Ronni Kahn AO, the founder of a food rescue organisation that diverts tonnes of potential food waste to people in need, will join a panel discussion on sustainable agriculture and food security at The University of Western Australia next Thursday 25 August.

The founder and CEO of OzHarvest was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for her social impact enterprise, which supports people while also helping the environment.

She will share the webinar panel with Dr Caitlin Moore, a Research Fellow at UWA’s School of Agriculture and Environment, Dr Ben Cole, managing director of Wide Open Agriculture and I-Lyn Loo from the Wheatbelt Development Commission.

Ms Kahn said while more than five million Australians experienced food insecurity in the past year, about $36.6 billion of food was wasted.

“One of the biggest problems facing us is how to feed the world’s growing population while we’re simultaneously destroying our planet to produce the food we need,” Ms Kahn said.

“We are all part of the solution and that means governments, business and the community all have a role to play.” 

Dr Moore said many factors were making food insecurity a major global issue.

“Unfortunately, we're already getting a taste for how food security can be affected by climate change and other factors such as food shortages linked to COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and floods along Australia's east coast,” Dr Moore said.

“As climate change brings more extreme and variable weather events, we are likely to experience more frequent food shortages.”

Dr Cole said his company supported regenerative food production, a system that tackled climate change and improved biodiversity.

“The food and farming sector can sequester carbon into soil and trees, and reduce emissions through regenerative farming practices, local supply chains and packaging decisions,” Dr Cole said.

Bookings for Sustainable food systems: food production & security in a changing climate here.