{"id":3026,"date":"2018-08-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/steffan-browning-will-conscious-regenerative-biological-agriculture-make-nz-a-world-leader\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T19:15:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T06:15:28","slug":"steffan-browning-will-conscious-regenerative-biological-agriculture-make-nz-a-world-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/greenplanetfm\/steffan-browning-will-conscious-regenerative-biological-agriculture-make-nz-a-world-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Steffan Browning: Will \u2018conscious\u2019 regenerative - biological agriculture make NZ a world leader?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Portfolios that Steffan held in the NZ Green Party were:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Primary Production<\/li>\n<li>This Included Agriculture and Horticulture, which comprised Organics, Genetic Engineering &amp; Forestry.<\/li>\n<li>Plus Fisheries (for a good time he held this.) <\/li>\n<li>Safe food for a period - (and there was some politics around that.)<\/li>\n<li>Biosecurity and food safety.<\/li>\n<li>Security and Intelligence for a while too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this interview many subjects were rapidly covered so as to give an overview of what are the possibilities of a free, truly green, healthy and independent<br \/>\n    country - one that is happily embedded in the biosphere.<\/p>\n<h3>Organic Food Growing<\/h3>\n<p>Steffan says that in relation to our small organic food growers - we have to make sure that they can survive as we are asking of them to grow the finest<br \/>\n    quality and healthiest, highest - nutritional food. So it is imperative that our growers survive economically too. <\/p>\n<p>Steffan who for 15 years was an organic producer says organic growers have to be able to survive themselves and put a roof over their head and feed their<br \/>\n    children - and they are up against industrial food production which is produced cheaply by using in his words - some very ugly chemicals and ugly fertilisers<br \/>\n    as well. These then degrade our rivers and that the chemicals are impacting on our health - that there are a considerable amount of chemicals in our<br \/>\n    food - so how do we compare our food? What is cheap food? Because the cost of these chemicals on top of our national health system and into our environment<br \/>\n    are not considered in NZ\u2019s industrialised retailed food prices.<\/p>\n<p>Where as, organic producers holistic perspective does not, in most circumstances pollute waterways or the air with chemical sprays - and there are no known<br \/>\n    health and hospital costs as a result of eating organic food.<\/p>\n<p>Steffan says there is a problem with costs - but as an organic producer - he at the peak of the season for a number of weeks - could and did sell organic<br \/>\n    food at the same price of industrial vegetables. He also mentioned that industrial farming is also subsidised in the form of cheap chemicals. <\/p>\n<p><em>Steffan produced capsicums, tomatoes, aubergines (eggplant) beans, cucumbers, basil and chilli peppers - these were his primary crop.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>By blanket use of heavy chemicals across a whole farm - all pests as well as benevolent insects are killed - it\u2019s an easy fix. Whereas organic farmers<br \/>\n    target what needs to be curtailed and do this with traps, and other noninvasive chemical means.<\/p>\n<h3>Loss of Insects<\/h3>\n<p>There is a world wide decline of insects. Where 50 years ago if you drove 50 kilometers through a rural setting there would be huge numbers of dead insects<br \/>\n    splattered on the window screen of your car. Today - basically none - zilch.<\/p>\n<p>Steffan says there are two reasons that he knows of.<\/p>\n<p>1) Habitat has gone - bare earth actions be it farming and urbanisation - take away diversity - less trees, wetlands, shrubs, scrub and herbs.<\/p>\n<p>2) Chemicals <strong>nicotinoids <\/strong>- the \u2018neo nix\u2019 - is what they are called for short - is known to kill bees and affect their health including<br \/>\n    other beneficial insects - plus there are also fungicides and herbicides as well.<\/p>\n<p>France in Europe is an excellent example of push back against these sorts of chemicals - having kicked out Monsanto as they restore ecological balance<br \/>\n    to their environment.<\/p>\n<p>France too has a huge number of organic food outlets right across the country - and are far more conscious of their food production and consumption. Food<br \/>\n    that is close to \u2018use by\u2019 date is never incinerated or sent to landfill - but sent to hospices and other needy outlets and possibly prisons etc = far<br \/>\n    less waste. Also Supermarkets will not buy from farmers who use <strong>nicotinoids<\/strong>. This is due to commercial outlets across France listening<br \/>\n    to consumer demands.<\/p>\n<p>Steffan goes on to say that our NZ regulators - our \u2018environmental protectors\u2019 as in the likes of Government - need to say that we are going to do the<br \/>\n    right thing &hellip; and bring in the \u2018precautionary approach\u2019 but, instead - our regulators are turning away and ignoring their social responsibility.\n    <\/p>\n<h3>Ministry for Primary Industries - need to have vision and courage.<\/h3>\n<p>New Zealanders have to keep the pressure on the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Regulators - where he says we need some major changes<br \/>\n    - especially in the Ministry for Primary Industries, particularly their lack of vision and their lack of courage in not standing up to industry There<br \/>\n    are also conflicts of interest - especially around GE &amp; GMO\u2019s and the release of these materials. That some of these officials have actively promoted<br \/>\n    GE and promoted chemicals when their job is to be a watchdog - for our NZ environment! <\/p>\n<p>Especially when they are actively wanting easier access for GE materials to be released into the NZ countryside - and this message is coming from the CEO<br \/>\n    of the EPA - which is extremely concerning.<\/p>\n<p>The community and the environment have be at the forefront - before the economy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/organicnz.org.nz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/organicnz.org.nz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">teffan then mentions that he has just been elected back onto the Soil and Health National Council <\/a><br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>Steffan talks about the recent breakthrough that brought about a \u2018GE Free Northland\u2019. Plus the Soil and Health Association working with these Northern<br \/>\n    Councils enabling them - along with a huge number of ordinary NZers who volunteered their time to do submissions and rally to this cause - etc. <\/p>\n<p>That the Soil and Health Association was able to get NZ\u2019s High Court to back them in making sure that Councils such as Northland, Hastings, Hawkes Bay<br \/>\n    and to a certain extent the BOP - Bay of Plenty - the power to keep out experimentation from GE corporations. These biotech entities always wanting<br \/>\n    to release GE organisms into the environment, any environment. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Also covered<\/strong>. \u2018Gene editing and CRISPR, also called CRISPR\/Cas9.\u2019 - etc so as to manoeuvre to find loopholes to let these experiments<br \/>\n    into the environment - but fortunately the EU has come out and said they are the same as genetic engineering! Which is a blessing for NZ.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Precautionary Approach - is not anti science - It takes our children\u2019s future into consideration. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Steffan goes on to say - he is not stalling innovation There are many ways that scientists can use these tools in labs to research both plants and animals<br \/>\n    that can be used in non GE settings - He said we must not release these products into our environment - it\u2019s very reckless to do so.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New Zealand can still be the clean green 100% direction that at heart - we want.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Our overseas consumers expect high quality food products - pesticide free - GE FREE - and leaving our country in a pristine state at the same time.<\/p>\n<h3>NZ organic production is growing.<\/h3>\n<p>Our growth in organics is increasing rapidly - and exports enable us to obtain premium returns. <\/p>\n<p>As a result of regenerative agricultural systems, biological farming offers a prosperous future. <\/p>\n<p>Bailey Perryman in Cultivating urban farming and Penelope Bundy have joined <a href=\"https:\/\/organicnz.org.nz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Organic NZ<\/a> so we can<br \/>\n    look forward to a sustainable drive towards organics here.<\/p>\n<h3>The Urgency of Training Soil Scientists<\/h3>\n<p>Hear how successive NZ governments have taken away the funding for \u2018soil science\u2019 in our major universities - <u>and it is the soil that is the backbone of our country.<\/u>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Air in NZ what is the quality?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Depends on where you live.<\/p>\n<p>Marlborough for example - far to much chemical drift from viticulture - exacerbating cancers and degenerative diseases. <\/p>\n<p>However in Marlborough there is now a significant growth in organic wines - so no chemical spray are used by them. HOWEVER - there is also an increase<br \/>\n    in non organic vineyards in the region as well, which continue to spray.<\/p>\n<p>But there are now ample organic wines available to drink here in NZ.<\/p>\n<h3>Water<\/h3>\n<p>Rivers - nitrates and very poor forestry practices - or soil erosion have been deteriorating the water course right out to estuaries and sea. The fishing<br \/>\n    grounds are suffering major problems but as it has been politicised - it is now getting the NZ public\u2019s attention. <\/p>\n<p>Education comes through time and again in this interview - education is the answer.<\/p>\n<h3>BioSecurity <\/h3>\n<p>NZ allowed a whole host of pests to be brought in the country 100 to 150 years ago and this has caused problems that still have to be urgently addressed.\n    <\/p>\n<p><strong>1080<\/strong> is a very cruel death &hellip; listen to Steffan, who does not like it. <a href=\"https:\/\/organicnz.org.nz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listen<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>He is very concerned <\/p>\n<p>We need hunters to go out and cull pests and also utilise the skins and meat if safe to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Mycoplasma bovis in cows - we needed to cull them straight away. It\u2019s a huge health problem for cows.Bio security was very slow at waking up to this outbreak!<\/p>\n<h3>National Security <\/h3>\n<p>5 Eyes Echelon listening and recording station in Blenheim - <strong>close it down<\/strong> is his statement.<\/p>\n<p>It persists regardless of who is in Parliament. No NZ Government seems to have the power to close it?<\/p>\n<h3>Geo Engineering <\/h3>\n<p>Finally the air above us - what is Geo engineering - vapour trails, contrails and chemtrails?<\/p>\n<p>The fact that analysis of the particulates are Barium, Aluminium and Strontium - what are these minute chemicals? And what is solar reflection? Solar radiation<br \/>\n    management (SRM) projects are a type of climate engineering which seek to reflect sunlight and thus reduce global warming.<\/p>\n<p><h3>Study looks into belief that chemtrails are real - NZ Herald<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/world\/news\/article.cfm?c_id=2&amp;objectid=11940711\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/world\/news\/article.cfm?c_id=2&amp;objectid=11940711<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>Nov 5, 2017 - A new study has lifted the lid on chemtrails. ... The chemtrails conspiracy says that airliners are deliberately spraying chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>This interview is definitely worth a listen.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steffan was one of the more courageous Greens Party members of Parliament. His portfolios focussed on both bio-security to halt the invasion of unwanted organisms into our environment. As well as security intelligence from the Five Eyes Global Echelon information gathering facility - based in Marlborough, just down the road from where Steffan resides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3269,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026\/revisions\/3269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}