The evidence is clear that poor fruit and vegetable consumption is linked with higher obesity rates. This doctoral project began with an aim to improve fruit and vegetable consumption in the researcher's community. The Ipswich region has a low intake of fruit and vegetable consumption, high obesity rates and corresponding rates of noncommunicable disease burden. An exploratory, mixed-methods research program, using a qualitatively driven, sequential research design, was chosen to develop a

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... essive, nuanced understanding of the problem within a social model of health. The findings of this doctoral project demonstrated that a clear understanding of socio-economic factors leading to food system insecurity is necessary before a community food strategy can be developed. In the first phase of this research, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders within the Ipswich community were conducted, to explore their perceptions of the barriers and enablers of fruit and vegetable consumption in their community. Analysis of these interviews revealed participants were at the beginning of their journey in understanding these barriers and enablers in their region. This was followed by semi-structured interviews undertaken in the Toronto region (Canada), which is recognised as a world leader in implementing strategic initiatives to shape the nutritional intake within their community. These interviews revealed the strategic response undertaken in Toronto to address nutritional disparities, focused on addressing food system inequity. The second phase of this research aimed to understand if food insecurity risk factors, identified as a key issue in Toronto influencing nutritional intake, were also present in Ipswich. A detailed characterisation of the Ipswich population, analysing food insecurity risk factors through cross-sectional and longitudinal modelling was undertaken. Findings confirmed that the Ipswich community had a significant number of food insecurity risk factors. The outcomes of this study reinforce that a detailed analysis of a population must be undertaken to identify groups experiencing social inequity, so that social model health responses can be customised and prioritised to create an equitable food system. Current social health policy and associated initiatives in Ipswich do not currently achieve this. iii