I have just spent the last three days at the Queensland State Landcare Conference and this was the best collection of speakers I have ever seen at a conference and I’m not saying that because I had a little hand in the organisation. The quality of the speakers and the relevant information on a range of topics from technology, indigenous fire and land management, future trends, broad acre cropping, soil sciences, koala research, flood recovery, the grazing industry and landcare integration, Integrated pest management, insects, mining, vegetation laws, organic farming and food miles was extraordinary.

Well done to Headwaters Landcare Group.

There was a panel session at the end of the conference in which Minister Andrew Cripps volunteered to  join as a panellist (this certainly increased the panel’s effectiveness) and one of the other panellists was Ray Palmer who runs and organic farm near Stanthorpe, with his wife Sam who is also driving the Regional Food Network. What a passionate and committed couple and you can follow their facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Symara-Organic-Farm/140139666043803 or check out their website at  http://www.symarafarm.com.au/.

Ray and Sam sell from the farm gate or by produce box or the Northey Street Organic Markets only and were the first Australian Farmers to participate in La Via Campesina, the International Small Farmers movement. They encourage buyers to visit them on the farm to see where the produce comes from.   One of Ray’s quotes is ‘They is Us’ which refers to the fact that we should not wait for ‘them’ to do anything  but that the ‘them’ we are waiting for is in fact ‘Us’.  In other words ‘Get in and take responsibility for improving our climate situation. Don’t wait for a mysterious ‘them’ to do it for us.’