Imagine for breakfast having Kakadu plum jam on freshly toasted kangaroo grass bread, a hot pot of wattle seed coffee steeping on the kitchen table. Is it that hard to picture?
Before wheat was wheat, it was a grass. It was introduced to Australia, and every year it struggles against our fickle climate.
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But we do have native grasses that First Nations Australians have cultivated for years, like kangaroo grass. Over millennia its grain was ground to make dough for damper. It's a hardy, resilient grass found all over the country.

There are experiments taking place around the country, led by First Nations people, to test the viability of native plants as a sustainable, desirable and profitable crop.
With land degradation and climate change front of mind, there's a growing movement toward more regenerative and sustainable farming.

But the challenge is ensuring cultural intellectual property is respected and that First Nations people play a central role in the native foods industry. This has not been the case in the past, with the macadamia nut being a marked example.
For this podcast we visited with people on the forefront of Indigenous agriculture.
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Do you have a story to share? Get in touch: voice@austcommunitymedia.com.au.

Laura Carolina Corrigan
Laura produces ACM's multi-award winning podcast Voice of Real Australia, and the mini-series Forgotten River. For stories from beyond the big cities, find them on your podcast app. Follow Laura on Twitter: @LaOOraC
Laura produces ACM's multi-award winning podcast Voice of Real Australia, and the mini-series Forgotten River. For stories from beyond the big cities, find them on your podcast app. Follow Laura on Twitter: @LaOOraC

Tom Melville
Originally from Canberra, Tom Melville worked for the BBC in the UK and as a freelancer in Tunisia before coming to ACM. He is the host of ACM's national podcast Voice of Real Australia. urlgeni.us/VORAPod
Originally from Canberra, Tom Melville worked for the BBC in the UK and as a freelancer in Tunisia before coming to ACM. He is the host of ACM's national podcast Voice of Real Australia. urlgeni.us/VORAPod