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Category Archives: Farming

Strawberry Grower’s Despair Over Mass Dumping of Fruit Amid Demand for Extra Large Sizes

A Queensland strawberry grower has posted an emotional video to social media, despairing about throwing away drum loads of edible fruit because they do not meet retailers’ demand for extra-large berries as the season reaches its peak. A spike in winter temperatures brought fields to peak production late last week. In response, Coles dropped prices to as low as $1.00 per 250-gram punnet in New South Wales over the weekend to help suppliers move tonnes of excess produce. The glut may be great news for strawberry lovers, but growers are counting the cost. On Friday, Wamuran grower Mandy Schultz received …

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Organic agriculture is going mainstream, but not the way you think it is.

One of the biggest knocks against the organics movement is that it has begun to ape conventional agriculture, adopting the latter’s monocultures, reliance on purchased inputs and industrial processes. “Big Organics” is often derided by advocates of sustainable agriculture. The American food authors Michael Pollan and Julie Guthman, for example, argue that as organic agriculture has scaled up and gone mainstream it has lost its commitment to building an alternative system for providing food, instead “replicating what it set out to oppose.” New research, however, suggests that the relationship between organic and conventional farming is more complex. The flow of influence …

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Australian Cotton ‘Pick of the Crop’ as More Global Consumers Demand Sustainable Fibres

Consumer desire for sustainably produced goods is driving domestic and global demand for Australia’s $2.5-billion cotton crop, according to retailers and millers. Leading brands are now introducing clothing ranges made entirely from Australian cotton as an alternative to cheaper fibre mixes. “More and more international retailers and brand owners want to know the story about the production cycle,” Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay told ABC News. “They want to know about the sustainability and the environmental story,” he said, adding the industry had worked hard for years on winning a social license to operate. “We can clearly demonstrate over 40 …

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Farmer working to make teff the next big thing in ancient grains

Ancient grains have found a place as part of the modern diet, with options like quinoa becoming common on supermarket shelves and cafe menus. But a southern New South Wales farmer is hoping Australian consumers will develop a taste for another ancient grain: teff. Wakool farmer Fraser McNaul is growing the crop and working on a system to package and market the product from paddock to plate. He said he believed consumers would be excited by the grain, if they could be informed about what it was. “Teff is an ancient grain from Ethiopia, it’s gluten free and its main …

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The dairy farmers committed to sustainability

It was a soil bacteria course in New Zealand that convinced Reggie Davis to change his farming methods. The fourth-generation Victorian dairy farmer had become increasingly concerned by the costs, chemicals and time involved in the use of nitrate fertilisers to maintain – what was considered to be – high-quality pasture for his dairy herd. So when his dairy herd nutritionist mentioned that the US biological farming advocate Dr Arden Andersen was running a soil management course in New Zealand, Davis decided to go. He asked around to see if any neighbours might be interested. Within weeks, 40 other dairy …

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