A new charitable agriculture project in the New England region of NSW will become a sustainable source of protein products for hunger relief organisation Foodbank.
Project Crowd Herd, led up by Kate Richards, an agriculture consultant and farm manager from Armidale NSW, will set up and manage a sustainable, long term farming and education business that will provide Foodbank with quality protein products such as beef and lamb to distribute to those in need.
Funds will be raised via the crowdfunding platform Start Some Good and will be used to purchase a self-replacing herd of cattle and sheep. Donors (the crowd) will buy the livestock that will be professionally managed by the Crowd Herd team.
This, in turn, will supply Foodbank with a sustainable, ethical lifetime solution to its protein needs, and provide some relief from the fund and resource raising cycle.
“Around ten years ago the board at Foodbank contemplated the possibility of having a constant and self-sustainable supply of meat products, but at the time had no resources to engage with the rural sector. Then six months ago we got a call from Kate out to the blue,” Foodbank CEO, John Webster said.
The project will also provide quality training and employment, industry and sector knowledge, databasing, reporting and best practice information to the broader agricultural community, according to Richards.
