About Green Thumb Farm
Green Thumb Farm is an educational community farm and nursery dedicated to empowering people to grow fruit, vegetables, and herbs, compost food waste, and enjoy healthy, seasonal, locally grown food.
Our Strategic Plan aligns with the Qld Government strategic directions:
- Queensland Obesity Prevention Strategy 2023-2032
- Making Healthy Happen Action Plan 2024-2026
- Queensland Organics Action Plan 2022-2032
- Queensland Climate Action Plan Australia’s Disability Strategy
- 2022-2032 Queensland Climate Action Plan
Our Strategic Plan aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on:
- Goal 2: Zero Hunger - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
- Goal 13: Climate Action - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Did you know?
While research shows that healthy food choices are the cornerstone of good health and well-being, contributing to longer lives and less chronic disease, only 3.5% of Australian children, and 7.8% of adults eat the recommended amount of vegetables each week. (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2023.)
19 percent of global food system greenhouse gas emissions are caused by transportation. Fruit and vegetables require a temperature controlled environment and their emissions are even higher than other foods. (Dr Mengyu Li et al, 2022)
Our Solution for People
When people connect positively with food growing - touching, smelling, and seeing how food is grown - they make more empowered food choices, children grow into healthier adults and communities grow more resilient.
Our Solution for Planet
When people increase their consumption of local, seasonal food, discover local farms, and grow some of their own produce, small shifts occur that help relocalize our food systems. These changes lead to better long-term environmental outcomes.
In A Nutshell
Green Thumb Farm is a Not for Profit educational community farm conveniently located in the picturesque Samford Valley, only 35mins from the CBD of Brisbane.
Our Mission
To connect children, families and vulnerable groups with growing and eating seasonal, locally grown food, while fostering sustainable farming practices.
Our Impact and Reach
Community Building
- Farm Helper Programs
- Farmers Markets
- Educational workshops
Outreach Programs
- Families (0-5 years)
- School children (6-18 yrs)
- People living with disability
One Farm, Many People
- City of Moreton Bay
- North Brisbane
- Brisbane City
Our Strategic Direction 2024 - 2026
PILLAR ONE
Health and Wellbeing
Our programs empower people to connect with how food is grown leading to better health choices which lowers incidence of chronic diseases, overweight and obesity.
PILLAR TWO
Food Security
Our programs teach people to grow food sustainably which increases food security, food sovereignty, and local community resilience.
PILLAR THREE
Sustainability
Our programs showcase composting, regenerative farming principles and encourage locally grown food choices which lead to better climate outcomes.
What makes our Approach Unique?
- Green Thumb Farm is an established beautiful and inspiring organic farm, showcasing locally grown food, with close proximity to densely populated areas of wider Brisbane.
- Our educational farm model is a cost effective, innovative public health intervention that could be replicated in other areas and target a large cohort of the population through different programs at the one farm.
- Our Management and Leadership Team has combined experience in public health, organic farming, environment, law, and business, and committed to social and environmental change, and committed to evidence based approaches.
- As a registered charity with the ACNC and a certified social enterprise, our commitment to social change and financial transparency is of the highest standard.
Partnerships and Collaborations
We welcome partnerships with organisations committed to health and environment, eager to collaborate and leverage resources to improve the health and wellbeing of families, children, and vulnerable groups across the wider Brisbane area, and be part of better climate solutions.
Financial support from philanthropic, government, and private sectors will enable us to establish a sustainable operational model, resulting in more community initiatives, enhancing accessibility, and scaling the impact of our work.
We are actively seeking partnerships with research institutions to contribute to a robust evidence base for our innovative educational farm model. This cost-effective and powerful intervention has the potential to be replicated in other areas. We are committed to sharing our learnings, including what hasn't worked, to build on these strong foundations.
Green Thumb Farm Association Inc. is a registered not-for-profit organisation,
an accredited charity with the ACNC, and proudly holds Social Traders Certification.
