Supporting Brisbane's Bulk Buyers Co-ops
With the generous supported from the Ubuntu Foundation, FCF hosted a number of workshops, resources and tools to help more individuals and communities to start and maintain their own bulk buyers clubs, as well as a number of activities to build awareness for more connected, robust food systems.
What happens in a buyers club?
Members gather on a regular (or semi-regular) basis to share, swap and connect. The groups back the belief that communities have an important role to play in building resilient food systems and encouraging healthy place-based connections with others.
Running like a smaller, and often more tightly knit co-op they help to enhance:
- Social collaboration and community bonds
- Understanding of local food systems, circular economies and reducing waste and plastics
- Homesteading and preserving skills
- Autonomy and agency in designing what their community wants
- A sense of purpose and participation
- Nutritional literacy
They also serve to democratise the food system, making high-quality, healthy fresh food more accessible across the community, while fairly rewarding the farmers and makers behind it (both socially and financially). Buyers Clubs become a key part of the social fabric for their members. Many have told us that joining one has helped them find a sense of belonging in a new city, overcome isolation during COVID, or open their eyes to a new admiration for regional farmers and more.