COGS MEMBERS MEETING 23 JULY 2017 2PM

At the July meeting of the Canberra Organic Growers Society the guest speaker is Dr Maarten Stapper FAIAST, BioLogic AgFood

Maartin will outline some of the global and national organic-biodynamic agricultural issues and trends in production, processing and consumption.

Based on the deteriorating health of people, landscapes and planet, Maarten makes a case for the need to break out of the current paths dominating our food system and supported by science, technology and economics. Current consumer demand for healthy, ethical & ecological, chemical-free and local foods, is driving changes in food provisioning. Food sovereignty can be achieved with a transformation in food production from industrial to local agroecological, which minimises the use of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals. Such production systems produce healthy food from regenerated healthy soils. Successful transition requires governments at all levels to create regionally enabling environments for production, processing and trading of local food by communities and small businesses.

Education of consumers and producers in preventative health of self, plants, animals and Earth is critical. We need to (re)develop and use the capacity to be biosensitive, to trust nature and be in tune with, sensitive to, and respectful of the processes of life.

Maartin will also give us some take-home tips on how to examine our soils and review products we can use in our gardens. In the process of ‘learning by doing’, we learn to see and experience the living soil-plant-animal interactions in our gardens.

Dr Maarten Stapper, BAgSc AgEng PhD FAIAST

Dr Maarten Stapper began a career in agricultural science forty years ago, has international experiences on four continents and is a former senior scientist with CSIRO. Employing a holistic approach, he is an expert across a wide spectrum of agricultural areas in research, development and extension.

Maarten featured in Australian Story “Back to Earth” in 2009 about his new road in food production research away from synthetic fertilizers, chemicals and GMO. (www.drmaartenstapper.com.au).

Maartin’s talk will be both interesting and vey informative and COGS members and their friends are encouraged to attend.

At the conclusion of Maartin’s talk we will have afternoon tea so please bring a plate to share.