Organic pioneer calls it a day
2011-11-02T00:32:51+11:00
Retiring sheep and wheat farmer Alan Druce was organic well ahead of his time, reports SIMON WEBSTER.
When Alan Druce shunned chemical pesticides and fertilisers to go organic in the 1960s, his neighbours thought him mad.
“They thought I’d lost my marbles,” Druce, now 82, told the ABC’s Landline recently. “I was the laughing-stock of the district and yes, it was tough going.”
The idea of organics was so radical that there wasn’t even a market for his produce. But now, with Druce retiring, his 2655-acre NSW property is so special – having never had the chemical applications that other farms in the NSW sheep-wheat belt have endured – that at least one academic believes it should be turned into a government research facility.
For the full story, see the Landline video and transcript here.
