What is the Urban Agriculture Forum?
The Urban Agriculture Forum (UAF) is a bi-annual event hosted by Sustain: the Australian Food Network. In 2021 it was held on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, in Melbourne, and in 2023 it will be held in Redfern, Sydney, at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, on the lands of the Gadidal people of the Eora Nation.
This year Sustain is excited to co-host the event in Sydney with the help of our partners Community Gardens Australia, City of Sydney and the Royal Botanic Gardens NSW Community Greening.
Our 2021 Forum attracted over 200 policy makers, practitioners, innovators and institutions interested in urban agriculture, edible gardens, food policy and more.
This year’s inspiring agenda is evolving fast and features a number of innovative local and international urban agricultural practices including groundbreaking new research, policy and practice in the field.
So far our stellar line up of international and local guest speakers include Rabekha Siebert from the City of Dallas and Bjorn Low, Director of Community Projects, Edible Garden City, Singapore.They will be joined by Linda Lipsius, CEO of Denver Urban Gardens.
Day three of the Forum is brimming with activity as we run urban farm tours across dynamic urban farms in Sydney, always an incredible opportunity to build networks and learn how budding urban gardeners are rocking this city through innovation and fresh, collaborative partnerships.
Attendees will explore urban agriculture initiatives in Australia and beyond and the positive impact they have on our community’s health, wellbeing and prosperity.
Meet our Urban Agriculture Forum 2023 speakers
This year we’re excited to confirm a number of brilliant keynote speakers including:
- Rabekha Siebert, City of Dallas’ Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan Manager, works collaboratively to facilitate partnerships and develop a collective vision across diverse sets of stakeholders to promote building a resilient food system in the Dallas region. Rabekha is committed to regenerative agriculture models that serve the triple bottom line; people, planet, and profitable livelihood and will share their city’s journey to become more sustainable through urban agriculture initiatives across their city.
- Bjorn Low, Director of Edible Garden City in Singapore to share their story driving edible gardening and community farming in Singapore.
- Wee Meng, Director/community projects from Nparks, an agency dedicated to transforming Singapore into a City in Nature. They are the lead agency for Singapore’s greenery, biodiversity conservation and wildlife and animal health, welfare and management.
- Linda Lipsius, CEO, Denver Urban Gardeners, from Colorado USA, is a self-described “evangelist for using business as a force for good”. Linda is working to amplify the robust role that community gardens and food forests can play in the infrastructure of thriving cities. Started in 1978, DUG is one of the country's largest independent community garden organizations with 192 gardens and 6 food forests across 6 counties in metro Denver accounting for 34 acres greened, 650,000 lbs of food grown (of which 10% is donated), 17,500 gardeners and over 40,000 people impacted through DUG's garden, education, food access and volunteer programs.