Brett Herron is an attorney and politician who has served as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since May 2019.

He was previously the City of Cape Town's mayoral committee member for transport and urban settlements from 2011 to 2018. Herron is the secretary-general of Good. He was a member of both the Democratic Alliance and the Independent Democrats.

Brett currently serves on several parliamentary oversight committees including the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. 

He is committed to building a South Africa that is spatially transformed from its Apartheid history and legacy, that is spatially, socially, economically and environmentally just.

Stefanie Swanepoel holds a Masters in Sustainable Development (cum laude) from Stellenbosch University.

She is the founder and Director of African Earth Rights, a communications consultancy focusing on food systems research and communications support in Southern Africa, and  a Director for Niche Unity, a non-profit organization providing support for emerging smallholder farmers. 

Currently, she manages the Ocean View Organic Farmers Co-operative and acts as the Communications Manager for the GIZ funded Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in Southern Africa.

She has provided research services to the African Centre for Biodiversity, Biowatch, the Seed and Knowledge Initiative, Sustainability Institute, Oxfam Germany and the Zambian Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity. "

Paul McAvoy is the Principal at Factreton Primary School, where he was also a learner. He is committed to the upliftment of the Factreton community.

He completed a BA and B Ed degrees, HDE and a PGDE at UWC. He started teaching in 1986 at Windermere High School until 1998 and then moved to Factreton Primary School. He became the Principal in 2012.

The school started a vegetable garden in 2015 to supplement the feeding scheme. Soon after the project started Paul and his team identified the following challenges with soil-based gardening:

1. Ongoing water scarcity.
2. Lengthy growing time.

They use Hydroponics and Aquaponics options to support their vision for an Organic food system providing vegetables and fish to feed the learners and the community.

Thozama Sikiti is the CEO of Thunariso Organic Garden in Khayelitsha. She is an inspirational urban farmer who wants to change the lives of young children and youth by teaching them agricultural skills whilst feeding the community nutritious organic vegetables.

She started her back yard garden in 2019 with 10 kg of compost and a tray of spinach seedlings, which she sold in her community.

As customer demand grew, she realised she needed training and attended a three day course at the Abalimi Bezekhaya Garden Centre in Khayelitsha, followed by a 6 week course at Stodels Garden Club.

In the middle of the Lockdown she leased some land from the City of Cape Town, to expand her farm. She approached the WC Agricultural Department, which supplied her with equipment and seeds for her new urban garden.

Her vision is to launch an Agriculture Academy.

Dr Tracy Ledger is a Senior Researcher at the Public Affairs Research Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tracy holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand and an M Comm in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University. Her main research interest is the analysis of institutional failure in the public sector, on the basis that the study of failure provides better insights into causality than does the study of so-called best practise.

In 2016, she wrote ‘An Empty Plate – Why we are losing the battle for our food system, and how we can win it back’. She is an agri-food activist, committed to building a more equitable society.