Angela Clifford
Angela’s life-long mission has been to reconnect people to the natural world, the land and the ocean, through food.
She is the CEO of Eat New Zealand, Aotearoa’s not for profit food movement. Their constituency includes many food businesses; farmers & fishers, community organisations, small & medium food producers, hospitality & tourism operators, chefs and eaters.
Their activations include a national hui on the food system in Aotearoa, a cohort of 135 next generation food leaders called the Kaitaki. They run Feast Matariki, a celebration of our indigenous food ways and stories and work with local, regional, and national government on local food systems.
Angela is a 2024 semi-finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Environmental Hero award. She has been considered as one of the Top 50 Most Influential & Inspiring Women in Food & Drink in NZ by Cuisine Magazine for the last two years in a row.
She is also a NZ Food Waste Champion, a coalition determined to halve food waste by 2030 in Aotearoa, recognising the impact it has on climate change. She has a national profile in local food systems and was Aotearoa’s Arable Food Champion in 2022, an award given in recognition of her work towards a local grain economy. She was part of a leadership group considering a values-based framework, or national food strategy for Aotearoa, and continues to call on the government for a strategically designed and fair food system.
Angela owns The Food Farm in North Canterbury, a Permaculture property where she grows her own food with her family, and they teach others to do the same.
She has developed a model for a mana-centered food system that seeks regeneration beyond the farm gate, and out into the rest of the supply chain, supporting everyone from farmers to all eaters.