Acres and Acres Co-op's Josh Collings named Community Legend in Victorian Health Promotion Awards

Josh Collings, co-founder of the Acres and Acres Cooperative, an initiative that aims to empower people in the Upper Murray region to grow, sell and supply fresh produce for their community, is thrilled to be recognised with a state honour.

After his Cudgewa home was destroyed by the Black Summer bushfires on New Year's Eve in 2019, Mr Collings set out to address the food shortage the blazes created in the Upper Murray.

He was among eight members of a food swap group in the region, which led to the creation of Acres and Acres.

The project manages gardens at Tintaltra, Towong and Corryong where healthy and affordable food is grown for the community.

Mr Collings and his team have also established a tool library for farmers so they can borrow materials they don't have.

"To us it's just the beginning, so for the project to be identified as what it could be is awesome," he said.

"I was out in the paddock on a tractor trying to watch to the live stream, so I was engaging with the Q and A and that's how I found out I'd won.

"It's been a long slog getting it into the local community and we'd love more support from our local (Towong) council as it's something we'd like to see everyone working on together."

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Mr Collings said a first of its kind Australian-made, solar-powered tractor will be delivered to Acres and Acres today to allow it to expand on its operation.

He also revealed three garlic new farms will join the co-op next month, as well as several flower growers.

"It's growing faster than we can keep up with at the moment," Mr Collings said.

"We have a new operations manager, Chez Orchard, who has moved from Lismore after working on some amazing projects including Young Farmers Connect and Open Food Network. The amount of work we've done since she has been here is quadrupling our output."

More than 150 nominations were received for the awards and VicHealth chief executive Sandro Demaio said it was an important reminder of the great work done across the state by everyone involved in health and wellbeing.

"The diversity and high calibre of projects across Victoria is incredible, and it's fantastic to see so many health champions - from volunteers to grassroots groups to ground-breaking research leaders - working tirelessly to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in Victoria," Dr Demaio said.

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