Welcome to the Sustainable Small Farm Network™.
Want to make your small farm sustainable?
Interested in doing a Sustainable Small Farm™?
We offer Sustainable Small Farm™ certification.
It's inexpensive - we understand how difficult life on a small farm is - between 1997 and 2012 we made Australia's first Sustainable Small Farm™. There is a battle on at the moment for the meaning of "Sustainable" and it's even come down to the government trying to take our common law trademark to control what is a Sustainable Small Farm.
Why would they do this?
If they can define what is sustainable then they can control what you can and can't do on your farm by making laws to regulate it. We believe that these freedoms are yours and that by doing the first one we have the right to say what is a Sustainable Small Farm™ and what isn't. We are on the side of small farmers, not big-business and governments. Only small farmers have the right to say what they can and can't do on their small farm.
In Western Australia we had government backed organizations come down to our local town and teach "How to design a Sustainable Small Farm" in order to make it impossible for us to make an income, using the term we came up with. This was at the time we were fighting against the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) into Western Australia and trying to save WA's largest seedbank of heritage vegetable varieties. The government passed legislation to allow GMO's then went in business partnership with Monsanto. We have since had government workers tell us that GMO's are part of sustainable farming. We strongly disagree and see no place for GMO's on a Sustainable Small Farm. This should make clear, at least in part, their agenda and why there is a battle going on for the term.
We think it is important that there is some kind of certification to show people who are doing the right thing, really trying to be sustainable, not the government and big-business version of sustainable, but from an independent voice.
We want to see real sustainability for small farms, the earth and future generations of small farmers, smallholders and homesteaders. Let people know what side you stand on with certification that says your place and it's people are a Sustainable Small Farm™.
For more information please contact:
Gavin Edwards
Good Heart Farm
(Tasmania's first Sustainable Small Farm™)
ghfarmtas@gmail.com
PS. The first Sustainable Small Farm™ was Balingup Sustainable Small Farm™
and our current farm is Good Heart Farm™ if you want to check that we are the genuine article.
