Edith Cowan University take to Narrogin, Northam or food security talks

ECU teaching and research scholar Dr Stephanie Godrich said one of the key symptoms of food insecurity within the Wheatbelt was increased cost of living.

"There are certainly extra challenges for people who live in regional areas, food is often more expensive because it has further to travel," Dr Godrich said.

"It puts pressure on all aspects of a person's life.

"In other work I've heard of people saying 'meat is a treat' so those kinds of foods might be an optional extra if there is enough money for it."

In a 2017 essay written by Dr Godrich, research showed that 20.1 per cent of children in the Wheatbelt were classified as food insecure, with one in five children concerned that food would run out before their family could afford to buy more.

In September last year, the university interviewed people to explore ways they can take stock of, and strengthen, the work of food initiative groups already existing in the region and creating cohesion with government.

ECU also wanted to get a better understanding of how people want the region to look in 2027.

"It's not about completely overhauling the great work that they are doing, it's about little tweaks or value-adds that they could make to strengthen their contribution to the bigger picture - healthy food availability and access for everyone," Dr Godrich said.

In place at the moment are initiatives like nutrition education, community gardens and emergency food relief, however Dr Godrich said there was more support that could be offered, and community members had big dreams they'd like to achieve.

"People have been telling us they don't necessarily want to always rely on food coming from Perth or the east coast, they want to see food that is locally grown for them in their region," she said.

"They said they wanted to see community gardens extend to a much larger capacity in terms of market gardens, so they can produce larger volumes of food to feed more people."

During last year's focus group, it was expressed that people wanted partnerships between local shops and schools, access to imperfect produce and culturally appropriate emergency food relief.

Also part of the community vision was a greater connection to traditional foods, through culture and land, as well as moving towards a decentralised food distribution network.

Continuing on from the discussion last September, this week's focus group will be about practical ways of bringing the vision to life.

"We would love to talk to people about how they could see their projects or programs strengthened," Dr Godrich said.

"We're going to come back to the vision we mapped out and asking what is the gap?

"Where is there a disconnect between what is currently happening and where people want to go?

"What ideas for programs and services do people see or have in mind that could fill that gap and connect them to that vision?"

ECU's Food Action Groups aims to identify what the perceptions around local food problems are.

There was discussions around examples from similar food security models which have existed in the likes of the United Kingdom, United States and Canada for many years.

"We'd love to know the community's response to these ideas or activities that other countries are implementing and ask if they would want to see similar things happening here," Dr Godrich said.

"And if so, who would be involved, how would we do it best?

"It's about asking how do we move to a governance model that can prioritise food and looking at making sure everyone has access to healthy, affordable food in the region."

For more information, email j.doe@ecu.edu.au