SA’s Robyn Verrall uses her successful meat production business to alleviate food insecurity, both locally and in remote communities.
Story Kate Newsome Photo Sarah Cunningham
Freshly butchered, boutique SA meat boxed into the truck, Robyn Verrall posted a social media callout: there was meat ready to donate. “For those in Adelaide or its country surrounds, send me a message if you need.”
Robyn drove to one of the texted addresses, into a neighbourhood that appeared affluent enough. A woman met her at the front door. “This is your roast lamb for Christmas,” Robyn said, entering to help pack the food away, “and this, I’m going to put in your freezer.”
The woman then said, “I’ve never had spare food.”
“It was like a slap in the face … I opened the freezer, and she didn’t even have an ice tray,” Robyn says. “We’re such a wealthy country and here we are.”
A decade later, Robyn – the founder of Bully’s Meats – thinks of that day often. Food security is now central to the work of the finalist at the 2024 Women Changing the World Awards, which includes being chair of the SA Skills Commission’s Agribusiness, Food, Wine, and Beverage Board.
According to the Foodbank Hunger Report 2024, a fifth of Australian households experienced severe food insecurity in the past 12 months. “If you know a single mother, they are, no doubt in this country, in food insecurity,” Robyn says. It’s something she faced herself as a single mother in Adelaide where, despite her job as a nurse, Robyn would sometimes skip meals if it meant her daughter had lunch for school.
This story excerpt is from Issue #161
Outback Magazine: June/July 2025
