Food for People and Planet is the newest focus area for Coolaroo Foundation, led by board director, Olivia Hicks.
31 JULY 2026. By Olivia Hicks, Board Director
I grew up in the Southern Highlands, on Gundungurra country, on our beloved family farm, Coolaroo. It was a blessed childhood. I was surrounded by nature, animals and a wonderful regional community. I have a deep love for the Australian landscape, and a huge amount of respect for the farming families and regional communities who produce the food that ends up on our tables.
That background is a big part of why this cause area matters so much to me.
A chance to do even better
“I believe we can build a food system that is better for people, for farmers, for animals and for the ecosystems we all depend on.”
I also grew up seeing, first-hand, how much pressure the land and regional communities are under. I've come to understand how much our food system contributes to that pressure, and that it can do better.
I believe we can build a food system that is better for people, for farmers, for animals and for the ecosystems we all depend on.
There is room to improve in three areas:
Our climate and biodiversity. Australia is one of the highest meat-consuming countries in the world.[1] Agriculture accounted for 18.2% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions in 2022-23, mostly methane from livestock.[2] Agriculture is also the main driver of land clearing, which has been implicated in the listing of 60% of Australia's threatened species.[3]
Our health. Poor diet is one of the leading risk factors for ill health in Australia, both directly and as a driver of overweight and obesity. In 2024, dietary risks accounted for 4.8% of the total disease burden, behind overweight and obesity (8.3%) and tobacco use (7.6%).[4] The biggest dietary contributors were too few legumes, too much sodium, too few wholegrains and high-fibre cereals, and too much red meat.[4]
The animals. Globally, more than 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for meat each year,[5] and an estimated 1.1 to 2.2 trillion wild fish are caught and killed each year.[6] While Australia scores poorly on animal welfare laws and policies (receiving a D in World Animal Protection's 2020 Animal Protection Index),[8] many Australian farmers care deeply about the animals in their care, and there is more we can do together to strengthen standards across the system.
What this means for the Coolaroo Foundation
We want to support food systems that work for everyone. That means systems that:
deliver healthy, delicious and accessible nutrition to everyone
protect and regenerate our natural environment
take climate change and emissions reduction seriously
support good animal welfare and the ecosystems we depend on
What the evidence is telling us
Rebalancing our protein sources and shifting towards more plant-rich diets and food systems is one of the most promising levers we have for a food system that works for people and planet. Global evidence supports this: the EAT-Lancet Commission found that healthy diets that are largely plant-based, with modest amounts of animal-source foods, can improve health while keeping food production within planetary limits.[7]
Australian data point the same way: low legume intake is the largest dietary contributor to disease burden,[4] and livestock methane makes up most of agriculture's emissions.[2] Where animal products are part of the picture, we want to see them produced to regenerative, low-emissions and high-welfare standards. We also see opportunities for regional communities, including farmers and growers of pulses, grains and other crops, and want to hear their views on what a fair transition could look like.
Approaching this with humility
This is a new and exploratory area for the Foundation, and we're approaching it with humility. We want to listen, learn, and find the places where we can genuinely add value as a funder.
We are excited about what is possible. We want Australia to have a food future we can be proud of: one that nourishes people, backs the farmers and communities who feed us, protects the land, reduces animal suffering, and leaves room for nature to thrive.
That's what this focus area is about.
Sources
1. Our World in Data, Meat supply per person (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, data to 2023).
2. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Reducing emissions (National Greenhouse Accounts, 2022-23).
3. Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, State of the Environment 2021, Land: pressures from industry.
4. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024: Key findings.
5. Our World in Data, Land animals slaughtered for meat (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2023).
6. Mood A and Brooke P (2024), Estimating global numbers of fishes caught from the wild annually from 2000 to 2019, Animal Welfare.
7. Willett W et al. (2019), Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems, The Lancet 393(10170): 447-492.
8. RSPCA Australia, 12 March 2020, Australia slips further down international animal welfare ranking (reporting World Animal Protection's Animal Protection Index).
