There is a special event happening on Thursday 8 December during the morning and we are looking for a number of volunteers to help.

Its a project the Friends group is involved in with City West Water and we need people to help propagate indigenous plants by pricking out seedlings to tubes. These plants will form a stock of plants that will be put in the ground next year along the creek.

No previous knowledge is required, just a pair of hands and some enthusiasm to help improve our natural environment.

I know that a Thursday may be a difficult time for some, however, if you know of others who may not be on this list, but would be interested, please pass on this message.

Please contact me if you wish further information or if you can let me know if you are available to help.

Regards

Tony
Secretary
THE FRIENDS OF KOROROIT CREEK INC
WEBSITE – www.fokc.org.au

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/12/great-xmas-trees-delivered-by-bike.php?campaign=daily_nl

Our salad garden is loving all of this rain and is producing huge amounts of delicious greens for our volunteers lunches. Check out the latest photos of finished rooms & gardens
http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=rf/smc_update#sept2010

We will be launching an exciting new twist on the traditional markets in November at the Commons. Every Friday is now Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day – Coming soon every Friday
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With a commitment to low environmental impact, high quality goods, we are looking for a small number of stallholders to join us. We are seeking artists and retailers of fashion, beauty, baby care and health; who meet our environmental standards to come and sell their wares. Please get in touch with Meg; meg.ivory@foe.org.au 0416 469 144 if you are interested in holding a stall or running a workshop.

Sustainable Food Festival – 11th & 12th December
========================================
We are planning for a Sustainable Food Festival the 11th and 12th of December so we would love to hear from you if you or someone you know would be interested in having a stall. We are also looking for performers for the 2 days so get in touch if your band would like to participate.
Contact Tully tully.mcintyre@foe.org.au 0410 388 187.

Garden blitz days
============
Planning has begun on building & planting our next lot of garden beds. If you want to be involved contact ecomarket.melbourne@foe.org.au or call Martin 0403 440 996.

1. WA Dept of Ag moves to biotech and Murdoch University – investigation needed
2. Why is Coles involved in Monsanto’s GM canola photo competition?
3. GM boosterism rampant– signs the technology is about to collapse?
4. Techno optimism and photo of the 12 year old MacDonald’s hamburger
5. Inspirational US farmer, Joel Salatin, shows how to have a thriving local food system
6. Labelling confusion – MADGE questioned
7. Take action, events and inspirations

1. WA Dept of Ag moves to biotech and Murdoch University – investigation needed

Now the ban has been lifted biotech is sweeping into the state’s agricultural sector. 150 jobs will be lost in the Department of Agriculture and Food (WADAF) amidst allegations that dissenters are fired.

The Department has also relocated from South Perth to Murdoch University and appears to have become a biotechnology centre. Associated organisations to the university include: Grain Biotech Australia, NemGenix Pty Ltd, Spirogene Ltd and Saturn Biotech.

NemGenix has received grants from our Federal Government and is also partnered by Dow Agrosciences. It is developing GM wheat, barley and sugarcane. Spirogene develops GM vaccines for animals. The WA government will build two facilities “in Katanning and Merredin, to test new varieties of GM crops supplied by biotechnology companies.” The WA government is boosting funding to biotechnology by $9 million.

Here are the WA governments media releases on the issue:

State Budget 2010-11: Funding injection for grains innovation

State Budget 2010-11: Investment in agriculture increased

Interestingly WA canola breeder whistleblower Patrick Fels says the WADAF has grown too close to the multinational biotech companies. He alleges the trials last year were shonky, that AgSeed used publicly owned varieties but did not pay royalties to the Department for their use and that senior management behaved improperly in terminating the Departments canola breeding programme . He said “A ‘boys club’ of senior agricultural bureaucrats is acting against the wishes of West Australians by ending crop breeding programs, divesting public-owned genetic assets to the private sector and handing market power over to GM corporations.” Mr Fels was sacked last year. Agseed is a division of Monsanto. Monsanto owns the GM Roundup Ready canola that was released this year in WA. Monsanto’s share price in January was $86. It had dropped to $49 yesterday before Monsanto announced a $1B share buyback scheme. GM is failing for all the obvious reasons, yet Australia is jumping on board.

GM canola was approved in WA this year despite strong and well-informed opposition both in Parliament and the general public. Any cool examination of the evidence would suggest caution over GM as is shown in this excellent overview of GM by Greens MP Giz Watson.

Also the WA government has reneged on a promise to have a register of GM farms. Instead organic farmers received a letter asking them to notify their neighbours of their organic status.

In summary weeks after the decision to allow GM canola:

• the State’s agriculture department sacks 150 staff,
• moves to a university that promotes biotech and
• promotes only biotech breeding
• uses $9 million of taxpayers’ money
• broke the promise of a register of GM canola sites

The links between governments, universities and biotech companies seem to make them one body with three heads. Where is the oversight and regulation?

These actions are especially suspicious as GM breeding is less successful than non-GM breeding. Ten years of trying to develop a GM potato with blight resistance is still at the experimental stage while non-GM breeding has produced several varieties of potatoes already on the market. This article shows why GM breeding is a risky and unproductive enterprise.

Maybe there needs to be a Royal Commission into what is happening in WA’s agriculture sector?

2. Why is Coles involved in Monsanto’s GM canola photo competition?

Coles Myer vouchers are prizes in a photo competition being run by Monsanto for GM canola farmers.

Coles says that its own branded products do NOT contain GM. GM canola is likely to be used as an animal feed and products from animals fed GM (milk, meat, fish, eggs, honey) do not have to be labelled. Why are Coles part of this promotion? Tell them what you think.

This short extract from the TV show Hungry Beast shows how Coles and Woolies together control 70% of the grocery market. They use this power to squeeze out rivals and dominate farmers.

3. GM boosterism rampant– signs the technology is about to collapse

There has been a noted increase in stories about how GM is the way of the future. They come from:

• Professor Moloney the new director of Rothamsted research station in the UK.
• Dr Per Pinstrup-Andersen, professor of food, nutrition and public policy at Cornell University in the US.
• Here is Dr Per Pinstrup-Andersen again on Margaret Throsby. He is a supporter of the private sector and the green revolution.
• Dr Pedro Sanchez promoting “millennium villages” in Malawi
• Forum at Adelaide University. GM crops were seen as part of the mix to feed the world.

Once again fears are fanned that people will starve without GM and new technologies. This ignores the fact that the biggest research effort ever done into how to feed the world did not see a role for GM. Instead it showed agro ecological farming can nourish the world and restore economies and land. The world already grows enough food to make everyone fat. It is just that selling biofuels and animal feed is more profitable than feeding poor people.

Additionally the policies of the IMF and World Bank from the 1980’s have meant many countries were forbidden to support their farmers and instead were encouraged to earn export income. Now there is a sustained push to bring a new green revolution to Africa. MADGE reported on this last year, with special reference to Pedro Sanchez and his Millenium villages that are not the great success story he promotes.

Australia is not the only country awash with this propaganda:

• A US survey show people would accept GM wheat if it was produced sustainably using less land and pesticides. Since no GM crop in 14 years has been shown to fulfil these criteria, while other methods of growing have, why ask the question?
• Scandal has erupted in the UK as 2 members of the Food Standards Agency steering group have resigned over its bias towards GM.
• Professor Brian Wynne resigned over its “failure of institutional integrity” as he claimed the half a million pound consultation exercise into GM foods is “rigged”. Dr Helen Wallace resigned over FSA’s links to agribusiness saying its debates are “no more than a PR exercise on behalf of GM companies.” Hear Professor Brian Wynne interviewed on the BBC.

Sooner or later the discovery will be made that the GM emperor is wearing no clothes.

4. Techno optimism and the 12 year old MacDonald’s hamburger

There is an outbreak of techno-optimism as shown by this kitchen without pots and pans.

There are also plans to extend the shelf life of food through the use of nanopackaging.

This may be unnecessary as this photo of a 12 year old MacDonald’s hamburger still looks as good as new.

The European environment committee seems to want to spoil the techno-optimists party by suggesting that products containing nanotechnology already on the market should be removed until safety testing can be done.

Techno-optimism is also a name given to a technique used to distract attention from a problem and to mitigate its seriousness. We saw this recently when the announcement of Craig Venter’s first ‘synthetic organism’ gave rise to techno-optimistic hopes that one day we may be able to create a synthetic organism that can clean up oil spills. This is a noble idea, but we have seen these techno-optimist expressions before.

The very first judgment to allow the patenting of a life organism was in fact a GM bacteria with the supposed properties of being able to clean up oil spills. This patent then lead the way for patenting of all genetically modified materials we have today. However the oil eating bacteria unfortunatley was not a success and is not being used in the current Gulf of Mexico oil crisis we have today.

Consider the purposes to which techno-optimism is put. We are told that Nuclear power waste isn’t a serious issue because we’re going to have a high-tech solution for it in the future. The crime of a massive oil spill isn’t so serious because we’re going to have a synthetic organism to fix it in the future. Techno-optimism serves those who profit from making a mess now. What techno-optimist solutions will be needed to clean up problems that may arise from untested nanotechnology?

5) Inspirational US farmer, Joel Salatin, shows how to have a thriving local food system

Joel Salatin is the self confessed lunatic farmer who features in the films Food Inc and Fresh. He runs Polyface farm. “We are in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.” MADGE was lucky enough to attend two talks by him at the Lake House in Daylesford recently. Here are his essential components in a local food economy:

1) Producer

• Need to make agriculture aesthetically and aromatically sensually romantic
• Needs transparency to build the reputation
• Embedded in the community
• Solar driven ie use animals and lightweight fences , fertiliser in-sourced and not from outside, retain surface runoff water, value add on farms
• Jeffersonian intellectual agrarian concept
• Collaborate with others

2) Young people on the farm

• We need the best and the brightest for land stewardship
• The average age of people in healthy industries should be around 35. In the US farmers are 60 years old on average
• Most innovation starts very small. Current regulations tend to stifle this and this needs to change
• Polyface has an apprenticeship and intern programme

3) Accounting:

• Someone has to watch the money
• Need to divide into categories to show exactly what part of the business is making/losing money. Joel has 180 categories.

4) Marketing:

• Needs a gregarious story teller
• If you can’t do it yourself, outsource ie one group of produce growers employs someone to market for them. They pay 10% commission but it frees them up to farm.

5) Distribution:
This is often where local food systems fail. As can’t achieve economies of scale instead need to be collaborative, creative, fluid, responsive and be where people are. Polyface farms sales are:

• 25% on farm sales
• 35% direct to restaurants within 40 mile radius. Always has the delivery as a separate cost on the invoice otherwise produce ends up subsidising the transport. Chefs are welcome to collect from farm. Can also outsource delivery and contractor can see exactly income available.
• 45% metropolitan buying club. Uses the internet to have a running inventory so people can see what is available. Delivered 8 times a year. Drops pre-ordered, pre-sold food at hostess houses that others collect from.

Other creative examples given were:

• A school bus turned into a traditional town store complete with counter, shelving, pot belly stove and chairs to sit and chat. Produce collected from farmers and driven into the city to sell to office workers. It is so successful now converting a second bus into a mobile kitchen staffed by chefs to show people how to cook. This attracts customers to the chef’s restaurant as well.
• Sponsors send vans to inner city food deserts
• Box scheme community supported agriculture. Farmers stay on the farm but consumers get fresh food. Examples in Australia would include the Food Connect systems in several cities and other box schemes.
• Internet based system run by people with a background in pizza delivery. Has 30-40 farmers. Customers place an order by Tuesday 8pm. Wed am gofers are sent to pick up the produce, collated that evening and sent out on Thursday morning 5-8am. Delivery by moonlightling pizza deliverers.

6) Buyer/patron

• The vital catalyst – someone who realises that life is more than the supermarket
• Needs to be: philosophically consistent, appreciate seasonality, rediscover kitchens, realise how expensive processed food is, “don’t go shopping – go to the pantry”

Joel Salatin was enthusiastic and full of interesting and inspiring ideas. It is obvious that he takes great delight in nurturing young farmers and that his dedication is paying off as ex-apprentices often set up nearby therefore increasing the diversity and depth of the local food economy. As Joel said “Change this food system one bite at a time and heal our planet.”

Hear Joel being interviewed on Radio National

Joel will be running workshops in Australia later on this year.

Watch this film to show how a landscape of bare hills was turned into a beautiful productive landscape.

6) Labelling confusion

Encouragingly the NSW Food Authority successfully prosecuted smallgoods manufacture Primo for labelling as “Product of Australia” and “Meat content 100% Australian” meat that had come from Denmark.

A MADGE contacted us about a recent Channel 7 programme reporting that food from China imported into Australia via New Zealand was not required to have labels showing it originated in China.” MADGE was unable to find the report but here is an article from last year on imports from China and the limitations of labelling.

7) Take action, events and inspriation

Take Action:

Ring Coles Myer to ask them why they are part of a Monsanto photo competition see item 2

Help defend Karri forests and agriculture in WA from bauxite mining.

Stop a biomass power plant in Manjimup, WA.

Review of the Gene Technology Regulations – due by 18th June. Geneethics says “The proposed changes, in most cases, weaken present assessment and monitoring protocols so need critical review. We urge you to have your say. Please let Gene Ethics know if you will make a submission as we’ll prepare a draft NGO discussion briefing this week.”

Perth City Farm Cafe, and exciting new enterprise, get involved.

Conferences:

Australasian Association of Professional and Applied Ethics AAPAE Sydney 15th to 17th June 2010.

If anyone is going to the workshop entitled “The Ethical Challenges of New Technologies – Risk & Responsibility in Nanotechnology; Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology” MADGE would be very interested in a report.

Sunday 27th and Monday 28th June 8am to 4pm, St Ita’s Hall, Highgate Hill, Brisbane Food Sovereignty through farmer solidarity Brisbane. Hear Australian farmers and also from the worldwide farmer group Via Campesina. Don’t miss this! Details on facebook.

Patents on Seed, The Turning Point. Munich, Germany, July 19th 2010; 10.15 am to 3.15 pm. Conference to discuss the negative impacts of patents granted on plants and animals. Will also look at necessary changes and how to implement these.

Donations welcome for:

Radiothon for 3CR. This is a community radio station that runs great programmes and often interviews MADGE. It is run entirely on tax deductable donations. Please consider supporting it especially programmes like: Food Fight, Hometime and Tuesday breakfast programme.

MADGE – After 3 years of operation this is the first time we have asked for donations. Any money received would be spent on:

• MADGE leaflets
• An expensive upcoming conference a couple of us want to attend and report back on
• Travel to various speaking engagements and meetings

We are volunteers so none would be spent on wages. We will be concentrating more on research and collating what we have already done. Digests will report what we are up to but will be less frequent.

To make a donation please direct deposit to:

Bendigo Bank
BSB Number: 633-000
Account Number: 139388631
Account Title: MADGE AUSTRALIA INC.

We do not have tax deductable status. If you would like tax deductibility donate to:

Geneethics – a network concerned about new technologies

Greenpeace – who produce the TrueFood Guide and have organised the Chef’s Charter and much more.

Film:

Saturday 12th June, Forum Cinema at Shop1/ 7 Pendrigh Place, St Helens, Tasmania 7216 at 12:30pm. A new documentary “A worm in the Apple” is about how “Tasmania suffers from tyranny at the hands of a corrupt government, propelled by the fuel of commerce.” This is the story of the people who are fighting back. RSVP only $10. entrance fee to pay for the cinema. A wine bar and cafe are also available. EMAIL to RSVPecobard@gmail.com. You can see a trailer and purchase the DVD here.

GM Watch has “trawled the web in search of the best videos on GM and related issues.” See the list they have compiled here.

Books:

The town that saved food.

Farm City.

STOP PRESS

MADGE hopes that you have enjoyed the past three years of digests. Originally they were weekly and until recently, fortnightly. MADGE now wants to concentrate more on research and collating what we have already done. Digests will report what we are up to but will be less frequent. Please follow us on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Happy Eating
Love
MADGE

Take a supermarket tour with a difference and find out about how the products on your shopping list stack up for the planet. What are the issues that reflect the true cost of the products we buy? What are “best buys” for our health, our communities and our planet? How can you find the most sustainable purchase amongst the options available? As we walk the aisles, we’ll explore practical ways to help you in making more ethical choices and lighten your impact.

Presented by Nick Ray of the Ethical Consumer Group. Limited places of 10 people on each tour. Booking essential. No charge.

Book at our website below.
LOCATION: A central Footscray Meeting point will be advised once you book
CONTACT NAME: Grace Girardi  PHONE: 9688 0357
EMAIL: grace.girardi@maribyrnong.vic.gov.au
WEB: http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Form/Forms.asp?Form_id=105

Get tanked here!

Bringing Birds Back To The ‘Burbs

You Spin Me Right Round – Crop Rotation Explained

April in your Patch

Broccolli and Cauliflower – Wonderful Winter Winners!

The Need For Feed – Feeding Famished Flora – Fantastic or Folly?

Larvae Life – Cabbage White Butterfly

In this edition:

*              Two elections. One big opportunity.

*              Victorians score a big win against coal.

*              Civil society resolve stronger than ever.

*              The People’s Parliament rocks Federation Square.

*              40,000 Walk Against Warming.

*              East-African businesses happy to go green.

And much more

Click here to download the Autumn 2010 edition

Please help us to get the new site working as quickly as possible.

We are currently replacing our website with a new, flasho blog site… something that will allow you all to interact with SGA (and with each other) far more than you ever have. There are going to be teething problems as with any new system, and we would appreciate it if you could let us know about any dud links or missing pages by emailing cuttings@sgaonline.org.au . Thanks, and enjoy the new site!

Bigtime Backyard Biodiversity – Part II

As we continue to party like it’s 2009 in celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity, SGA want to get your backyard croaking…with the sound of native frogs of course! Australia has some fantastic froggy fauna, so why not share your habitat with some happening amphibians? See http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=650

Stripping in the Suburbs – Nature Strip Plantings

Turn your footpath into a food forest, your parking space into a productive patch or your wheelie bin wasteland into a native plant wonderland. Cool councils are giving this the green light….find out more about funking up your footpath! http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=1152

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours – Companion Planting

Once the realm of the hardcore, hippy, home gardener, companion planting is now an incredibly popular practice – from beginner gardeners right up to large-scale agriculture. But, despite its popularity (it’s huge in Europe), companion planting is often misunderstood, misused and misrepresented as the “cure-all solution” to problems in the patch. So, what’s it all about, how and why does it work, and where can I buy the SGA Companion Planting Chart? http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=583

March in your Patch

Wherever you live in Australia, March is a great time to head outside and into the patch. Now that the thrill of the Winter Olympics has died down, and the edge is off the summer heat (for most of us), there is no excuse not to get cracking in the patch this month. http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=338

Coriander – A Runaway Success

For anyone who loves Asian, or Asian-inspired cooking, coriander is an absolute must have in your Yummy Yard! This fast growing annual, with a head a bit like Italian parsley, is an awesome backyard buddy. Its welcome in my kitchen anytime (unlike my dog, who isn’t!).http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=50

Citrus Leafminer

As our citrus are growing, and their fruit is showing, many gardeners will notice unsightly squiggly silvery trails on their once-fantastic foliage. As Summer fades to Autumn, the Citrus Leafminer gets down to business, leaving a silver trail of destruction in it’s wake.http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=1304

The SGA Crew Head to the Zoo – Werribee Workshops Autumn 2010

Have you ever wished you were hanging out with Cape Barron Geese and Zebra’s while learning about sustainable gardening from SGA’s talented trainers? Well, your wish is our command! Sustainable Gardening Australia is presenting a series of workshops at Werribee Open Range Zoo (VIC) during Autumn 2010, and you’re invited! These workshops have a Werribee Plains focus and are designed to encourage participants to become more sustainable within their own backyards and local community. Each workshop will focus on a different topic such as Garden Plants for the Werribee Plains; Creating Habitat Gardens and Gardening in Low Rainfall Areas.

Workshops are $10 each, which includes zoo entry and walking tours that will be conducted in the Zoo’s sustainable gardens – how good is that! Local friends groups will also be on hand to assist participants in learning about the uniqueness of the Werribee Plains area. Please refer to the flyer below for details of each workshop. Places are filling fast, so don’t delay, book your spot today!

Click here to book a workshop.

Click here for more information, session times and dates etc.

What are you doing this National Tree Day?

From caring for our coasts and beaches to building a home for native animals, to growing a garden in the grounds of a school, there are endless opportunities and experiences that volunteers can enjoy this National Tree Day. Celebrating its 15th year in 2010, Planet Ark is calling on keen gardeners to coordinate tree-planting sites or provide ongoing care to the many thousands of existing native trees and shrubs which have been planted as part of National Tree Day.

By taking part, you’ll have the opportunity to share your expertise and teach future generations how life is better with trees. This year’s National Tree Day, sponsored by Toyota will take place around the country on Sunday 1 August. Planet Ark is asking active gardeners who are looking for a way to make a positive environmental difference, to register as Site Coordinators. Get your local school, sporting or church group together and ask your local council if they can provide you with some land to care for and seedlings to plant.

Site Coordinators are required to organise and supervise their registered tree-planting site. Planet Ark provides support to all registered Site Coordinators through its National Tree Day Hotline and website, where downloadable resources and a step-by-step guide, as well as tools to help you promote your tree planting, are readily available. For an information kit visit http://treeday.planetark.org or call the National Tree Day Hotline on 1300 88 5000.

Shop til you drop… in the comfort of your own home!

Sustainable Gardening Australia is proud to announce that we have boldly leapt into the 21st century with the launch of our very own ONLINE SHOP! There are a range of products available, including our enormously popular Yummy Yards book and our fantastic SGA Companion Planting Chart, with more SGA items being added weekly. Our secure online payment system (thanks NAB) and prompt shipping service (thanks Helen) mean that the SGA Online Shop is the place to be for all your sustainable gardening purchases. Check it out today… http://sgaonline.cart.net.au/

Become an SGA Champion of Change… make a difference today!

People are becoming increasingly concerned about climate change and the state of our planet. But what to do to make a difference? By gardening sustainably we can all make a positive contribution to the health of our planet. Signing up as an SGA Champion of Change can have an immediate and lasting impact on our environmental footprint. With your help we can influence government to adopt more sustainable practices in your community. Read all about it and register online at www.sgaonline.org.au/?page_id=819

Talk it up!

Got a gardening question you need answered? Want to connect with other gardeners in your neck of the woods? Want to have a yarn about the bigger issues, share some photos, and make some new friends? Well, SGA has just the thing! Check out our online discussion forum, with hundreds of members just itching to have a chat and discuss your (gardening) problems. So go on, what are you waiting for… get chatting at www.sgaonline.org.au/phpbb/

CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE GARDEN CENTRES

For a full list of SGA Certified Garden Centres visit www.sgaonline.org.au/?page_id=81

SGA is a Carbon Neutral Organisation

Transport is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in Australia (Australian Greenhouse Office). Research has shown that trees, over time, absorb carbon dioxide emissions. SGA staff record their fuel consumption each year and plant the equivalent number of indigenous plants to offset those emissions. To find out how many trees you need to plant check out the Carbon Neutral Program Calculator at www.carbonneutral.com.au. More info at www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=831

Visit SGA on the web at www.sgaonline.org.au