You can almost see the aura of health and vitality glowing around the Organic Forrest Farm stall at the Mullumbimby Farmers Market.
Alongside the piles of freshly dug organic turmeric, ginger, garlic and fresh fruit and veg, are native fruit jams and nut butters, bottles of home-made health drinks like kombucha and jamu, and an urn filled with a hot organic lemon, honey and ginger drink.
The couple behind all of this goodness are Sue Mangan and Dave Forrest, who have been growing organic food on their farm at Federal for almost 40 years.
Sue and Dave were pioneers of organic farming and the local food movement in the Northern Rivers region .Dave has been teaching organic farming at TAFE since the 80s and was a foundation member of the Tweed Richmond Organic Growers Organisation (TROPO), which started the first Organic Farmers Market in Lismore in 1999.
Sue and Dave’s lifelong passion for organics is partly about producing chemical-free, healthier and more nutritious food, but it’s also about caring for the land and water, and creating a future for small-scale, diversified, sustainable farming, which is being squeezed out by industrialised agriculture.
Dave says while there is growing awareness around organics, the average consumer will still choose cheap over organic because of the disconnect people have with their food and how it produced.
“They don’t really understand the consequences of the industrial farming system….the way to produce cheap food is through chemicals.
“There’s a chemical for every step. For pre-plant, at planting, post planting, during growth, post harvest, there’s a series of chemical inputs and that’s how you maintain the high level of production of cosmetically pretty food stuffs,” he said.
“It’s not really food and its not environmentally friendly, so were not paying the true cost.”
He says ultimately, change is up to consumers.
“The consumer dollar endorses the farming system that produced it.
“Farmers are pretty smart people and will respond to consumer purchase preferences.“
“The challenge is getting that connection with consumers to realise how much power they have to direct agriculture and food production systems.”
Story and photos by Kate O’Neill
