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Helping kids change their future, and the world

It’s not often a Moment of Help comes in the form of a fresh bunch of bright green lettuce, basil, tatsoi or baby leaf spinach. But that’s exactly what help looks like for the kids at Wellington Public School on the Central Western Slopes of New South Wales on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people.

Thanks to Nigel McLean, project co-ordinator for Food Ladder, a small Australian not-for-profit with the goal of empowering disadvantaged communities as well as schools through food and economic security, those fresh vegetables are changing their future.  

Food Ladder installs hydroponic, climate-controlled greenhouses in some of the remotest communities in Australia and Nigel teaches kids how to use them to produce armloads of crunchy, delicious, vitamin-packed vegetables.

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ABC: Cost of Living Crisis Forcing Remote Regions to Give up Fresh Produce

Jennifer Doecke used to spend $200 on a trolley of food but that only buys two bags now.

Food Ladder is directly addressing this problem with our hydroponic greenhouses supplying fresh fruit and vegetables to families in remote Australia.

“Few Australians are immune from the rising cost of living but in remote communities, the price of some staple items means they are fast becoming a luxury. 

Continue reading “ABC: Cost of Living Crisis Forcing Remote Regions to Give up Fresh Produce”
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Food Ladder Featured on Hortidaily

“We need to get back to the training and education outside of the classroom.” Scott McDonald, Food Ladder Horticulture and Training Manager

The educational program trying to develop the next generation of horticulture workers

An Australian non-profit organization has established learning programs aimed at increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables among children and providing a pathway for students to take up jobs in horticulture.

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Scott McDonald from Food Ladder Featured on Fresh Plaza Website

“We need to get back to the training and education outside of the classroom.” Scott McDonald, Food Ladder Horticulture and Training Manager

The educational greenhouse programs developing the next generation of horticulture workers

An Australian not for profit organisation has established learning programs, not only aimed at increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables among children but also providing a pathway for students to take up jobs in horticulture.

Continue reading “Scott McDonald from Food Ladder Featured on Fresh Plaza Website”
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Resimac partners with Food Ladder for schools project

The non-bank lender has partnered with Food Ladder to roll-out a multi-school fresh food sustainability initiative throughout Australia.

Resimac has launched a partnership with not-for-profit Food Ladder to support it in its mission to provide horticulture, food security and nutritional education to schools in remote, regional and disadvantaged communities.

Food Ladder delivers this work by providing communities with hydroponic greenhouses and specialised training so they can grow fruit and vegetables, and set up their own social enterprises should they so wish.

Continue reading “Resimac partners with Food Ladder for schools project”
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An Update from Food Ladder

Well, 2021 certainly has been an ‘interesting’ year thus far.

Where ever you are in the world, all of us at Food Ladder hope you and your family are keeping well. Despite the COVID outbreaks and border shutdowns around Australia, we at Food Ladder have been resilient thanks to our staff being spread across the nation and a robust rollout strategy underway. While we have had to pivot from time to time to adjust to the changing conditions, we are on track to deliver seven Food Ladder school systems before the end of the year which is a testament to the hard work and resilience of our fabulous team.

Today, Nigel McLean, our Program Manager is building the Food Ladder system in the remote WA community of Leonora. Leonora Primary School was the winner of Food Ladder’s National School Competition which amassed applications from over 50 schools in remote communities in Australia, all of whom noted a serious need for fresh, locally grown produce. We would like to thank our judges Paris Neilson, Alexandra Giles and Candice Van Doosselaere for their time and careful consideration of the applications.Profiled in The Australian newspaper,  Indigenous Affairs reported, Paige Taylor said:

“Children in the West Australian outback town of Leonora are about to make radical change to the way their town gets its food.The desert center 830km northeast of Perth will grow its own produce – part of a quiet national movement to change Australia’s response to the dearth of fresh, healthy and affordable food in remote communities.”You can watch the winning video application from Leonora here. We look forward to keeping you up to date with the progress of this exciting project, and the outcomes from all the wonderful communities receiving Food Ladder systems in our rollout across Australia.

Enjoy reading this update on what we have been up to and as always a huge thank you to our supporters, Chris Cuffe, Duncan Saville, Jane and Andrew Clifford, Paris Neilson and our corporate partners Norton Rose Fulbright, Melrose Health and Resimac. We could not achieve this level of impact without you.

Warm regards,

Kelly, Alex, Tate, Scott, Nigel, India and Lucy.
Continue reading “An Update from Food Ladder”
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Budding green thumbs till red soil to stop the rot

Story by PAIGE TAYLOR, INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, The Australian

Link to article in The Australian.

Children in the West Australian outback town of Leonora are about to make radical change to the way their town gets its food.

The desert centre 830km northeast of Perth will grow its own produce – part of a quiet national movement to change Australia’s response to the dearth of fresh, healthy and affordable food in remote communities.

It is a program run by Food Ladder, a not-for-profit which has previously put in place agritech systems in some of the harshest environments in the world, including in Bhutan and India.

Continue reading “Budding green thumbs till red soil to stop the rot”
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Using bush medicine for ‘true healing’ of mental health

Banatjarl Strongbala Wimun Grup are offering traditional healing via bush medicine to struggling young Indigenous people. Photo: Tom Robinson, Katherine Times.

Banatjarl Strongbala Wimun Grup have launched a garden of traditional Jawoyn bush foods and medicines to offer “true healing” to young Indigenous people struggling with their mental health.

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Food Ladder responds to Inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote indigenous communities

On 30 June 2020 Food Ladder provided a detailed response and recommendations to the Federal Government Inquiry into food prices and food security in remote Indigenous communities.

The Food Ladder solution focuses on local, sustainable production of nutritious food. Please refer to this link for the full submission.

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Lucy Payne from Food Ladder on The Start Up Daily show on AusBiz

Lucy Payne the Culinary Health Manager at Food Ladder was live on Start Up Daily this week to share how Food Ladder is providing remote and regional communities with the tools to stop hunger and malnourishment through hydroponic greenhouses and specialised training to produce their own locally-grown fruit and vegetables. 


Start Up Daily showcases cutting edge digital innovation that is taking on and changing the world from Australia and we’re grateful to be featured to share more about how Food Ladder works. 

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New CEO for Melrose Group

Nathan Cheong has worked in the complementary medicine industry for more than 20 years. He joins Melrose Group as CEO in September 2021. (Source: Melrose Group)

http://www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au/news/new-ceo-for-melrose-group

Australian health food company Melrose Group has appointed a new CEO to lead Melrose Health and Orchard Wellbeing Foods.

Nathan Cheong has worked in the complementary medicine industry for more than 20 years, most recently as CEO of LifeSpace Group. He is a degree qualified naturopath and medical herbalist and has worked for Vita Life Sciences, Blackmores BioCeuticals, and Designs for Health (USA).

Continue reading “New CEO for Melrose Group”