Green Harvest: A History of Organic Farming and Gardening in Australia

Green Harvest explores the ideas and practices that have shaped organic farming and gardening in Australia from the interwar years to the present day. It reveals that Australian organic farming and gardening societies were among the first in the world, being active as early as the 1940s.

In what way does human health depend upon the natural environment? Green Harvest traces this idea through four themes of Australian organic farming and gardening – soil, chemical free, ecological wellbeing and back to the land – each illustrated with a case study profiling an Australian organic farmer or gardener.

Personalities in Australian organic gardening such as Jackie French and Peter Bennett talk about organic growing. The book also features extracts from early organic magazines and interviews with current organic growers, managers of outback sheep stations, dairy farmers and self-sufficiency gardeners. All of these tell the story of Australian organic farming and gardening: past, present and future.

Key Features:
* Presents new historical research about early ‘pre-counterculture’ organic farmers and gardeners of the 1940s and 1950s (unpublished prior to this study)
* Innovative structure combining thematic chapters with descriptive case studies
* Contains interviews with high profile organic gardeners such as Jackie French and Peter Bennett