The world's first and newest organic magazines are Australian

Abstract

After years of published claims that the organic agriculture movement in Australia dates from the 1980s it will surprise most to learn that Australia was in fact an early adopter and indeed a world pioneer in sustainable agriculture and organic magazine publishing.

The world's first farming organisation to adopt "organic" into its title was the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society (1944-1955). The Society published the Organic Farming Digest, starting in April 1946. The Organic Farming Digest was the first "organic" agriculture journal in the world to be published by an association. The Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society and the Organic Farming Digest both predate the founding of the UK Soil Association. The Australian Society developed and published a set of 10 principles of organic farming, the first institution to do so. The principles enunciated by the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society condemned the use of toxic sprays in agriculture, expressed concern for soil micro-organisms, worms, bees and birds, decried the pollution of rivers, urged water conservation, condemned deforestation, urged large-scale tree planting, and advocated mixed farming rather than monocultural farming practices. This account of Australia's organic pioneering society is published in the first edition of Australia's new organic business magazine: The Organic Way.