In this episode we hear from Vanessa, a food lover, avid (beginner) gardener, fellow Master of Sustainability student and employee at an independent food retailer. Vanessa is part of their graduate program working on sustainability, responsible supply chains, and product development. Her professional interest is how we can make fair, sustainable, and nutritious food systems accessible for all.
We talk about the impacts of COVID from a supermarket’s perspective, as well as the cascading shocks of drought, bushfire and flood, farm labour shortages, the supermarket landscape in Australia, imperfect veg, the cost of cheap food and sustainable sourcing. You can find Vanessa on Instagram.
You can find us at onebitepod.com and @onebitepod across social media.
Links to things mentioned in the episode: Malcolm Knox Supermarket Monsters, ACCC Perishable agricultural goods inquiry, ACCC Supermarket Taskforce, Sen. Janet Rice questions to the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) about the Taskforce.
Updates on the Taskforce:
ACCC responded with the following email: “The ACCC’s inquiry into perishable agricultural goods remains ongoing, its final report to the treasurer isn’t due until 30 November 2020. Any public updates that may be made can be found on our media releases page. The ACCC doesn’t currently have a task force dedicated to supermarkets. Any public information about the ACCC’s actions be found on our website.”
New fair trading law needed to enhance Australia’s perishable agricultural markets Media release 10 December 2020
The office of a Senator responded with the following: “Unfortunately, beyond the information you’ve already come across, we’re not aware of much more that’s publicly available. I’ve put a few links below on this that may be helpful, but it may also reflect the fact that the Department hasn’t published much information on the topic.”
(Links provided: ACCC, National Coordination Mechanism, Parliament of Australia)
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