Executive Summary
Food insecurity has three key components; food access, food availability and food use (1). Gaining access to nutritionally adequate and safe food is the primary outcome associated with food security (2). People experiencing food insecurity struggle immensely to eat the recommended daily servings of breads, cereals, vegetables and fruit. A higher prevalence of food insecurity in Australia has been reported among individuals in remote areas, indigenous people, unemployed people, single parent households, low income earners, rental households and young people (3). Therefore, the implementation of community gardens is an important and necessary measure needed to increase access to a variety of foods such as fruits and vegetables. Carney et al (4) found that there was an four-fold increase in vegetable intake among adults and a three-fold increase among children through the implementation of community gardens. Additionally, improvements were found in dietary intake and family relationships. (4). With the help of local and state governments, community Gardens are the preferred policy approach as they are cost effective and …show more content…
On the other hand, food insecurity exists when access to food becomes impossible and can impact individuals, households or whole communities. A survey completed in the 2016 Foodbank report on the Australian public (6) revealed the severity of food insecurity showing 1 in 6 Australians reporting experiencing food insecurity at least once in the last 12 months and over a quarter of those surveyed facing it regularly (6). The majority of those affected, reported to experience food insecurity between 1 to 2 times over the last 12 months. See Figure 1.0 for the frequency of food insecurity as seen in the 2016 Foodbank
Food insecurity has three key components; food access, food availability and food use (1). Gaining access to nutritionally adequate and safe food is the primary outcome associated with food security (2). People experiencing food insecurity struggle immensely to eat the recommended daily servings of breads, cereals, vegetables and fruit. A higher prevalence of food insecurity in Australia has been reported among individuals in remote areas, indigenous people, unemployed people, single parent households, low income earners, rental households and young people (3). Therefore, the implementation of community gardens is an important and necessary measure needed to increase access to a variety of foods such as fruits and vegetables. Carney et al (4) found that there was an four-fold increase in vegetable intake among adults and a three-fold increase among children through the implementation of community gardens. Additionally, improvements were found in dietary intake and family relationships. (4). With the help of local and state governments, community Gardens are the preferred policy approach as they are cost effective and …show more content…
On the other hand, food insecurity exists when access to food becomes impossible and can impact individuals, households or whole communities. A survey completed in the 2016 Foodbank report on the Australian public (6) revealed the severity of food insecurity showing 1 in 6 Australians reporting experiencing food insecurity at least once in the last 12 months and over a quarter of those surveyed facing it regularly (6). The majority of those affected, reported to experience food insecurity between 1 to 2 times over the last 12 months. See Figure 1.0 for the frequency of food insecurity as seen in the 2016 Foodbank