Context
The Clarence Valley is the largest LGA on the NSW North Coast, with approximately 69% rural zoning. As the agri-food powerhouse of the region, the region is home to around 1,000 primary producers, over 3,800 employed across the agri-food economy, and approximately $438 million in output making agriculture the LGA’s largest export sector. The local food network is supported by weekly farmers markets in Grafton and Yamba, the coordinating role of Clarence Valley Food Inc, and an emerging asset in the Brewhouse Village – multi-use precinct on the historic Grafton Brewery site with plans for a brewery, distillery, roastery and food precinct.
The Brewery as a food systems hub, championed by local councillor and farmers market coordinator Debrah Novak and explored during the SIITR25 Food Systems Lab, considers how local growers build value chains, how food shapes regional identity, and how food systems drive economic opportunity and social impact.
What we did
We explored two aspects of the local food supply chain – from growers and producers through to the Brewhouse precinct concept. The conference catering prioritised local produce, and a Food Systems Impact Lab generated engagement at the conference. The precinct concept has not materialised as a sustained initiative. While we were able to highlight and advocate for the sector at the conference and integrate local food into the conference, agriculture has mature systems, established networks, and institutional support that our program could not meaningfully augment with the capacity available.
The learning is that the program’s value proposition is strongest in spaces where connection, clarity, and collaboration are absent — not where established sector infrastructure already provides them. Food systems in the Clarence Valley may benefit from targeted investment, but the kind of relational, readiness-building work that defines our approach was not what was needed.
What shifted
- Clarity and understanding was not significantly shifted because the food systems sector in the Clarence Valley already had relatively strong clarity about its own landscape. The farmers markets are established and visible and the sector’s scale an potential is well understood. The Readiness Index scored information management at 2.3 across the community, but within the food systems domain specifically, the infrastructure for shared understanding already existed. An observation in the Index that the “community are switched off to the conversation and are fatigued and confused by… so many different academic groups working in our region in small pockets to tick their boxes” reflects that the food systems sector did not necessarily need another external voice explaining its own landscape back to it.
- Connection and connectivity was strengthened through the conference with national practitioners and local producers being in the same room during the Food Systems Impact Lab, but this did not translate into sustained local collaboration. The relevant indicator is external connections (baseline 3.1): the conference created boundary-spanning links between the local food sector and national delegates, but the sector’s internal connections were already functioning through existing channels including the farmers markets and producer networks. Idea development pathways (baseline 2.0) were tested through the Brewhouse precinct concept, but the idea did not progress because the concept required a scale of investment and coordination beyond what relational readiness work could provide.
- Capability and capacity was not meaningfully augmented. The food systems sector has mature institutional support through agricultural networks, industry bodies, and government programs that provide the kind of capability infrastructure of workforce skills, organisational sustainability, access to capital that the program builds in sectors where it is absent. The conference catering did prioritise local produce and demonstrated the quality and availability of local food to a national audience.
- Collaboration for purpose was not advanced. The food systems sector has its own collaborative structures and the readiness work did not add a layer of collaboration that was missing. This reflects an important principle of the program to add value in line with what is already happening in contrast to creating something new for the sake of additional activity. Readiness work is most impactful where enabling conditions are underdeveloped, not where functioning systems already exist.
- Advocacy and promotion was the area of strongest, though still limited, contribution. The conference provided a platform for local food to be experienced by 219 national delegates, acting as a form of promotion (baseline 2.8) for the sector that it would not have generated independently at that scale. The Food Systems Impact Lab gave Debrah and local producers visibility in a national forum. But sustainable advocacy requires ongoing structure, and no advocacy mechanism was created beyond the conference moment.
The readiness conditions for this focus area were not weak in the way that other focus areas were. The opposite: the existing systems were mature enough that our intervention added limited value. This is a finding, not a failure.
What’s forming (impact)
- Economic: No sustained economic impact has formed from the Food Systems focus area. The Clarence Valley’s agri-food economy operates through established market structures, supply chains, and institutional support. Relevant indicators including connections with the regional economy, locally owned businesses, and diverse economic structure are already functioning through existing channels. The Brewhouse precinct concept, if it materialises through its own pathway, would contribute to inward investment and business cooperation indicators, but this is independent of the readiness work.
- Social: The farmers markets already serve social functions that map to several indicators, including place attachment and sense of community pride, volunteerism and civic engagement, and collective memories through the weekly rhythm of market life. The readiness work did not add to these. The conference catering created a shared experience for delegates around local food, but this is a conference outcome rather than a community-level social impact.
- Individual: Debrah Novak gained visibility through the Impact Lab and conference platform, contributing to her individual capability and confidence in advocating for the sector. This is a modest individual impact for a leader who was already highly capable and connected within her domain.
- Institutional: No institutional impact has formed. The Brewhouse precinct concept represents a potential institutional development of a multi-use food systems hub, but it has not progressed through the readiness work. Clarence Valley Food Inc continues its coordinating function independently.
- Infrastructure: No infrastructure impact has formed from this initiative. The Brewhouse Village represents potential multi-functionality of spaces and facilities, but its development is proceeding through its own pathways independent of the readiness engagement.
- Environmental: No direct environmental impact has formed, though the food systems sector inherently engages with environmental indicators including resource management, agricultural productivity, and biodiversity through its existing operations. A more targeted engagement with environmental sustainability in local food systems could activate these indicators, but it was beyond the scope and capacity of the readiness work.
