Months after announcing its exit from food science research, CSIRO has released a regional food system strategy for South East Queensland, calling for coordinated action on supply chains, land use, and food security ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
CSIRO has released the South East Queensland Food System Strategy, a region-wide plan developed with the Council of Mayors South East Queensland (CoMSEQ) that maps priorities across the region’s food supply chain through to and beyond the Brisbane 2032 Games.
The report arrives at a contested moment for CSIRO’s food credentials. The agency proposed cutting up to 52 net roles from its Agriculture and Food division and exiting food ingredient innovation, precision fermentation, microbial technologies, and its national food innovation network.
The SEQ strategy was developed under CSIRO’s food systems research program, which sits within that same division. It builds on CSIRO’s 2025 Towards a State of the Food Systems Report for Australia and is intended as the first in a series of regional updates.
The strategy covers 11 local government areas – Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Noosa, Redland, Scenic Rim, Somerset, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba – and is presented as a replicable model for other Australian food-producing regions.
SEQ generates close to 20 per cent of the value of Queensland’s agricultural production, with the population projected to exceed six million by 2046.
Lead author and CSIRO scientist, Dr Cathy Robinson, said the strategy marked a shift away from fragmented planning toward coordinated, region-wide action.
“Achieving sustainable resilient food goals can’t be achieved with a piecemeal approach.
“If Australia is to achieve reliable, affordable and sustainable food in the decades ahead, we need systems thinking where production, processing, transport, consumption and waste are planned together, not in isolation,” said Robinson.
Robinson said the Games would create an unprecedented temporary surge in food demand requiring deliberate planning from producers and manufacturers.
“With the region’s population projected to exceed six million by 2046, pressure on land, water, infrastructure, and supply chains will intensify and be compounded by global uncertainties and events such as the Games, which will place unprecedented demand on food supply and logistics,” she said.
“Feeding a growing region – and ensuring success for world events like the 2032 Games – won’t happen by accident. It requires deliberate collaboration across the whole food system, from farmers and manufacturers to retailers, councils and consumers.”
Co-author, Dr Peggy Schrobback, said the food system’s value extended well beyond market metrics.
“The food system supports jobs, community wellbeing, cultural identity and people’s access to healthy, nutritious food. Even the most productive regions are vulnerable if supply chains falter or planning is misaligned,” Schrobback said.
CoMSEQ chair, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, said local industries were under growing pressure and strong partnerships across government and industry were critical.
“When people in South East Queensland can easily get fresh food, they’re not just eating well, they’re enjoying the health, jobs and economic benefits that come with it,” Schrinner said.
“We have an incredible opportunity to serve up the best of South East Queensland to the world with Brisbane 2032 on our doorstep, but planning needs to start now to make it happen.”
The strategy identifies three priority areas for immediate action. The first focuses on strengthening SEQ as a resilient food bowl by protecting agricultural land and infrastructure and ensuring affordable, nutritious food access for all residents.
The strategy calls for dynamic, integrated mapping of food production, processing, manufacturing, distribution, retail and consumption, and for tracking cold-chain capacity and input dependencies to strengthen redundancy across supply chains.
The second priority centres on feeding population growth and major events, including the 2032 Games, while building a lasting legacy for local producers.
The strategy recommends integrating SEQ food system goals into Games procurement processes and programs to “strengthen local agri-food business participation and long-term capability building”, and calls for co-design with local, multicultural and Indigenous groups.
The third priority targets building a globally competitive food innovation system. It calls for expanded use of AI-enabled analytics and interoperable data systems across the food supply chain, embedding Indigenous food knowledge in food innovation, and supporting value-added processing aligned with shifting consumer and procurement trends.
On manufacturing capability, the strategy recommends supporting “the development and scaling of goods and services that respond to growing demand for healthy, convenient, low emissions, culturally diverse, and high value foods”.
The strategy takes an explicitly inclusive approach, drawing on input from over 200 participants across industry, grower, community, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, local government and agency groups, including two First Nations roundtables.
The executive summary states the document “is not a plan for a plan, nor a critique from the sidelines” but instead embraces “inclusive innovation, recognising that solutions require creativity and contributions from producers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, consumers, community groups, governments, and investors.”
CSIRO Agri-food System Program of Research director, Larelle McMillan, said the strategy laid a strong foundation for building a more resilient and sustainable regional food system.
“Strengthening food security in SEQ will require ongoing analysis, collaboration, investment and strategic planning,” McMillan said.
The South East Queensland Food System Strategy is available here.
