Food Hub
What is a Food Hub?
A Food Hub is an organisation that sources, distributes, and markets locally produced food, connecting farmers with consumers while supporting the local economy. It ensures fair pricing for farmers, offers fresh, ethically sourced produce to consumers, and strengthens community ties.
Our Food Hub commits to doing just that.
Why connect with our Food Hub?
Our Food Hub is an opportunity for the community to be directly involved in strengthening our local food system. By purchasing organic produce through our Food Hub, sourced from our regenerative farm and other local growers, you help create an ethical, resilient food system that feeds our community now and into the future.
Fresher, tastier, and more nutritious food – All produce is organic, seasonal and locally sourced, travelling fewer kilometres to preserve quality and flavour.
Easy access to high-quality food – A convenient way to buy fresh, seasonal, and ethically sourced produce.
Reduce environmental impact – Reduced packaging, food waste and transport distances lowers environmental impact, while our regenerative farming practices promotes ecological sustainability.
Support local farmers – Ensure fair pricing and help farmers focus on growing rather than marketing.
Boost the local economy – Keep money within the community and create local, ethical jobs.
Build community connection – Links consumers with local producers and fosters a transparent, ethical food system.
Are you a local grower?
We source produce grown with love and passion across the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula, and we’re always looking for more growers and producers to connect with.
Connect with us here.
Workshops, Cooking Experiences & Special Events
Working closely with other parts of Common Ground Project, such as our Staying Grounded program, we welcome the community to our beautiful site for workshops, programs, cooking experiences, and specialised events, while also offering training and employment opportunities. We partner with local food and farming experts who come with a wealth of knowledge and experience in their field, as well as our own staff of farmers, ecologists, educators and foodies.
Our offering can range from permaculture & garden design, to composting, fruit tree pruning, olive harvesting & curing, mushroom growing, bee education & beeswax candle making, as well as more casual celebrations of food including passata parties and cooking experiences using our woodfired oven.
We aim to foster spaces that inspire, educate, empower, connect, knowledge-share, and support ongoing community collaboration. We love sharing our space with people from all backgrounds and points of experience
Community Fund
Our Food Systems Fund is a foundation offering community the opportunity to support initiatives we facilitate across the Food Hub. These initiatives foster equal opportunities within our local food system, as well as access to fresh and healthy produce.
We recognise the urgent need for a more resilient and equitable food system which acknowledges the significant role relationships to land, food and community play in achieving food sovereignty, healthy ecosystems and a thriving social network. Our Food Systems Fund aims to support these understandings in order to reimagine, regenerate and strengthen our food system in the Greater Geelong region.
If you can make a difference, we urge you to consider a contribution.
For transparency, our Fund has currently funded the access to culturally appropriate fresh vegetables at our North Geelong Markets (in collaboration with Cultura).
We Need You!
Please consider donating to our community fund.
Community Veg Box
You can choose to purchase a Community Veg Box designed for someone in need of fresh produce within the community; whether it’s someone you know directly or trust us to donate for you.
For 2023 and 2024, VicHealth funded seven Future Healthy Food Hubs across regional Victoria. It allowed us to play a greater role in strengthening and connecting our local food system.
If you would like to read about the other six hubs, who uniquely offer regional areas their own version of a Food Hub, go here.
We create a more resilient and thriving regenerative food and farming ecosystem in the Surf Coast and Greater Geelong regions, where people have access and are connected to land, food, culture, meaningful work and community.
Benefit for farmers
We aim for the Food Hub to create demand for produce that is environmentally responsible and locally sourced. The region surrounding Freshwater Creek has opportunities for more small-scale food and farming enterprises to be connected by a common space for distribution and sale in the pursuit of a fairer system. If we can reduce the barrier for farmers to sell their local food, including hobby and backyard farmers, greater interest and demand for fresh produce from our region will be generated by the public all year round, thus supporting the growth of small and micro enterprises in the Surf Coast and Greater Geelong regions. If you’re a grower of any sort and scale, please get in touch!
Youth
A component of the partnership with VicHealth is the employment of two Youth Team Members in the Food Hub. This will give four young people aged between 18 and 25 over two years, who have diverse lived experiences an opportunity to be positive leaders and change makers in the local food system. Through designing and operating a resilient and localised food system model, the two young people have the opportunity to work across all the operations of the Food Hub. This includes harvest, packing, logistics, systems and technology, market set-up, customer sales, producer liaison, marketing, workshops and more. They are engaged in training and networks through VicHealth where they can voice ideas and challenges, with the intention of advocating for a better food system within the Food Hub and their wider local community.
Community
We believe we can create stronger, healthier, more economically independent communities through connecting the dots in our local food system. We envision increased social and economic participation of a diverse range of people where anyone and everyone feels welcome to be a part of the Food Hub. This began through engaging the community in dialogue around the design of the Food Hub. We provide a range of engagement programs, workshops, seminars and events across areas of growing, cooking, nutrition, preserving and waste. The Food Hub is a collaboration with the community, where co-designing and co-hosting highlights cultural exchange and celebration through food. Our aim is to create a connected community of equipped and empowered individuals who feel included in the ongoing evolution of a space that is created by the community, for the community.
Thinking About Health
We believe food brings people together, and that access to fresh and affordable food is a basic human right. However, we recognise there are multiple and complex barriers that prevent a range of people living in regional areas from accessing and enjoying healthy, environmentally sustainable, and culturally appropriate food. The Greater Geelong region has an increasing economic and social disparity, where individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds have limited access to the food or community connection that supports their social, physical, mental and cultural health and wellbeing. The Common Ground Food Hub aims to reduce barriers and support people in our community to access, understand and maintain the foundations of a healthy lifestyle.
