Rose, NickCiesielski, BethCarrad, AmySmits, RebeccaReeve, BelindaCharlton, Karen2025-06-112025-06-11ORCID:/0000-0002-6202-0539/work/171152746https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733759086As social, environmental, climate change, and public health challenges mount, there is growing recognition that many of the roots of these con­temporary crises are to be found in the nature and trajectory of the dominant food and agricultural systems. Consequently, a growing number of Australian civil society organizations (CSOs) seek to engage in processes of food system governance to address concerns of health and wellbeing, sustainability, and resilience. This paper summa­rizes a case study that explored the characteristics, values, and activities of seven food-related CSOs and identified the factors that enable or hinder their work. The results revealed that while the abil­ity of CSOs to influence food system governance has been modest to date, some progress is being made, particularly regarding food systems govern­ance processes at the local government level, point­ing to the possibility of more participatory forms of local food system governance developing.en2024-09-2710.5304/jafscd.2024.134.00985205948877