Our Team

Lydia Mofakhami is the Regional Food Activation Officer based at Baw Baw Food Hub in Warragul, Gippsland.

Lydia’s work life has been a journey from being a national retail buyer, through family and farming on 85 acres in Gippsland with 300 breeding ewes and 170 organically managed fruit trees, while being a commercial cook.

Transitioning from buyer to primary producer, as well as commercial end user has given her an understanding of the key points of our supply chains. Quality in every stage of our food production is so critical, and the current work in evolving of a fair food market is what will help us grow the diversity and ingenuity we need within our industry for the best possible outcomes.

Lydia sees her role at Open Food Network as growing more sustainable connections between our producers and customers, to explore opportunities, to constantly learn and share how to grow the hub and to find new ways to support this amazing food web we live in.

She has been a member of her local food hub for many years and thinks it is shared experience and open communication that brings understanding, and delivers a sustainable outcome for all parties concerned, particularly in a food market where supermarkets have been running a price war for decades, where imports blur the seasons and food has been more about price than quality.

Lydia thinks that real food made and grown by real people means more now than it ever did, especially after the food security lessons we learned though the past year of Covid panic driven shortages. This is particularly relevant in our country regions where local food hubs can promote and support local producers, and help re-connect people with the food we grow right here. They can see the growers drop off their latest crop, see the soil still on the veg, have a chat and understand their connection to this living web of food and families that surrounds them.