This is the story of the Hawkesbury Harvest. Like all good stories it has heroes and villians, tragedy and the overcoming of adversity. its not just a good story; its an inspiring story of human endeavour.

1. The Pioneering
Spirit
Lives On

2. This is the story of Hawkesbury
Harvest. Like all good stories it
has heroes and villains, tragedy
and the overcoming of
adversity. It’s not just a good
story; it’s an inspiring story of
human endeavour that has life-
affirming lessons for us all.

3. Hawkesbury
Harvest took
its name from
the
Hawkesbury
area in which
it was
conceived..

4. As the Hawkesbury Harvest
has grown and matured its influence
has spread across the Sydney Region
and is being viewed by producers
and consumers as a
place brand for
Sydney Region produce

5. The seed of Hawkesbury
Harvest was created
between 1810 and 1820
when the new Colony’s
fifth Governor, Colonel
Lachlan Macquarie
established the five
Macquarie Towns of
Windsor, Richmond,
Castlereagh, Pitt Town
and Wilberforce.

6. Soon extensive
farming fed
the infant
colony, taking
advantage of
the fertile
soils of the
Hawkesbury-
Nepean River
system..

7. There was no reason for Hawkesbury
Harvest’s awakening during the era
when the area serviced by the
Macquarie Towns became first known as
the breadbasket, and then the food
bowl of Sydney.

8. The seed lay undisturbed for the ensuing
120 years during which time agriculture
became the dominant economic force of
the nation and in particular the Sydney
region, specifically those areas based on
the Hawkesbury-Nepean

9. • The 1940s
marked the
period when
Sydney’s land use
began to change
significantly.
• Suburbanisation
started to sprawl
out across the
Basin.

10. Despite this the
Hawkesbury
Harvest seed lay
quietly dormant as
the trends in the
food bowl gathered
momentum and the
day dawned when a
few people
wondered if action
might be needed to
preserve
agriculture as a
land use in
association with the
urban development.

11. At the end of
the Second
World War
many people
from the
European
Union came to
live in
Australia.

12. Those who acquired or leased land on the
outskirts of the ever-expanding urban
Sydney soon realised the financial
bonanza to be had from using the land
to grow food and plants in its various
forms while waiting until the housing
arrived on their door step.

13. Land was plentiful
as was the
opportunity to
grow food in
parts of the
country that
were beginning
to be opened up
such as the
Murray Darling
Basin.

14. When the housing
did arrive many
simply sold to
the developers
and bought
further out and
waited for the
next housing
wave to arrive.

15. By the 1980s agricultural land
in the Sydney Basin was
regarded politically and
within the bureaucracy as
‘land awaiting higher
economic development.

16. “There is no place
for agriculture in
the Sydney Basin.
Agriculture belongs
over the (Dividing)
Range and any
agricultural land is
land awaiting
higher economic
development”
people in high
places were saying

17. The Hawkesbury Harvest
seed lay in the most barren of ground.
Towards the late 1990s
rural lifestyle living
had overtaken farming
as the major land use
of acreage blocks.

18. The only effort in support
of agriculture in the Basin
was coordinated by the then
called NSW Department of Agriculture
with its focus on
sound environmental practices
and viability,
as burning issues of the time.

19. As the second half of the
20th Century progressed the
supermarket system began to
emerge as the dominant
force in the food chain.

20. This coincided
with the loss
of direct
connection
between
people and
farmers who
grew the
food they
ate.

21. Relationship
based social and
environmental
benefits were
being
progressively
traded off for
convenience
shopping.

22. By the end of the 1990s the
total dominance of the food
chain by the major
supermarkets was impacting
on farm economic
performance.

23. Small farm holdings in the
Sydney Basin were under
extreme pressure from
increased competition and
reduced power
to determine price
and thus incomes.

24. A survey in 2007 in the Hawkesbury
confirmed people had begun to realise
that agriculture and/or some other
means of making income
from the acreage blocks
had a vital role to play
in the maintenance
of that heritage landscape.

25. In early 2000 a community meeting
was held in the packing shed
of an orange orchard located between
Richmond and Castlereagh.
The orchard is on land over which
Governor Macquarie could well have
travelled when he explored the region
and established the five towns.

26. • The purpose of that meeting was to
determine how the small farm local
agriculture and food related
industries could achieve or enhance
viability in the region.
• During the meeting the Hawkesbury
Harvest seed literally burst into
life.

27. The first shoot to
emerge was the Farm
Gate Trail (FGT) a
hybrid activity created
by the integration of
agriculture with the
tourism and the
hospitality industries.

28. Other shoots
have since
emerged
including
open farm
days,
farmers
markets and
a provedore

29. •Building
Opportunity
•Building a
Future
•Reaping the
Harvest

30. Mission Statement
Hawkesbury Harvest
is a community
based association
committed to
improving the
economic viability
and sustainability of
local agriculture.

31. Open Farms
Harvest has developed
many ways of helping
farmers market their
produce.
Farm Gate
Farmers Markets
Trail Map
Local Green
Grocer
Provedore Service Special
Events

32. Kurrajong Native Foods
For food producers it’s
about finding alternative
channels through which they
sell their products.
Lee Etherington now exports
to 37 countries and has a
multi-million dollar turnover.

33. ‘Pine End Organic Farm has
been a member of
Hawkesbury Harvest for 2
years now and in that time,
we have
found its professional
organization of events,
promotion and support to be
of great benefit to
our business.
Not only has it brought
more customers to our
farmgate but has also given
us the opportunity to
be a part of the extensive
marketplace which it
promotes.’
Margarita and Shaun
Carrick

34. Enniskillen Orchard
Grose Vale
‘Hawkesbury Harvest provides me with a
network of farmers who buy and sell
from each other according to seasonal
demands. Hawkesbury Harvest
networking and promotion has assisted
in the rapid growth of my business
through my modern packing shed
catering for local trade and a rapidly
expanding tourist business. I am
confident my business will further
expand with Hawkesbury Harvest being
and integral of that growth’
John Maguire.

35. Enniskillen Orchard
Café and Provedoring

36. A Typical Tourism Day
10:00 AM
10:00 AM
10:15 AM
10:30 AM

37. It’s about tourism
working for farmers, not
farmers working for
tourism
Edition 7 is a multi-map format
extending the Trail onto the South
Coast

38. Cooperative Effort
Harvest Role Local Government Role Farmer Role
Design and Mentoring Local advocate Commitment to be open
when they say they will be
Produce the map Local link to media, Interest in innovating with
tourism and community tourism
Market, media and web Strategic support for Like the general public
support agriculture and farms
Monitor performance and Keep Harvest up to date –
manage issues follow through – we can
only be as good as they
are

39. 1000’s of voluntary hours
Like everything
no matter
how good the concept
its the people who make it
work

40. Founding HH chair
David Mason travelled
Faces of the Harvest
the world to confirm
the benchmark of
excellence was in his
own back yard

41. John Maguire speaks passionately of
his personal commitment to the
maintenance of productive
agricultural land and the insanity of
the relentless sterilisation of fertile
land for the purpose of intensive real
estate development.

42. Bill Shields, Chair of the Hawkesbury Harvest
shares his considerable knowledge in
maintaining a viable orchard, and the
contribution made by science, as well as the
importance for younger generations to see
first hand where their fruit and vegies come
from.

43. Every successful
organisation
has one and HH has a
very unique one in
Alan Eagle

44. John Reynolds
Nashdale Fruit Co.
100% owned and grown
in Australia.

45. Eric Bob Germaine.
Brocken. Board Executive Officer,
Member Regional Development
Australia (RAD).
Members
of the board
and
personalities
toast
the launch of
Map 6

46. Never underestimate
the power of passion !!!!!!!
Former Chair and current Harvest
treasurer Ian Knowd’s PhD studies
are in rural communities and tourism,
and specifically the Hawkesbury
Harvest phenomenon.

47. Lets not forget
the media
Simon Marnie ABC Sydney
selling the message
far and wide
www.abc.net.au/sydney/programs/702_weekends/

48. And the chroniclers
It's 7.30 in the morning
The sun is getting hot
The cockatoos are squabbling
Cars fill the parking lot.
I think that I am early
But that is not the case
Because there is Alan Eagle
A huge smile upon his face.
The line is long for coffee
The queue is huge for eggs
There are people buying vegies
And choosing their ducks legs.
There are flowers and there's lamb
Oysters, herbs and honey too
There's beef and flowers and gorgeous jam
And still the people queue.......
Excerpt from the Hawkesbury Harvest Blog by Mary Canning
http://marycanningphotography.typepad.com/the_hawkesbury_harvest_fa/2009/12/index.html

49. What the Harvest story contributes, even to those
planning regimes where agriculture is protected,
is what it means in cultural landscape
and food culture terms, and its integral role in
food quality, supply, security and equity
in developed communities.
The lessons learned here are fundamental to a viable
future for agriculture in the urbanising world and
associated food systems,
not just of Sydney,
but also for all
modern industrialised economies
and their human settlements.

50. Acknowledgements
• The text in this PowerPoint is taken from “The
Hawkesbury Harvest Story exploring the socio-
cultural intersection between urbanisation and
agriculture in the Sydney Basin” by David
Mason and Ian Knowd
• Images and text in slides 29 to 38 are taken
from a PowerPoint presentation by Ian Knowd
• Selected images from Mary Canning’s
Hawkesbury Harvest Blog
http://marycanningphotography.typepad.com/the_hawkesbury_harvest_fa/

51. This PowerPoint was created by the
Dairy Youth Australia Inc
Art4Agriculture team
as part of the
Cream of the Crop Competition
initiative
http://www.dairyyouthaustralia.com.au/creamofthecrop/index.html

52. WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SPONSORS OF THE
2010 CREAM OF THE CROP COMPETITION
PLATINUM GOLD SILVER
BRONZE