How Bundaberg is responding to food insecurity through connection, creativity, and community-led action
Bundaberg is known for its paddocks, orchards, and produce, a food bowl for Queensland and beyond. Yet for many locals, food insecurity is a very real issue. Rising living costs, limited time, and a loss of practical food skills are all contributing factors. It’s a complex problem, but one that many in our community are stepping up to face together.
At the heart of this work is a growing awareness that food is more than just fuel, it’s something that connects us. It’s how we care for our families, share culture and traditions, and bring people together across neighbourhoods and generations.
A Community-Wide Effort
One of the strongest messages coming out of local conversations is that access to food isn’t an individual issue, it’s a community responsibility. When someone is struggling to feed their family, it’s not a failure of personal budgeting or planning, it’s often a symptom of bigger systems that need to change.
But change doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It can start with the everyday. A shared recipe. A homegrown bag of tomatoes dropped off at a neighbourhood centre. A chat about what’s in season and what is on special at the supermarket.
Moving Beyond Emergency Relief
There’s no doubt that food relief services play a vital role in our community. But many local organisations are now looking beyond the immediate need to address the root causes of food insecurity.
We’re seeing more initiatives that focus on skill-building, dignity, and choice. Projects that help people shop smartly, cook confidently, and understand the food system around them. Others are finding ways to make use of surplus produce or reconnect people to what’s growing locally, whether that’s from a farm gate stall, a community garden, or a neighbour’s citrus tree.
There’s a shift happening. Food is being revalued, not just as a commodity, but as a shared resource. And this shift is bringing together schools, growers, businesses, and volunteers in new and meaningful ways.
A Statewide Initiative, a Local Response
The Feeding Queensland Kids initiative is helping communities like Bundaberg respond to these challenges in a way that is flexible, practical, and grounded in place. Supported by Foodbank Queensland, Secondbite | FareShare, OzHarvest, and the Queensland Government, the initiative doesn’t bring a pre-packaged program. Instead, it provides support and funding for communities to design and deliver their own solutions.
In Bundaberg, that’s meant community gardens, meal-sharing projects, food education programs, and the rekindling of old skills, like preserving produce or cooking with seasonal vegetables in ways that feel fresh and inclusive.
Where to From Here?
The future of food equity in Bundaberg won’t come from one big solution, it’ll come from many small ones, layered together with care and commitment. As a region, we have the knowledge, the networks, and the produce. What we’re building now is the will to share more, waste less, and support each other.
And perhaps most importantly, to remind ourselves that feeding people isn’t charity, it’s community.
If you’re part of a local group, service, school, or business and have an idea that supports food connection or food access in Bundaberg, there are still ways to get involved. Reach out to Feeding Queensland Kids to learn more about the grants and networks available and be part of a local food system that works for everyone.
Learn more about the FOOD: Help Happens here project in Bundaberg.
