Launceston is located at the heart of Northern Tasmania, a diverse agricultural region in Australia’s only island state. With its 993 farm businesses and 44 percent of Tasmania’s farmland, Launceston’s heritage is based on being one of Australia’s food bowls. A vibrant hub for food, wine and culture, Launceston is the gateway to the Tamar Valley and Northern Region brimming with vines and artisanal producers and accounts for 60% of the state’s wine producing area. The city and region converge around fermentation. Boags Brewery and Tas Flour Mills have dominated Launceston’s skyline since the late 1800’s. There are over 100 food and beverage manufacturers and fermenters, employing over 1,900 people and worth USD 525 million to the local economy. Over 200 independent cafes, food vans and restaurants, employ over 4,000 people in the region. Launceston has a strong creative industries sector employing 27,329 and contributing nearly USD 50 million per year into the local economy in the form of wages. Overall, Northern Tasmania has an international reputation for the quality of its food and beverages. The region’s most outstanding assets in the field include a food innovation hub in Fermen Tasmania as well as national food research capacity through the Centre for Food Innovation, Testlab 4.0 and a Microwave Assisted Thermal Sterilization Unit and international recognition for its sparkling wines.
As a Creative City of Gastronomy, the following steps will be important:
- Establishing a global fermentation collaboration that will support a diverse community of artisanal food and drink makers, creating foods with longer shelf life that are more delicious and more nutritious and feed more people, reducing food waste and generate green energy, inviting chefs from the Network to workshops that use fermentation techniques and fermented produce to create innovative menus;
- Improving food literacy and accessibility for better quality of life;
- Sharing learnings on how to divert food waste from landfill through circular economy initiative; and
- Encouraging participation from other Creative Cities of Gastronomy in the event ‘agriCULTURED’ to connect on common themes, challenges and opportunities that will add value to food businesses, communities and common health and well-being.
