Brisbane’s flourishing urban farms providing food for thought

Brisbane’s flourishing urban farms providing food for thought

By Liam Taylor  November 19th, 2019

A community-based project converting disused urban spaces into inner-city farms is supporting environmental sustainability and social development.

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A community-based project converting disused urban spaces into inner-city farms is supporting environmental sustainability and social development.

The Mini Farm Project is the thought-child of Nick Steiner, who was inspired to set up a small food garden in his backyard after enrolling in a permaculture design course. After cultivating and harvesting his backyard produce, Nick donated the haul to Caboolture Community Action to support those in need.

The local community took notice and before long what started as a one-man effort had grown into the Mini Farm Project, a social enterprise with a mission to transform under-utilised urban spaces into flourishing inner-city farms. The group creates “garden pods” through land-share programs where volunteers plant vegetables, leafy greens and various herbs. 

When the produce is harvested, everything grown in these urban farms is donated to food charities such as Caboolture Community Action to prepare and distribute meals to those in need. With the group estimating that around four million Australians have experienced food insecurity within the last 12 months, it is certainly a worthy cause.

Today, the Mini Farm Project is run not from Nick’s backyard but from a shared space of 800 square metres in Camp Hill that allows volunteers to grow a substantial amount of produce. The organisation also runs urban farms in Woolloongabba and Spring Hill.

 

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Positive Environment News has been compiled using publicly available information. Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.

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By Liam Taylor

Prior to joining Planet Ark Liam spent his time studying global environmental issues, travelling Southeast Asia on the cheap and working for a sustainable property management company in Bali, Indonesia. Joining the communications team at Planet Ark, he hopes to inspire positive environmental behaviour through effective and positive messaging.

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