North Queensland Hub
Supporting First Nations people via accessible regional hubs
Hub Details
The Far North Queensland Hub is one of the five regional hubs within the Indigenous Women in STEM & Entrepreneurship Pathways Project, with the aim of increasing the participation of Indigenous girls and women in the native ag+food industry.
There are a large number of native food businesses and initiatives in the far North Queensland region, however only a low percentage are Indigenous-owned or run. The established network of government agencies, education, industry, and Indigenous community links have developed an innovative business and technology-based initiative to encourage local Indigenous women into the food industry by introducing and expanding knowledge of the native food supply chain.
Hub Projects
Native Food Supply Chain Program
The project is designed to generate an understanding and awareness of the supply chain, including food safety, food science and manufacture. Participants will include Indigenous women located within communities across the Far North Queensland region. There will be range of activities held over 3 days in September 2022, including:
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Visit to Rainforest Bounty farm in Atherton Tablelands, where participants will be involved in discussions in First Nations agriculture, learn about regenerative farming, as well as harvesting and processing Native Australian Fruits.
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2 day food manufacture and business workshops at FNQ Food Incubator, where participants will work in groups to learn about food safety and manufacture, as well as marketing and branding of food products. Each group will produce a native food jam using the principles learned in the workshops.
Program stakeholders
These pilot initiatives were supported by cash and in-kind contributions from multiple stakeholders and also received grant funding from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science Energy and Resources through the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship Round 3 program.
