, while farmers save time, cut costs, and reduce the inefficiencies of self-delivery.

The scalable pilot also makes use of existing systems, including drivers, vehicles and routes, rather than reinventing the wheel. By improving coordination and collaboration, it reduces duplication, streamlines deliveries, and keeps more value circulating in the local economy.

The pilot currently operates across three weekly distribution loops, connecting the Tablelands to the Coast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. These runs are supported by the resources and staff of Golden Oak Produce. A trial cold-storage ‘hub’ has also been established in Atherton, hosted by the Atherton Food Co-op, to consolidate and store produce before delivery.

In its first week alone, the pilot successfully transported produce from seven different farms, including pineapples, bananas, microgreens, and pumpkins, to a range of destinations. Three small food retailers streamlined their fresh produce deliveries through the system, reducing duplication and showing the potential for greater efficiency. Participation is expected to expand as more growers test the service and new market pathways are established, with numbers projected to grow significantly.

Why It Matters

At its heart, the Collaborative Logistics Pilot is about creating a local food system that works for Far North Queensland. One that values farmers’ time, supports small retailers, and ensures communities have access to genuinely local food grown in the Atherton Tablelands. By tackling the hidden barriers of transport and distribution, this project moves us closer to a resilient, community-led food economy.

The $3 million Atherton Tablelands Integrated Collaboration (ATIC) is jointly funded through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program and Sustainable Table.