Growing Local Food Networks Focus of Upcoming Wao Green Drinks Event
As the cost of living continues to rise across the Southern Lakes, more people are looking at practical ways to reduce household pressure while building stronger local connections, with local food resilience emerging as one important part of the conversation.
That conversation will take centre stage at Wao’s upcoming Green Drinks event, Growing Local Food Networks, taking place on Wednesday 17 June at the Armstrong Room, Lake Wānaka Centre.
The evening forms part of Wao’s wider Resilience Response initiative, a community-led response focused on helping the Upper Clutha navigate growing economic, energy, climate and supply chain pressures through stronger local systems, practical action, and community connection.
The Green Drinks event will explore how distributed local food network models could play an important role in strengthening resilience across the region.
“Food resilience isn’t just about growing more food, it’s about rebuilding local relationships, skills, knowledge and systems that help communities support one another during times of disruption and uncertainty.”, says Babu Blatt, project lead for Wao's Food Resilience programme.
The evening will introduce three emerging community-led initiatives:
Kai Connect — small decentralised local food networks connecting people already producing food in different ways
Carb Club — collaborative local growing of staple carbohydrate crops
Seedling Cooperative — community coordination around growing and sharing seedlings
Bannockburn local Nita Smith will share insights from helping establish a Seedling Cooperative in her community, including what the group has learned so far through creating stronger local growing connections.
The event will also include contributions from local hunters, fishers and foragers, highlighting the diverse ways people across the region already participate in local food systems. If you are a local fisher, hunter or forager, Wao would love to hear from you and invite you to share your experiences, knowledge and insights around harvesting food in our region.
Unlike a traditional panel discussion, the evening is designed around participation and connection. Adding to the connection theme, the night will include informal networking rounds that will help attendees discover shared interests, complementary skills, and opportunities for collaboration within their own communities.
The event comes as conversations around resilience continue to grow across the Southern Lakes, following Wao’s recent Resilience Response work exploring how global instability including fuel shocks, supply chain disruptions and climate-related pressures can increasingly affect everyday life in local communities.
Recent research highlighted by Wao’s food resilience report has shown the Southern Lakes currently imports the vast majority of its food, leaving the region vulnerable to external disruptions. Initiatives like Kai Connect aim to strengthen local capability by helping communities rediscover and reconnect the food skills, resources and relationships already present within the region.
Whether people grow vegetables, keep chickens, hunt, fish, forage, preserve food, or are simply curious about becoming more food resilient, organisers say everyone is welcome.