Welcome to the Mid-Winter update for 2021!
Well things are changing pretty quick around here. Despite it being a particularly cool day in Dunedin today we have to acknowledge that June was the warmest on record in New Zealand despite a late winter blast. We see record high temperatures in Canada and Finland being caused by “heat domes” related to our rapid human instigated climate change.
The idea of atmospheric heat domes as a possible side effect of climate change was first put forward in the early 1990’s, and very accurately predicted. I remember talking about climate change and global warming with friends and colleagues when I lived in Scotland in the late ’90’s – joking that it would turn Scotland into a archipelago of tropical islands and that they could all eat bananas instead of haggis. I was at primary school when I first heard about the ozone layer and the “greenhouse” effect. Environmental negative impacts and change caused by the human activity of industrialisation was first suggested a long time ago – back in the late 1840’s to be exact – Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States at the time to give that date context.
Recent work that I have been undertaking is leading me to change focus of the business to take into account the warmer future we are rapidly heading towards, and to shift focus to working more in the field of sustainable rural development and resilience. Organic and regenerative knowledge is a cornerstone to this work but more focus will be placed on social and economic outcomes as focus shifts from the individual farm or business to the community. This focus is driven by a need to shift agriculture and community into a “carbon negative” sustainable future – being carbon zero is not enough. This will lead to some obvious changes to the website and Facebook pages over the coming months.
I will still be doing work in the organic space and current clients will still be well looked after, and to them and previous clients thankyou for your support.
I’ve also been recently involved with the work being undertaken on the organic regulations and standards within New Zealand and it has been good to catch up with those in the sector involved with this. There have been many workshops hosted around New Zealand on the topic and the wider direction that the organic industry should take in the future.
Regards from the deep south, and have a good winter.
Organic Farm Systems 