Is this the new normal – ORICoop Flood Response …

It was the weather forecast we didn’t want to hear.  More rain.  Alot of it – measured in metres..  More incessant weather.  Already rain-soaked pasture and farmland.  Exhausted communities that have faced bushfires, previous floods and now the 2022 devastating floods.

My farming grandfather always told me he set aside a shed full of hay for that ‘bad year’ to share with a farmer in need, or to get his farm through a difficult patch.  He had a flood plan farming on a floodplain.  He also had a bushfire plan (as his upper area had bushland surrounding), he also transitioned and diversified his dairy farm to include other enterprises when the dairy sector failed.  This was in 1960.  Now in 2022 there has never been more pressure in farming to be resilient against every natural disaster, each year.  We are ready.

ORICoop is an Organic Farmers Cooperative.  We have organic and biodynamic producers across the country that connect and care about other like minded producers.  We have done this before.  We will do it again.  In 2019 we raised over $100,000 in cash and grants, we more than trebled these funds through physical donations of hay, fodder and biological inputs, in-kind support and many generous supporters to bushfire affected producers, exceeding $500,000 of support directly to producers.  This included fodder donations that went from a certified organic or biodynamic farm – to organic producers in need.  Some may not have stayed in business if we hadn’t of been there.


It is seriously overwhelming.  Tonight it has been detailed that 2,000 of 3,500 homes in Lismore may be uninhabitable.  What does that mean for these communities?  For these families.  For local producers.   And what about the landholders who are yet to reclaim their land – or wait for the flood waters to recede as their crops are under 3m of flood water.  Some have lost their entire herd.  Or have nowhere to house them while the land recovers?  There is much to do….. We are ready….

We know it’s a long road back.  However we have these producers’ backs.  We are a Producers Cooperative.  We have other producers that know what natural disasters look like.  They have been there before.  Sometimes it’s a phone call.  Reaching out to ask ‘R U ok’?  How can we help?   What do you need?

  • For flood affected Organic Producers – you can register for help HERE
  • For donors, businesses or supporters – you can DONATE here
  • For those keen to help – either in person or remotely – you can REGISTER here

** For existing organic or biodynamic producers interested to donate fodder, agistment, seeds or other farm related generosity –contact us directly HERE


We call on the Federal and State Government to support these communities, producers and businesses in their journey back.  How can Australia better support these at-risk communities for the long term.  To distribute the risk from consumers and business – and to empower producers to transition to climate resilient farming systems.  These communities cannot carry this burden on their own.  We believe it is a national responsibility – to carry the burden of natural disasters.  To build a pool of resources and people that can help when it’s needed.  And fast.   We all need to understand the call of the new normal.  Sadly this is not as it has been.   

We are so incredibly proud of the producers that we have supported previously.  Of their courage to keep going.  Of their willingness to accept offers of help.  For the organic producers that have contacted us to donate hay, fodder or agistment.  And the many people that have shared our posts, helped us with marketing, or raised funds in your business.  We thank you.

Sandra – Plateau Organics, NSW, Bushfire Survivor

Help when help was needed.  The right help, compassion, and commitment for those of us who faulted amongst the bushfires

Stephen & Jo-Ellen Whitsed, Corryong, Victoria, Bushfire Survivors

After the devastating 2019 bushfires in Corryong, ORICoop contacted us to offer help.  We needed hay and they organised two Semi Trailer loads of certified organic hay for us which was fantastic.  From that a great friendship has been formed with Carolyn and other ORICoop members and organic producers.

Cooperatives are an old way of doing business.  The old way.  That care about each other.  Look out for each other.  Share the wins.  And the losses.  Be there for your neighbour.  We endeavour to return this to farming.  In everything we do.

Join us today.

Thanks for your support.  And kudos to all those affected.  We send you strength.

ORICoop Board

 

Organic Agriculture – a clear pathway to Net-Zero

Organic Agriculture – a clear pathway to Net-Zero

I awoke this morning with a lump in my throat.  Hoping that the IPCC report didn’t confirm what we have all known.  Some have known for decades.  Others since the last natural disaster they or their business has had to endure.  What are we to teach and pass onto our children, if it cannot be the urgency and need for us to curb our desire for more and more, with less and less concern or consideration for the earth and its planetary boundaries.  Like a mother that feeds its young – sometimes almost to her own detriment.  So what does our country look like if a 1.5 degree rise by 2030 is in fact true.  What does it mean for our Pacific neighbours? For our communities still in recovery from the last drought, bushfires or floods? 

Organic Agriculture – the Next Generation..

With the Prime Minister announcing his ‘big moves’ to be in technology and hydrogen.  These ‘big moves’ although positive, come directly from the more production, higher yields, cheaper prices and commodity-capitalism mindset that got us into this mess in the first place.  I gasp for air, as I know personally the number of farmers and producers that are farming our land and feeding our nation that know agriculture is a huge part of the solution – if it were managed correctly with the right incentives for exemplary regenerative land management over time.  

Farmers and producers have been at the coal face of planetary boundaries for years.  Since Australia made its last feeble commitment to reducing our carbon footprint in 2005, I personally can recall enough bushfire events (from Black Saturday to the horrific events of the last Black Summer), to the worst floods in history, unprecedented cyclones, droughts and extreme natural disaster events across our country.  Too many to count on one hand, and should be too many for any producer to endure in one lifetime that alone in just 15 years.  What if we only have 60 harvest years left, what if the degradation of soils and water systems could be our last frontier?  Climatic change is upon us, urgency has surrounded us, and together we can watch with fear, act with courage, or pretend that someone else will be the change we are desperately hoping for.  I hope that you will call on your courage to be the change.  We need you now. 

ORICoop together with many contributors, advisors, farmers, producers, experts in their field and businesses are seeking to act on this urgency.  One step at a time.  Now.  We encourage you to take as many of these steps as you can.

  • Know your footprint – for your business, your household, your school
  • Reduce your footprint
    • Install solar, reduce your fossil fuel use
    • Reduce business and household waste
    • Reduce car/fuel use
    • Buy more food seasonally
    • Support local businesses with less of a footprint
    • Check food labels (less imports)
    • Reuse and Recycle fashion
    • Plant a garden, grown your own
  • If you are a farmer ….. (this one’s for you!)
    • Assess your farm sustainability footprint (ask us how)
    • Register your farm for Eco-Credits
    • Reduce your farm dependency on external inputs (urea, NPK fertilisers, fossil fuels)
    • Explore more direct, secure and efficient markets
    • Plan how to increase your carbon in soils and biodiversity (ask us how)
    • Slow down your water flow
    • Make a business resilience plan for your farm
    • Make a strategic plan for the next 10 years for your business
    • Record the natural capital assets that your farm holds
    • Include the value of your human capital in your natural capital

Perhaps join these forces that advocate for long term change.  Together we are stronger.

Today’s news pulls no punches.  For some the glimmer of hope lies in our pastures, in the soil, in the biodiversity and ecosystem that we all should take responsibility to look after.  Every meal we eat.  Every farmer we know. We all need to be part of the urgency in planetary care, of as much carbon drawdown as possible, and as little leach into the atmosphere as we can manage in our daily lives.  You’re part of it. As is your community.

As one climate scientist tweeted this morning:

As a climate scientist, I’d like you to know: I don’t have hope.  I have something better: certainty. 

We know exactly what’s causing climate change.

We can absolutely 1) avoid the worst and 2) build a better world in the process.

Environmental Sustainability Goals (ESG’s)
In Quarter 2 alone, the European Union has amended three major financial, investment, and insurance regulations to include “sustainability” (2021/1256, 2021/1255, 2021/1257). The SEC has formed a 22-person enforcement task force focused on scrutinizing Green Investments & Climate-Related Disclosures. Even the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which groups market regulators from the United States, Europe and Asia, found that the Trillions of ESG-related investments are burdened with different frameworks, key indicators and metrics, relative weightings as well as qualitative judgement. We need business to lead with united values and urgency. 

At the core of Eco-Credit is the simple idea that data should be collected at the farm level, and that this data remains the property, and under the control, of the farmers. For the long term benefit, and to reward their land stewardship practices for carbon drawdown and preserving natural capital.  To actively demonstrate the capacity of every farmer and land steward to be part of a key part of our drawdown mission – one farm at a time.  With the ability to directly offset organic processors, businesses and financiers footprint – with full traceability and transparency.  

About ORICoop
ORICoop is a National Cooperative of organic and biodynamic farmers.  Of businesses and people that care about food, farms, people and the planet.  Together we can be the leaders of powerful systemic change, to bring value back to producers and landholders at the face of this risk, and demonstrate with our actions to uphold the provision of safe food and habitat for all planetary communities.  And for business to invest in this change, with the urgency of our future as the wind in their sails.  We believe through connecting land, people, business and ethical values we can be strong allies and enact solutions that together can be the change we all hope for.  And our children need to believe it will be enough.

ORICoop engages with Organic and Biodynamic Farmers collectively to demonstrate the direct relationship between healthy food, healthy farms and a healthy planet.  Did you realise that organic agriculture can and should be a leader in the mitigation of carbon drawdown?  See this latest article from FIBL on Organic Farming & Climate Change. A summarised list of these key features included here:-

  • Organic agriculture has considerable potential for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
  • Organic agriculture in general requires less fossil fuel per hectare and kilo of produce due to the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers.
  • Organic agriculture can improve soil fertility and nitrogen supply by using leguminous crops, crop residues and cover crops.
  • The enhanced soil fertility leads to a stabilization of soil organic matter and in many cases to a sequestration of carbon dioxide into the soils.
  • This in turn increases the soil’s water retention capacity, thus contributing to better adaptation of organic agriculture under unpredictable climatic conditions with higher temperatures and uncertain precipitation levels. 
  • Organic production methods emphasizing soil carbon retention are most likely to withstand climatic challenges particularly in those countries most vulnerable to increased climate change. 
  • Soil erosion, an important source of CO2 losses, is reduced by organic agriculture and as a consequence prevents the loss of energy that would occur due to the embedded energy used in industrial agricultural systems.
  • Organic agriculture has the capacity to provide one (1) calorie of food energy for every calorie of energy utilized to produce that food. Typically industrial agriculture requires twenty (20) calories of energy primarily sourced from fossil fuel to produce a calorie of food, hence a higher carbon footprint
  • Organic agriculture can contribute substantially to agroforestry and mixed production systems.
  • Organic systems are highly adaptive to climate change due to the application of traditional skills and farmers’ knowledge, soil fertility-building techniques and a high degree of diversity.

The Way Forward

Our practical actions of supporting organic and biodynamic producers in our everyday lives is a key part of the solution to mitigating our climate emergency and carbon drawdown as a country.  At ORICoop we believe the more farmers that produce food more sustainably, the more land that is managed in a carbon negative manner and the healthier the food is, with a lesser carbon footprint.  It means taking responsibility and action for your business footprint as part of being a responsible citizen.  Every business and family can reduce their footprint and have an impact – and then offset what you can not reduce.  It means that we urgently need to own the overshoot of our lives.  Of business.  Of agriculture.  And drastically make changes today that can peel back the damage our excess of the last 50+ years has created.  

To find out more or to be involved in ORICoop you can join HERE.

#bethechange

#organicfarming

#planetarybalance

ORICoop Online Workshop Series launches

ORICoop Online Workshop Series launches

“Never has it been more necessary to find solidarity with those whose values align and more important to garner skills from those who have beaten the path before us.  ORICoop with the support of BCCM have created an online workshop series to help us all build skills and community.  With a 90% subsidy being offered by BCCM, a broad range of topics, guest speakers and interactive Q and A time on each gathering, its a low cost, high value offer that can all be booked and undertaken online by clicking here – book into one or all five”
The Co-operative Farming program offers a 90% bursary for this course. You can find out more and apply at https://coopfarming.coop/learn/educational-bursaries/. Subject to approval, you will receive a discount code that you should apply at the checkout, this will ensure your payment is reduced to 10%.

1. Community driven business structures  – Thursday 3rd Dec 6.30pm-7.45pm 2020 and Thursday 10th December 6.30pm – 7.45 2020

Eager to connect with your fellow growers and find ways to get your food to a local, engaged and appreciative audience. Hear from those who’ve trodden this path already, hear first hand about their wins, challenges, growing pains and opportunities. Most importantly ask the questions which allow you to consider what will work for you and meet other growers and producers on a similar trajectory.

Book HERE

2. Getting to Know Your Region and Community – 4th February 6pm – 7.45pm and 11th Feb, 6pm – 7.45pm

While every community beats to a different drum, many follow similar patterns and the insights of others who’ve observed and engaged in community building is a valuable process to support you in your existing efforts or as a foundation of knowledge before you begin.  Meet food system pioneers, leapfrog with their learnings and kickstart or reboot your own efforts to work collaboratively as a whole community.

Book Here


3.Taking Your Collective Business Online – 25th March and 1st April, 6pm – 7.45pm

While we know the increasing influence of online marketplaces, Covid showed us just how powerful it can be for farmers wanting to diversify their paths to market, work collaboratively and be the price maker for their hard grown produce. Learn practical skills, loopholes and opportunities from those who’ve done it and specialise in supporting you to do it too.

Book Here

4. Resilience in Your Business – 22nd April 2021, 6pm – 7.45pm

Business stability is about being diverse yet focussed, nimble yet strategic, committed yet open to change, having an excellent relationship with your market and always looking to the horizon of innovation and adaptation. Learn from farmers who’ve developed business plans in consideration of these complexities and seek advice and guidance relevant to your specific farming and business needs.

Book Here

5.Transitional Ownership Pathways to next generation, 13th May 2021, 6pm – 7.45pm

Succession planning is one of the single greatest threats to farming enterprises yet when undertaken successfully, one of the most powerful and rewarding aspects. The complexity of building a successful succession plan is a well trodden path and our expert panel will share a diverse range of case studies of well executed plans, and some of the common pitfalls.

Book Here

Any enquiries can be sent to admin@organicinvestmentcooperative.com.au