From the Ground Up? The Principles of Australian Organic Agriculture - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 215

seemingly non-productive elements of this community (for example, wildflowers,
birds, microscopic life) were essential to the healthy functioning and stability of
the whole. Echoing Leopold's land ethic, Australian organic farmers and gardeners
pleaded for the recognition of the interdependency of all life. A speaker to the
Victorian Compost Society in 1957 explained: “Man is an animal. He shares this
world with other humans and members of other species, both plant and animal, all
drawing on its material and energy resources” (Victorian Compost Society 1957 ).

11.3 Organic Agriculture in the 2000s - The Regulation

of Australian Organic Farming

The greatest change to transform Australian organic farming since the foundation
of the first organic organizations in the 1940s has been the introduction of organic
standards and certification for organic farmers. The development of standards for
commercial organic farming in the late 1980s was an attempt to assure consistent
and verifiable food production. Adherence to these standards would, it was hoped,
guarantee the consistency of organic growing practices, the quality of produce and
the quality of the agricultural land upon which it was grown. Certification of growers
against these standards also allowed organic growers for the first time to profit
commercially from growing food organically as they could now sell their produce
as identifiably 'organic'.
There had been a series of moves towards standards for organic production in
Australia since the 1960s, encouraged by the development of organic standards in
Britain, Europe and California. The Australian Bio Dynamic Research Institute
(founded in the 1950s) began certifying biodynamic farmers in 1967 and the
institute adopted the 'Demeter' trademark, an internationally recognized logo,
developed in Switzerland which signifies that produce is grown according to bio-
dynamic traditions (Bio - Dynamic Research Institute 2005 ). Guidelines were also
developed by organic organizations in Australia in the late 1970s and 1980s but they
were not widely applied and were not monitored by the organizations but operated
on goodwill (Doubleday Organic Research Association 1977 ; Lyons 1999 ).
The beginning of consistent, monitored certification began in 1986, when
a coalition of approximately 30 Australian organic growers groups formed to
provide a coordinated approach to developing common standards amongst organic
growers and to lobby government. This group became the National Association for
Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA). The first farm certified according to
NASAA standards was Dick and Dot McNeil's orchard, poultry and vegetable farm
near Sydney.
Inspectors examined the property, production processes and animals and tested
the soil for pollutants (D. McNeill 2006 ). This was a process which replaced
the purely honor-based system previously adhered to by members of organic
organizations, although this process was still not enforceable by law. As trade in