Moko Morris

Seeds to Strategies: Emerging Insights into Food Strategy Development in Aotearoa

Across Aotearoa, iwi, hapū, communities, councils and organisations are responding to food insecurity and the vision of food-secure communities through an increasing number of locally developed food strategies. While the national conversation continues to grapple with balancing export priorities and domestic food security, communities are already taking action. Yet there is little shared understanding of what constitutes a food strategy, the different forms these initiatives take, or the role they play in strengthening food security and food sovereignty and how this is measured. This presentation shares emerging findings from mapping food strategies across Aotearoa. It explores the diversity of strategic approaches—including visions, strategies, roadmaps, pledges, declarations, foodshed analyses and action plans—and considers what these reveal about the ways communities are organising around kai. The findings suggest these initiatives are more than planning documents. They can be understood as strategic expressions of tino rangatiratanga, enabling communities to shape their own food futures while responding to local aspirations and challenges. Many draw on Te Ao Māori values and position Te Tiriti o Waitangi as central to collective approaches to kai. They also recognise that food strategies operate within a wider ecosystem where adequate income, affordable housing, environmental health and Indigenous rights are fundamental determinants of food security. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the emerging food strategy landscape in Aotearoa, the confidence to distinguish between different strategic approaches and their purpose, and practical insights into how Indigenous and community-led strategies can strengthen food sovereignty, advance tino rangatiratanga, and contribute to more resilient and equitable food futures.