3rd February 2015
MEDIA RELEASE
Internationally renowned “World’s Most Innovative Farmer” (TIME Magazine) Joel Salatin, ABC TV’s Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis and the doyen of the local food movement are leading a lunchtime rally on the Victorian Parliament House steps PLUS a free evening event at the Collingwood Town Hall on Thursday 19th of February, 2015
Local producers are coming up against more & more government regulations that are making it harder for them to deliver their quality produce to the ever increasing demand for local, ethicurean produce.
Regrarians Ltd. is a family-operated Australian-based non-profit that since 1993 has worked with producers & consumers in nearly 50 countries across the world. Our primary work is in Farm Design, Training, Media (producers of the upcoming ‘Polyfaces‘ documentary [watch the trailer!]) & Advocacy.
On Thursday the 19th of February Regrarians Ltd is hosting a daytime rally + evening event to help raise awareness of what producers are going through due to irrational and out-of-date government regulations, especially when it comes to raw milk/cheese supply, on-farm processing and other direct farmer to consumer compliance issues.
Our main thrust however is to celebrate producers, chefs & direct farmer to consumer models that exemplify best practice and what we call the regenerative food system, and secondly discuss how we can be apart of changing regulations so that these innovative producers can make some headway into securing better market access and improve their terms of trade.
Among others we currently have the following people presenting at the rally and/or event:
- Polyface Farm‘s Joel Salatin (‘The World’s Most Innovative Farmer’ TIME Magazine)
- ABCTV’s Gardening Australia host & Landscape Architect Costa Georgiadis
- Nutritionist & Changing Habits‘ Founder, Cyndi O’Meara
- 2013 Victorian Farmer of the Year, Belinda Hagan (McIvor Farm Foods)
- Pope Joan Chef & Author, Matt Wilkinson
- Permaculture Co-originator, Farmer & Author, David Holmgren
- Young Farming Entrepreneur & Advocate, Madelaine Scott (Hollyburton Farm)
- Award Winning Restaurateur, Chef & Local Food Advocate, Sonia Anthony (Mason’s Bendigo)
- Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance President, Butcher & Farmer, Tammi Jonas (Jonai Farms)
All speakers are available for media interviews before and during the event. Please contact Lisa Heenan at Regrarians Ltd (0400 840 045 or regrarians@gmail.com) to schedule an interview time and have fulfilled any requests for images and other media.
Quotes from Joel Salatin supplied to Regrarians Ltd. for the #EatBuyGrow Rally + Event MR,
“They (industry) are making it so that it is impossible to own and operate a small farm. The big picture is they are looking to wipe you (small farmers) out. This is business. This is the cost of operations. This is what is being forced upon a small business owner who owns and operates a farm. Period.”
“Generally speaking… food laws, whether they are food safety laws, whether they are labeling laws,whether they are infrastructure laws, whatever the regulations. The zoning, whatever they are, they are always prejudicial toward the biggest players and against the small players. The regulations are not scalable. They are scalable up very very well but they don’t scale down. What happens is every time we have a revamping of food safety laws, of the regulatory structure you always see the small players get inordinate punches on the chin, because the regulations are not scalable. That’s what people need to understand. That’s one reason why I advocate food choice. I think it is an amazing thing in our country now that we collectively believe that it is perfectly safe to feed your kids Twinkles, Cocoa puffs, and Mountain Dew but if you feed raw milk, or compost grown tomatoes or Aunt Matilda’s homemade pickles, those are hazardous substances. The health and sickness statistics certainly don’t bear that out and yet that’s where we’ve come to.”
“Current industrial-scale food safety regulations applied to neighbor-to-neighbor food commerce prejudice local, integrity food systems and farmers’ entrepreneurial creativity. Procuring the food of our choice from the source of our choice is as fundamental to human liberty as freedom of religion, assembly, and the press.”
“Requiring direct farmer-to-consumer food transactions to jump through bureaucratic hurdles denies society the best antidote to the fears and hazards of industrial food. The antidote is not more regulations; it is unleashing customer-centric farmers on the marketplace to compete fairly with their industrial counterparts.”
“The only reason Coles and Woolworths dominate the market is because government food orthodoxy denies marketplace competition. Unregulated farm-to-table food trade creates marketplace diversity, decentralization, accountability, and higher quality. While the risk of bad farmers or bad food exists, direct farm-to-consumer trade carries its own policing just like eBay and other systems with close monitoring loops. Government oversight for community-oriented transactions stifles innovation and liberty.”
Quotes from Costa Georgiadis supplied to Regrarians Ltd. for the #EatBuyGrow Rally + Event MR
“The future of food is about participation , its not about a system where one profits above the others. We are the change-makers that our food system needs”
“Building a local food system requires a new vision and flexibility to protect the buds and shoots of this new direction. Small enterprises don’t fit the shoes of big corporate regulation. Big change starts with small enterprise.”
“Supporting local producers does more than just educate around seasonal eating. It grows healthy career pathways into agriculture for our youth, drives local employment and develops regional identity.”
Web Links & Social Media:
Webpage: www.Regrarians.org/Events/EatBuyGrow
Facebook Event Page: http://bit.ly/FBEatBuyGrow
Twitter Handle: #EatBuyGrow
‘ENDS’
