Celebrating
HOME-GROWN ORGANIC FARMING HEROES
BY OWEN GWILLIAM With over 19 years of auditing & consulting experience, AOL’s Chief Technical Officer now focuses on market access, standards & industry development.
Australia has produced some of the world’s most renowned sustainable farming personalities, innovative farming methods, and is known worldwide as a leader in natural and sustainable agriculture. Despite this, many Australians are unaware of our home-grown heroes and their huge impact on farming methods not just here, but around the world. Globally, organic farmers use a variety of methods and techniques to create truly sustainable, resilient, and regenerative farming systems. Many of these methods were developed, or defined and popularised, by Australians. Through my years of experience in the Australian organic industry, I’ve been fortunate to learn a great deal from these pioneers – many of them personally. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank them, and the many others not in this article, on behalf of our industry, our country, and indeed the planet!
Bill Mollison
Permaculture has become a global phenomenon, with Permaculture Design courses now available across the globe. Renowned environmental activist and author, David Suzuki, famously stated, “What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet.” Permaculture was founded by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s, in Tasmania. While permaculture may not always be compliant with organic standards – in practice it very often is, and the methods and systems put forth in the Permaculture Designers’ Manual (1988) are often used by organic farmers around the world. The three key Permaculture ethics – Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share, and the 12 Design principles, if understood and applied well – greatly increase your chances of establishing a successful organic farm.
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INDUSTRY AUSTRALIAN ORGANIC CONNECT
Percival A. Yeomans
A lesser-known but highly impactful method of farm design and establishment is that of P.A. Yeomans – the founder of the Keyline Plan. Most have not heard of the Keyline Plan, however, many have seen or heard of the Keyline Plow (the official spelling!), with many such implements being found in the machinery sheds of organic farms around the country and indeed the world. Water for Every Farm was first published in 1964 and is a great place to start for those interested in a unique approach to maximising water storage within the soil profile. Water storage is very relevant to Australian farms, organic or otherwise.
Alex Podolinsky
Biodynamic farming was not developed in Australia, however, we produced one of the world’s leading researchers and educators on the topic - Alex Podolinsky, who was widely regarded as the father of Biodynamics within Australia. The strong influence of Biodynamics in the Australian organic industry is evident by its inclusion in the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce, as well as the Australian Certified Organic Standard. Bruce Ward Whilst studying Science in Agriculture at The University of Sydney, I was fortunate enough to have a colleague whose father was a prominent teacher of Holistic Management in Australia. Bruce Ward did not come up with Holistic Management, this acclaim belongs to Allan Savory, however, Bruce was one of the pioneers of applying this decision-making framework to Australian agriculture – especially grazing management. Again, holistically managed farms are not always certified organic, however many certified organic beef operations in Australia (in my experience, the really successful ones!) do tend to follow these management methods.
