This report has explored the question, ‘How can vulnerable communities improve their resilience to future disasters through access to locally-produced food?’. The profile of continuing food disadvantage in the Cairns region includes citizens experiencing homelessness, aging, youth, disabilities, Indigeneity and Islander identity, and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. The line between the ‘most vulnerable’ who experience every-day chronic conditions of food insecurity, and those who, previous to COVID-19, only experienced transitory food insecurity, is becoming more blurred. With increasing casualisation of the workforce, reliance on food aid is becoming more commonplace. The Cairns regions shares these experiences with the Australian nation