Hawkesbury Harvest - The pioneering spirit lives on

The Pioneering Spirit

Lives On

This is the story of Hawkesbury Harvest. Like all good stories it has heroes and villains, tragedy

and the overcoming of adversity. It’s not just a good story; it’s an inspiring story of human endeavour that has life-

affirming lessons for us all.

Hawkesbury Harvest took its name from

the Hawkesbury area in which

it was conceived..

As the Hawkesbury Harvest has grown and matured its influence has spread across the Sydney Region

and is being viewed by producers and consumers as a

place brand for Sydney Region produce

The seed of Hawkesbury Harvest was created

between 1810 and 1820 when the new Colony’s fifth Governor, Colonel

Lachlan Macquarie established the five Macquarie Towns of Windsor, Richmond,

Castlereagh, Pitt Town and Wilberforce.

Soon extensive farming fed the infant

colony, taking advantage of the fertile soils of the

Hawkesbury-Nepean River

system..

There was no reason for Hawkesbury Harvest’s awakening during the era

when the area serviced by the Macquarie Towns became first known as

the breadbasket, and then the food bowl of Sydney.

The seed lay undisturbed for the ensuing 120 years during which time agriculture became the dominant economic force of the nation and in particular the Sydney

region, specifically those areas based on the Hawkesbury-Nepean

• The 1940s marked the period when Sydney’s land use began to change significantly.

• Suburbanisation started to sprawl out across the Basin.

Despite this the Hawkesbury Harvest seed lay quietly dormant as the trends in the food bowl gathered momentum and the day dawned when a few people wondered if action might be needed to preserve agriculture as a land use in association with the urban development.

At the end of the Second World War many people

from the European

Union came to live in

Australia.

Those who acquired or leased land on the outskirts of the ever-expanding urban

Sydney soon realised the financial bonanza to be had from using the land to grow food and plants in its various forms while waiting until the housing

arrived on their door step.

Land was plentiful as was the

opportunity to grow food in parts of the country that

were beginning to be opened up

such as the Murray Darling

Basin.

When the housing did arrive many simply sold to the developers

and bought further out and waited for the next housing

wave to arrive.

By the 1980s agricultural land in the Sydney Basin was regarded politically and

within the bureaucracy as ‘land awaiting higher

economic development.

“There is no place for agriculture in the Sydney Basin. Agriculture belongs over the (Dividing) Range and any agricultural land is land awaiting higher economic development” people in high places were saying

The Hawkesbury Harvest seed lay in the most barren of ground.

Towards the late 1990s rural lifestyle living

had overtaken farming as the major land use

of acreage blocks.

The only effort in support of agriculture in the Basin

was coordinated by the thencalled NSW Department of Agriculture

with its focus on sound environmental practices

and viability, as burning issues of the time.

As the second half of the 20th Century progressed the supermarket system began to

emerge as the dominant force in the food chain.

This coincided with the loss

of direct connection between

people and farmers who

grew the food they

ate.

Relationshipbased social and

environmental benefits were

being progressively

traded off for convenience

shopping.

By the end of the 1990s the total dominance of the food

chain by the major supermarkets was impacting

on farm economic performance.

Small farm holdings in the Sydney Basin were under extreme pressure from

increased competition and reduced power

to determine price and thus incomes.

A survey in 2007 in the Hawkesbury confirmed people had begun to realise

that agriculture and/or some other means of making income

from the acreage blocks had a vital role to play

in the maintenance of that heritage landscape.

In early 2000 a community meetingwas held in the packing shed

of an orange orchard located between Richmond and Castlereagh.

The orchard is on land over which Governor Macquarie could well have

travelled when he explored the region and established the five towns.

• The purpose of that meeting was to determine how the small farm local agriculture and food related industries could achieve or enhance viability in the region.

• During the meeting the Hawkesbury Harvest seed literally burst into life.

The first shoot to emerge was the Farm

Gate Trail (FGT) a hybrid activity created by the integration of agriculture with the

tourism and the hospitality industries.

Other shoots have since emerged including

open farm days,

farmers markets and a provedore

•Building Opportunity•Building a

Future•Reaping the

Harvest

Mission StatementHawkesbury Harvest

is a communitybased association

committed to improving the

economic viabilityand sustainability of

local agriculture.

Provedore Service

Local GreenGrocer

Open Farms

Farm GateTrail Map

Harvest has developed many ways of helping farmers market their

produce.

SpecialEvents

Farmers Markets

Kurrajong Native Foods

For food producers it’s about finding alternative

channels through which they sell their products.

Lee Etherington now exports to 37 countries and has a

multi-million dollar turnover.

‘Pine End Organic Farm has been a member of

Hawkesbury Harvest for 2 years now and in that time,

we havefound its professional organization of events,

promotion and support to be of great benefit to

our business.Not only has it brought more customers to our

farmgate but has also given us the opportunity to

be a part of the extensive marketplace which it

promotes.’Margarita and Shaun

Carrick

‘Hawkesbury Harvest provides me with a network of farmers who buy and sell from each other according to seasonal

demands. Hawkesbury Harvest networking and promotion has assisted in the rapid growth of my business through my modern packing shed

catering for local trade and a rapidly expanding tourist business. I am confident my business will further

expand with Hawkesbury Harvest being and integral of that growth’

John Maguire.

Enniskillen OrchardGrose Vale

Enniskillen Orchard

Café and Provedoring

A Typical Tourism Day10:00 AM

10:00 AM

10:15 AM

10:30 AM

It’s about tourism working for farmers, not

farmers working for tourism

Edition 7 is a multi-map format extending the Trail onto the South

Coast

Cooperative EffortHarvest Role Local Government Role Farmer Role

Design and Mentoring Local advocate Commitment to be open when they say they will be

Produce the map Local link to media, tourism and community

Interest in innovating with tourism

Market, media and web support

Strategic support for agriculture and farms

Like the general public

Monitor performance and manage issues

Keep Harvest up to date –follow through – we can only be as good as they are

1000’s of voluntary hours

Like everything no matter

how good the concept its the people who make it

work

Faces of the Harvest Founding HH chair

David Mason travelled the world to confirm

the benchmark of excellence was in his

own back yard

John Maguire speaks passionately of his personal commitment to the maintenance of productive agricultural land and the insanity of the relentless sterilisation of fertile land for the purpose of intensive real estate development.

Bill Shields, Chair of the Hawkesbury Harvest shares his considerable knowledge in maintaining a viable orchard, and the

contribution made by science, as well as the importance for younger generations to see

first hand where their fruit and vegies come from.

Every successful organisation

has one and HH has a very unique one in

Alan Eagle

John Reynolds Nashdale Fruit Co.

100% owned and grown in Australia.

Members of the board

and personalities

toast the launch of

Map 6

Eric Brocken. Board

Member

Bob Germaine.Executive Officer,

Regional Development Australia (RAD).

Never underestimate the power of passion !!!!!!!

Former Chair and current Harvest treasurer Ian Knowd’s PhD studies

are in rural communities and tourism, and specifically the Hawkesbury

Harvest phenomenon.

Lets not forgetthe media

Simon Marnie ABC Sydney selling the message

far and wide www.abc.net.au/sydney/programs/702_weekends/

And the chroniclers It's 7.30 in the morningThe sun is getting hotThe cockatoos are squabblingCars fill the parking lot.I think that I am earlyBut that is not the caseBecause there is Alan EagleA huge smile upon his face.The line is long for coffeeThe queue is huge for eggsThere are people buying vegiesAnd choosing their ducks legs.There are flowers and there's lambOysters, herbs and honey tooThere's beef and flowers and gorgeous jamAnd still the people queue.......

Excerpt from the Hawkesbury Harvest Blog by Mary Canning http://marycanningphotography.typepad.com/the_hawkesbury_harvest_fa/2009/12/index.html

What the Harvest story contributes, even to those planning regimes where agriculture is protected,

is what it means in cultural landscape and food culture terms, and its integral role in

food quality, supply, security and equity in developed communities.

The lessons learned here are fundamental to a viable future for agriculture in the urbanising world and

associated food systems, not just of Sydney,

but also for all modern industrialised economies

and their human settlements.

Acknowledgements• The text in this PowerPoint is taken from “The

Hawkesbury Harvest Story exploring the socio-cultural intersection between urbanisation and agriculture in the Sydney Basin” by David Mason and Ian Knowd

• Images and text in slides 29 to 38 are taken from a PowerPoint presentation by Ian Knowd

• Selected images from Mary Canning’s Hawkesbury Harvest Blog http://marycanningphotography.typepad.com/the_hawkesbury_harvest_fa/

This PowerPoint was created by the Dairy Youth Australia Inc

Art4Agriculture team as part of the

Cream of the Crop Competition initiative

http://www.dairyyouthaustralia.com.au/creamofthecrop/index.html

GOLD SILVERPLATINUM

BRONZE

WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SPONSORS OF THE 2010 CREAM OF THE CROP COMPETITION