Opinion: Why now’s the perfect time to rediscover your “why”

Instead, Food Connect would look to pay farmers the true ecological cost of their product, taking into account everything that it takes for a farm operate or function – including paying wages, holiday pay, costs of training ie. land management practices, and more basic operational costs that farmers have to encounter. That’s how they would set their prices. 

“The second principle was about farmers knowing where their products were going – who was eating them,” Pekin says. 

“As a dairy farmer, that void in my life was really big. I had no idea where my product was going or what it was being turned into, which made it difficult to stay passionate.

“And the third principle was that Food Connect would operate like a cooperative, meaning that farmers would have an opportunity to participate in the Food Connect business through transparent practices that allow them to understand pricing and business operations to effectively manage crops and supply levels and associated costs.”

Pekin, having seen the impact of farming on people and the planet first hand, says sustainability was a core focus for the Food Connect business from the get go. 

“The food industry has broad impacts – a lot of them negative. It’s a huge consumer and polluter of water, contributes large amounts of waste, and is associated with land clearing and climate change,” Pekin says. 

“With Food Connect, we look at preventative action rather than addressing the symptoms. So we’re looking at the root cause of environmental issues and use a holistic framework to lower our impact.”

Pekin says that the business follows a triple bottom line framework to ensure that sustainability is baked into the business – covering people, planet and profits. 

For small business owners that are wondering how they can take a similar approach in their businesses, Pekin says there’s inspiration everywhere, you just need to know where to look. 

“There’s so much out there, just look at what you read and what you see on TV, and try to find a value-based alignment for your business,” he says. 

“So you might watch ABC’s War on Waste and think, ok, how can I lower the waste output from my business? Or maybe you have an association with a certain disability and want to create a more inclusive future for people living with disability.

“I spoke to someone who runs a lawn mower business recently and they asked how they could be socially responsible. In their case it was starting with the supply chain of their product. 

“When you give people agency to look into what they could get excited about, they’ll never look back. More doors will open. It becomes a smorgasbord of opportunities for change.” 

While Food Connect has seen huge growth in 2020 (the business’s operations quadrupled thanks to local support and an uptake in food delivery demand), Pekin says now they’re looking to decelerate. 

“We’re using the next 12 months to restump the business. Look at our fundamentals. Take some time to look carefully at every aspect of our business,” he says. 

“There’s not much point being a circular economy business if you’re not being circular internally – I’m talking about equality, diversity, women’s rights etc. The two go hand in hand. 

“We’re using this opportunity to take a reset. It’s time for operation refresh.”