Growing The Future: Pakenham Community School Farm and Food Project

This project seeks to enable the development of a Community Farm School initiative to provide structured vocational learning and employment pathways for school students. The project proposes to: - Develop the required infrastructure -Develop vocational pathways in horticulture, agriculture, food and building and construction -Build a community support network for the initiative across local farms, businesses and community members. -Activate the school and farm sites as spaces of community learning, skill building, celebration and connection through volunteering, workshops and events. - Develop resources for use by teachers, students and farmers across Victoria.

Communities across Cardinia Shire are experiencing a range of significant challenges directly linked with the local food system: experiencing rates of obesity 33% higher than the state average, with 95% of residents not consuming the recommended daily amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables despite living within one of Melbourne’s key ‘foodbowl’ areas. As an urban-rural interface council, the Shire is experiencing exponential population growth creating a demand for local employment and training opportunities that are currently not being met. Pakenham lies within one of these urban growth areas, where these pressures are playing out in the education and training options