Advocate • Connect September/October 2019 11
News
make a bequest to help
create an organic NZThe Soil & Health Association of
New Zealand, established in 1941,
is dedicated to the preservation of
healthy food and healthy soil, home
gardening and organic production.Soil & Health has led the debate
on issues such as health, safe food,
pesticides, genetic engineering and
organic food production.For this work, we rely on the
generosity of members and the
public. You can support our work by
making a bequest to the Soil & Health
Association in your will.
This gift is one you may not be able
to make in your lifetime, but it will
ensure that others can continue to
create an organic and sustainable
New Zealand in the future.For information about making
a bequest to the Soil & Health
Association, please call
09 419 4536 or visit
http://www.organicnz.org.nzUrban expansion around New Zealand is
swallowing up valuable productive growing
land, compromising our ability to grow
enough of our own food. The Government
has now proposed a National Policy
Statement for Highly Productive Land to
Regenerative agriculture and culture were
introduced to New Zealand audiences in
an early August speaking tour by Dr Hugh
Jellie (Rotorua) and Tré Cates (Boulder,
Colorado).
Dr Jellie is a veterinarian and farmer
with a regenerative consulting business,
Āta. He heads New Zealand’s first
accredited hub for ecological outcome
verification (EOV), a certification scheme
of the Savory Institute, which measures key
indicators of ecosystem function.
Cates, one of the founders of the Savory
Institute, now has his own consulting
company nRhythm. Our society andA controversial decision about genetic
engineering made by the Northland
Regional Council (NRC) in July has
prompted a legal appeal.
The NRC decision to abandon a
precautionary approach to GE was passed by
one vote, the casting vote of the chair, despite
strong community and submitter support for
a continued precautionary approach to GE.
In August, Whangarei District Council
(WDC) voted unanimously to appeal this
decision in the Environment Court. WDC
councillor and retired farmer Phil Halse
strongly supported the motion. “We don’t
want people coming into our district or
wider region to experiment with GMOs,
buggering off when there are unintended
adverse impacts or GMO contamination,
and leaving us to clean up the mess.”
Protect high-class soils
from urban expansion
protect our productive land. Have your say
by making a submission.- More information: bit.ly/2MhQxF3 or
phone MPI: 0800 00 83 33 - Submissions are due by 10 October
2019
Regen ag speaking tour
%\Jenny Lux
institutions, and therefore our land
management, have for too long been built
around the metaphor of a machine, he said.
“When you take a living system and make
it produce like a machine, it’s usually at the
expense of its health.”
Regenerative design is based on holism
rather than reductionism, and uniqueness
rather than prescriptiveness. Tré Cates’ talk
made me recognise the folly of our times, but
also see the hope for our future if we can enter
this new age of complexity collaborating and
connecting with each other.- ŅWD DWDODQG
- Savory Institute: http://www.savory.global
Legal appeal over GE in Northland
GE Free Northland also announced it
will also seek relief against NRC via legal
action, and GE Free NZ will also join the
legal action.
“In our view, the NRC has failed to
make a sound decision on the critically
important GE/GMO issue, despite the
scientific, economic, and cultural evidence
presented by submitters,” said Martin
Robinson, spokesperson for GE Free
Northland.Donate to GE Free Northland’s legal
appeal- Bank account: GE Free (Northland) Inc,
ANZ Kerikeri, 01 0382 0009202 00 - Post cheques to: The secretary, GE Free
Northland, PO Box 1439, Whangarei 0140
GE-free Tasmania a shining example
for NZ
The Soil & Health Association congratulates
the Tasmanian government for extending
its ban on genetically engineered organisms
for another 10 years, until 2029.
“Tasmanian producers see clear benefits
of being GE-free, enjoying a good reputation
and access to markets,” said Jodie Bruning,
Soil & Health National Councillor.“We urge the New Zealand government
to also implement a ban on the outdoor
use of GE, to strengthen our clean and
green brand. People here and around the
world over are demanding safe, healthy,
ethical, GE-free and organic food. We can
produce this and benefit economically,
environmentally and socially.”