About us
Sovereign Foods is a community built, employee-run social enterprise created to support community food systems based on transparency, sustainability and self-determination.
For all the details about us, where we started and how we developed, please refer to our Sovereign Foods Origins story.
For a brief overview, please read on...
Our work began in food co-operatives and bulk buying groups in Brisbane trying to source local, ethical and sustainable produce with our friends and families.
Finding quality staple foods through organic wholesalers was often disappointing, as most of the produce was coming through global supply chains with minimal transparency.
Our frustration led us to start talking to Australian growers directly, in the hope of sourcing from people instead of a faceless supply chain with little to no connection to those growing our food.
Once we began to look, we found many small and medium scale family owned farms around the country producing a great diversity of crops.
We started taking this produce to a market stall at West End, and realised that people beyond our direct networks were searching for the same thing.
The response from the community was humbling, and with the support of those around us we were able to set up a base of operations in a warehouse in Moorooka.
Our mission is to put people, ethics and sustainability at the heart of Australia's food system. We aim to contribute to the health of local communities: economically, socially, and environmentally.
We do this by:
• Supporting smallholder farmers with roots in their community, growing food in an ecologically sustainable manner;
• Creating avenues for people to access this food affordably; and
• Helping to develop vibrant, transparent local food networks.
Sovereign Foods was created in support of the food sovereignty movement, ascribing to the values that we, as food eaters, have the right to define our own food system. We choose to exclusively purchase from local farming families to ensure you know who grew your food and how they grew it so you have a choice in what you eat.
Photos
Top: Steve and Thor in earlier market days
Bottom: Team Sovereign Foods (some of us) in June 2024.
Left to right: Nick, Steve, Dani, Tara, Thor & Elly.