Robert Pekin

Robert Pekin has experienced setbacks. Many years ago he ran a dairy farm during both drought and rapidly declining farm gate returns for milk. Times were indeed tough. He had to lay off his staff and milk his herd of 310 cows himself, twice a day, every day. During this difficult time he realised he had no connection with the people who drank his milk. Eventually, he had no choice but to walk away from his farm with not much more than the clothes on his back and significant debt. During the next six months he pondered life while living in solitude in the Tasmanian bush. This period of introspection was one of the hardest times in his life.

Upon his re-emergence, Robert came across a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) set up. He quickly recognised that this form of agriculture offered opportunities for a relationship between farmers and those who eat their food. Consequently, he spent the next 12 months working hard to set up his own CSA. Once this community farm was operating successfully Robert travelled, helping other farmers set up CSAs, researching CSAs and advocating for more equitable food distribution systems.

In 2004 with the experience of 9 CSAs behind him and the vision of starting a new type of CSA that would benefit many farmers, Robert embarked on an ambitious project ambitious project which he named Food Connect. His idea was a large, multi-farm CSA that worked across many different farms in a region to supply a variety of produce to subscribers. In the early days this fragile vision relied heavily upon Robert driving around in an old car to deliver fruit and vegetable boxes to people. A lot has changed. Through his persistence and never-say-die attitude, Food Connect has grown to the point where a team of drivers now deliver over 900 boxes each week to subscribers.

Robert acknowledges that Food Connect has come so far due to the combined efforts of many dedicated people. While this is very true, Robert has nonetheless provided vision, leadership and massive inputs of energy to grow Food Connect. He is now looking further afield as Food Connect is being replicated in many other Australian locations. It is highly likely that through his sheer energy and determination this vision will soon become a reality.