Farewell to Miranda: Celebrating a time of transition at Melbourne Farmers Markets
21 years! That’s how long Melbourne Farmers Markets has been running under the vision, drive and dedication of founder & community food leader, Miranda Sharp. Having completed the transition to our new CEO Anne Duncan, now is the time for MFM to reflect on Miranda's legacy.
And what a ride it’s been to deliver weekly farmers’ markets across Melbourne, supporting hundreds of farming and food businesses for all that time. Miranda ensured that Melbourne Farmers Markets set a high bar early and remained at the leading edge of our sector in the local food system; directly connecting Victorian farmers with Melbourne’s urban communities.
From the establishment of Melbourne’s first farmers market at the Collingwood Children’s Farm in 2002, Miranda was instrumental in designing and implementing a successful shared management model for accredited farmers markets at Veg Out, Gasworks, and Abbotsford Convent.
Always looking for a bigger impact for Victorian producers, Miranda studied models of farmers markets from all over the world. She concluded that regular access, consistency, and running markets come rain, hail or heatwave was crucial to success.
In 2014, MFM formalised as a not-for-profit social enterprise, and was able to scale with robust governance in place. From here, the hugely successful Coburg, Carlton and Alphington weekly farmers markets were born.
Miranda’s vision embraced partnership with the local food sector. Her drive delivered the Alphington Community Food Hub, transforming an inner urban former council tip into a thriving community space. This space has supported and connected many social enterprises, start-ups and charities. Urban and regional food producers are at its heart.
The challenges have been huge. In the COVID years this involved juggling ever-changing government regulations and maintaining compliance and safety across hundreds of public events. At every stage, Miranda showed her strength as an adaptive leader, always at the forefront of advocacy, persuading government to support the industry, and highlighting the importance of farmers’ markets to the community.
MFM became a founding partner of the social enterprise collective Moving Feast to help reduce COVID impacts on the hospitality sector and vulnerable communities of Victoria by providing hundreds of tonnes of fresh produce. MFM has also partnered with STREAT in a pilot horticulture training program, and to provide urban farming space for DIVRS food relief programs.
Miranda’s impact on the food system was recognised in 2015 when she was inducted as a Legend of Melbourne Food and Wine. She won the 2019 City of Darebin Citizen of the Year and has won numerous farmers market awards and the 2022 national Outstanding Farmers Market Community Award for MFM’s food security initiatives.
Miranda established the Melbourne Farmers Markets model to ensure its longevity beyond her leadership but, when she told us it was time for new energy, initially we, the MFM Board, wanted to bury our collective heads in the sand!
However, a change of leadership and new energy is necessary in the life of any organisation, so we are embracing change and pleased to announce fellow Board Member Anne Duncan as our new CEO.
To our delight, Miranda has agreed to stay on with MFM as a non-executive Board member. In this role, she will continue to offer guidance to MFM as well as continuing to give it the benefit of her extensive Government and community connections.
We are excited for the future of MFM and our vital work in bringing farmers’ markets and other real food connections to Melbourne and beyond. We sincerely acknowledge Miranda’s outstanding legacy to all Victorians and look forward to the next chapter in her and MFM’s story.
The Board of Melbourne Farmers Markets. October 2023.
The content in this blog post was first published in November 2023 in the Melbourne Farmers Markets Newsletter.