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History of Project Genesis

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Perhaps it is valuable at this point to provide a brief insight into the story behind how I came to be interested in food security. I certainly haven’t always been concerned by it – like the majority of people, I was blissfully ignorant of the topic.

Despite being a qualified horticulturalist and teacher working in the industry all of my life – it has only been in the last 20 years that food security has come to my attention. My first memory as a child of 4 years of age was standing in my parents’ market garden business, I’ve been in the industry ever since. I’ve worked in a diverse range of areas including production and retail nurseries, hydroponics, vegetable market gardening, orchard/fruit production, floriculture, seed production, overseas aid sustainability projects, organic gardening and running my own horticulture business for more than 10 years.

This has been the most motivating factor in creating an online resource – I knew that if I could be involved in farming and horticulture for so many years and not be aware of what was really going on in regard to food security, then it is highly likely that the vast majority of people are also unaware of what is going on.

It was on a visit to China in 1993 when the journey really began. I was confronted with a Chinese family – a young mother and her 2 children aged around 5 years old who were all suffering severe malnutrition. Seeing such a level of extreme need in the flesh stopped me in my tracks. It’s a lot different to seeing hungry people on the television news. I was able to help that family on the day but what really impacted and troubled me was the thought – who would help them tomorrow?

I returned home and began researching facts and figures on world hunger and began asking myself questions;

  • Who are the hungry?
  • Why are they hungry?
  • What can be done to help the hungry?
  • Could we all end up hungry one day?

It was then that I realised how vital and important the issue of food security is to feeding a hungry world both now and into the future.  It is imperative that we secure the long term food supply not only in the undeveloped world, but also in the developed world where we only have the ILLUSION OF FOOD BEING FOREVER SECURE.
Those full supermarket shelves today can just as easily be empty tomorrow.

Seeing such a level of extreme need in the flesh stopped me in my tracks

empty supermarket shelves

In fact, I would go so far as to say that without a basic understanding of the issues that confront the world in regards to global agriculture, we are walking blindly in our efforts to help those in need. Those of us that do have access to food could very well end up being the hungry of tomorrow…

 

People queuing for food

Since that experience in China, I have devoted the last 20 years to promoting food security by volunteering with agricultural projects in northern Thailand and Burma – assisting the indigenous Karen and Shan people in food production techniques and seed saving.

In addition to this overseas aid work, our family has been growing our own food and saving seed in Australia.

Along with some like-minded friends here on a farm in our local town, we are building a facility for seed conservation, crop research and development and planting a heritage orchard to safeguard these precious varieties for future generations.

I am currently involved full time with building and maintaining our school horticulture centre that includes a food garden where I teach our students and other schools various horticulture subjects related to food security, including how to grow their own food and seed saving.

For me, there is no other endeavour that I would want to be involved with than being out in the garden. The joy and sense of achievement that comes from growing healthy food, saving your own seeds and assisting others to do the same is fantastic. You are constantly learning – every day is different.