The Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society (1944–1955) was founded in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 5 October 1944, during the closing months of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Paull, Joh
"The Lost History of Organic Farming in Australia"
''Journal of Organic Systems'', 2008, 3(2):2-17. It came into being two years before the United Kingdom's

Soil Association The Soil Association is a British registered charity focused on the effect of agriculture on the environment. It was established in 1946. Their activities include campaigning for local purchasing, public education on nutrition and certificat ...

, thus becoming the first agriculture organisation in the world to call itself an "organic" association. The Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society produced a quarterly journal, '' Organic Farming Digest'' (1946–1954), which was the first "organic" journal to be published by an association. The ''Digest'' published Australian, British, American, European and African authors. About half the articles published were written by Australians. The Living Soil Association of Tasmania, founded in 1946, adopted the journal of the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society, the Organic Farming Digest, and distributed issues to its own members. The primary Australian authors were V. H. Kelly and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

grazier, Colonel Harold White. The main UK authors were Albert Howard and F. C. King, and the main U.S. authors published in '' Organic Farming Digest'' were Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and J. I. Rodale. For a decade, the Society promoted organic agriculture throughout Australia and beyond, but ultimately disbanded on 19 January 1955, with lack of funds given as the reason. The Society stated that it had been successful in spreading the word about

organic agriculture Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...

and this is borne out by the extensive media coverage that they achieved during the life of the Society.Paull, John (2015
Organic farming: The arrival and uptake of the dissident agriculture meme in Australia
Journal of Organics, 2(1): 49-63.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Organic Farming And Gardening Society Organic farming organizations Organic farming in Australia Agricultural organisations based in Australia Organizations established in 1944 Organizations disestablished in 1955 Horticultural organisations based in Australia Australian food and drink organisations Clubs and societies in Australia

See also

References