www.ofa.org.au

The Organic World Comes to Adelaide
This is an exceptional year for the Australian Organic Industry as the organic world comes together in Adelaide. The World Conference already has over 900 delegates and this number continues to grow. People will be coming from every continent and it will be an opportunity for unparalleled media focus on organics. www.ifoam2005.info

The organic news around the world continues to be very good. Studies on three continents, Africa, Asia and America are showing that organic systems are out performing conventional systems. Cornell University in the USA recently completed a review of the Rodale 22 year comparison study of organic and conventional farming systems. It concluded that long term organic systems had equal to better yields, had higher biodiversity, were 30% more energy efficient and used less water than conventional farming systems. More details can be found later in this newsletter.

Join the OFA to contribute to the ongoing development of our industry.
There is a misconception that the OFA is funded by Government. Government does not fund the OFA. The OFA has been funded by our membership fees since 2001 and is run by unpaid volunteers who give their skills and time.

Like many other organisations, the OFA does periodically apply for funding for specific projects that benefit the whole organic industry. These are not to fund the OFA, in fact the OFA contributes to these projects out of our own funds and through many unpaid hours of work by our board members.

1. Industry Partnerships "taking stock" program – 2005.
   This program funded Hassalls Consultants to run two Industry roundtables on May 11 and July 29. The OFA did not receive any of the funding however provided the essential strategic support funded at our own cost.
2. Fine Food Fair Sydney 2003.
   OFA received $5,022.13 from RIRDC in 2003. The event cost OFA $12,691.87 to organise.
3. The 2nd National Organic Conference, Adelaide 2003
   The OFA received a RIRDC grant of $14,000 towards it. This was seed money and was used very effectively for the benefit of the national industry. The 2003 conference cost $100,170. This figure does not include the many unpaid hours contributed by the organising committee.
4. Website Project – 2001
   The OFA received $28,000 from RIRDC in 2001 to develop a website for the Australian organic industry. The OFA has been funding it since that time.
5. The 1st National Organic Conference, Sydney 2001
   The OFA received a RIRDC grant of $50,000 towards the $200,000 cost of running it.

Another misconception is that the OFA is proposing a compulsory industry levy to fund the OFA.The OFA has never proposed a levy to fund the OFA. Mandatory industry levies cannot be used to fund peak industry bodies. They can only be used for research and development and industry promotion.

Due to the miniscule level of research into organic systems, the concept of a levy was put forward as a way to fund organic research and development and to promote our industry at the May and July roundtable meetings. This is how most other industries fund themselves and this money is collected and administered by a dedicated R&D body.

The July roundtable meeting decided, rather than a levy, that the best option was to work with RIRDC’s offer to develop joint research projects with other research organisations. This would increase the current level of organic research and capture some of the levies currently paid to other R & D corporations.

Best Regards

Andre Leu
Chair

Study Shows Organic Systems Had Equal To Better Yields
The July issue of the journal Bioscience has published a scientific review by Cornell University into a 22-year-long field study by the Rodale Institute, USA, comparing organic and conventional farming systems. The study was based on similar plots of land with similar crops. The review concluded that long term organic systems had equal to better yields, had higher biodiversity, were 30% more energy efficient and used less water than conventional farming systems.

Significant finds of the review were:

• In the initial five years of the study, the conventional had slightly better yields than the organic crops however organic farming practices built up higher levels of soil structure, fertility and biodiversity
• The improved soil allowed the organic land to generate yields equal to or greater than the conventional crops after 5 years
• The conventional crops collapsed during drought years.
• The organic crops fluctuated only slightly during drought years, due to greater water holding potential in the enriched soil.
• The conventional crop also had pesticides leaching into the water at levels exceeding US safety limits.
• The organic crops used 30% less fossil energy inputs than the conventional crops.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/norm071805.cfm

Organic Farming is the Solution to Africa's Famine
African nations are increasingly turning to organic farming practices. Tewolde Berhan, head of the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, believes that organic farming is the solution to Africa's famine.

Farmers implementing simple organic soil amending techniques are witnessing higher yields without the chemicals or the cost. According to Berhan, "When well managed, and as fertility builds over years, organic agriculture isn't inferior in yield. Now, farmers don't want chemical fertilisers. They say, 'Why should we pay for something we can get for free?'" http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/famine062705.cfm

Organic Cotton Outperforms GM Cotton
A comparison study of GM BT cotton, in India, with organic cotton grown without pesticides found that organic farmers reported a lower incidence of medium to high infestations and higher incidence of low or no infestations for four traditional cotton pests.

The researchers from Centre for Sustainable Agriculture concluded that the organic cotton is more environmentally friendly and better for the health of the community and the local economy than GM cotton. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/OCBBCI.php

Organic Food Reduces Children’s Pesticide Exposure
A study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has found that "… that an organic diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposure to organophosphorus pesticides that are commonly used in agricultural production."

Scientists from the University of Washington, Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested the urine of 23 elementary school-age children in the Seattle area. The children ate their normal foods for the first three days of the test, then consumed organic food for five days and returned to their normal diet for the last seven days of the study.

Average levels of malathion and chlorpyriphos "decreased to the nondetectable levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced," the researchers reported

The children on average had zero malathion detected in their urine when they ate organic foods. After returning to conventional foods, one child had as much as 263 parts per billion and the average increased to 1.6 parts per billion.

The children had less than one part per billion of chlorpyriphos when they ate organic foods, however the average increased fivefold as soon as they returned to their previous diet.

The findings suggest that children are exposed to organophosphate chemicals mainly through food. The U.S. EPA banned most residential uses of chlorpyriphos but continues allow many agricultural uses. Scientific research has shown that minute amounts can harm the developing nervous system.

Organic Foods are Pesticide Free
The NSW Food authority has conducted residue tests on certified organic foods and has found that they are free of pesticides. This confirms a similar study conducted in Victoria in 2003 as well other studies conducted around the world.

Minute Traces of Some Chemicals Can Cause Harm
The Wall Street Journal front-page story July 25 stated that low levels of industrial chemicals are linked to rising rates of childhood cancer and brain disorders, among other maladies.

"For years, scientists have struggled to explain rising rates of some cancers and childhood brain disorders. Something about modern living has driven a steady rise of certain maladies, from breast and prostate cancer to autism and learning disabilities. One suspect now is drawing intense scrutiny: the prevalence in the environment of certain industrial chemicals at extremely low levels. A growing body of animal research suggests to some scientists that even minute traces of some chemicals, always assumed to be biologically insignificant, can affect such processes as gene activation and the brain development of newborns."

"An especially striking finding: It appears that some substances may have effects at the very lowest exposures that are absent at higher levels.... This challenges an axiom of toxicology stated by the Swiss chemist Paracelsus nearly 500 years ago: The dose makes the poison."

The Journal went on to point out that many scientists are now convinced that insignificant levels of several individual chemicals can combine to produce significant effects.

The Journal explained: The harm from low-level exposure to a single hormone-disrupting chemical "will always be small," said Andreas Kortenkamp, who directs scientific research on hormone-disrupting chemicals for the European Union (EU). But exposure to low levels of many chemicals simultaneously will produce a cumulative effect on the human hormone system "that is likely to be very large," Kortenkamp told the Journal.

Source: Rachel’s Health News http://www.rachel.org

French Fries Cause Cancer
The International Journal of Cancer has published a new study indicating women who ate french fries regularly as children were more likely to get breast cancer later on in life. For every extra weekly serving of french fries that the women in the study reportedly ate in their youth, their risk of breast cancer as adults rose 27 percent.

One of the reasons could be the levels of Acrylamide that occur in foods fried at high temperature. Acrylamide is has been shown to cause cancer and is one the so called ‘inert’ products found in some brands of the common herbicide glyphosate.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/french-fries.cfm

The Silent Threat
Professor Alf Poulas has published a book looking at the numerous chemicals that we are exposed to through our food and environment. The book called The Silent Threat is based on peer reviewed studies and provides an unbiased scientific perspective on the pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and other additives that are found in our food.

Professor Poulas builds a compelling case for avoiding these contaminants in our food and environment. The Silent Threat is a must to read for people who want to understand the health problems that are associated with these chemicals. Contact: alfredpoulos@esc.net.au

Detox Your Home Body and Mind
Wendy Duyker’s book on how to avoid small amounts of chemicals, Detox Your Home Body and Mind is about to be featured on A Current Affair in the next couple of weeks. This should help to generate interest in this topic. This book is worth reading for effective strategies in avoiding and/or ridding our bodies of these toxic chemicals. Contact: wduyker@hotmail.com

GMO Contamination Registry on the Internet
Greenpeace and GeneWatch have made a website with information on all the cases of GMO contamination of food, animal feed, seeds and wild plants around the world. "No government or international agency has created a public register of incidents and other problems associated with the cultivation of GMOs. Since 1996, GMOs have caused 62 incidents linked to illegal contamination or unlabelled goods in 27 countries. www.gmcontaminationregister.org

More GM contaminated Canola found in Australia
Another case of canola seeds being contaminated by genetically modified (GM) varieties has occurred in South Australia with testing by the Australian Barley Board. Last week the Western Australian Government announced their overseas follow up tests were negative.

It is too early to say whether we are facing widespread contamination of canola through the sale of a widely used cultivar of canola, but this appears to be the most likely cause.

The Australian Oilseeds Federation and the Australian Seeds Federation have taken two months to set up a taskforce that will take another two months to report. There is no talk of clean up and this is a very inadequate response by industry. State Governments should step in to guarantee that farmers will not be out of pocket.

This latest case is extremely concerning as it could seriously damage Australia’s reputation as GM free, resulting in a loss of markets for canola and lower prices to farmers.

Syngenta Claims Ownership of World's Rice
The Swiss biotech corporation Syngenta has filed patent applications on much of the genetic material found in thousands of varieties of rice, the staple crop of more than half of the world's population. Syngenta is also attempting to patent the use of rice in plant and animal feed. "With these patents Syngenta is claiming the work of breeders and farmers from the past centuries as the company's own invention. The attempt to monopolize thousands of gene sequences from most important crop plants in one rush is nothing less than a theft of common goods," says Tina Goethe from Swissaid. http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/syngenta081605.cfm

Monsanto Files Patent Claiming Ownership Of Millions Of Pigs
Monsanto has filed patents in 160 nations for ownership of certain types of pig breeding techniques that are commonly used by farmers around the world. The patents would give Monsanto ownership of the pigs born of those breeding techniques as well as their related herds. The profit incentive of this legal maneuver for Monsanto is enormous, as annual pork sales in the U.S., alone, are US $38 billion annually. http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/pigs.cfm

World Conference Update Sept 20-23
Dr. Vandana Shiva will be discussing the issues of fair trade, intellectual property rights and organic agriculture at a Public Session at the 15th IFOAM World Organic Congress
Topic: Alternatives to WTO’s Free Trade: Organic Agriculture, Fair Trade and Healthy Food
When: Wednesday September 21^st, 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Where: Adelaide Convention Centre, North Terrace, Adelaide.
Admission: Adults $10.00 / Concession $5.00
Bookings are essential and seats are limited. Contact IFOAM Congress Secretariat 08 8352 7099 & visit www.ifoam2005.info

The Go Organic Festival Sept 24-25
This event which follows the World Congress will feature over 200 stalls selling organic products and a continuous range of entertainment including bands, a speaker tent and a big screen to watch the AFL Grand Final in the afternoon and prospectively, help Adelaide celebrate a win in the evening. Victoria Park Racecourse, Adelaide Sept 24 and 25.

NASAA AGM Sept 24
The AGM will be held in the Speakers Tent at the Go Organic Festival, Victoria Park Racecourse 10.30am, Sept 24, Adelaide.

IFOAM General Assembly, Adelaide Sept 26-28
The General Assembly of IFOAM member is taking place in the Union Hall, Adelaide University.

Organic Cooking School Oct 29
The Peaceful Gardens Organic Cooking School provides the hearty warmth of a traditional farmhouse kitchen and provides a safe and friendly environment to learn about organic food preparation.

The Cooking School will be open all day on 29^th October, with demonstrations of pasta making, bread baking, bottling and preserving. In the afternoon a special guest celebrity chef and nutritionist, Sherry Clewlow,of Food Lovers Workshop, will be presenting our first master class.
When; Saturday 29^th October, 10am – 4pm, in conjunction with open farm and gardens.
Where; 1 Koala Drive, Koonwarra, off South Gippsland Hwy.
Bookings organiccookery@dcsi.net.au 03 56640109 or Organic Fix, 03 56642490.

Peaceful Gardens Organic Orchards and Farm Open Day Oct 29
The farm as it has previously been showcased as part of Victoria’s Open Garden Scheme, and the farm is an integral part of and provides the backdrop to all the cooking classes  hosted at Koonwarra, as well as the Organic Fix fresh produce service. Enjoy beautiful surrounds, lamb feeding, Clydesdale cart rides, pig patting, companion planting classes and much more!
When; Saturday 29^th October, 10am – 4pm
Where; Peaceful Gardens at 740 Meeniyan Nerrena Rd. Nerrena, (approx. 8 km from Koonwarra village).
Contact; 03 56640109 or email for details to organicfix@dcsi.net.au