Local organic farmer Sasha Welker and her vision for a sustainable future
Named the Rising Star Young Organic Farmer of the Year in 2015, Findon Creek farmer Sasha Welker is passionate about food, health and sustainability, and believes farming has a huge part to play in contributing to a better world
Sasha Welker is a woman who challenges convention. Young, female and American-born, she hardly fits the mold of your average Aussie farmer (who, according to the stats, is 57 and male). The farm she has successfully run with her partner Rhys Minton for the past 11 years isn’t what you would call conventional either. Small, diverse and organic, Green Goddess Farm, at Findon Creek near Kyogle, is the embodiment of the change the 31-year-old wants to bring to the way we think about food and farming.
Raised in suburban Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sasha was travelling in Europe when she met and fell in love with her partner Rhys, who grew up on a beef farm near Lismore. She came to Australia to visit, and never left.
The couple moved to the 2ha farm at Findon Creek with a dream of living self-sufficiently, but soon discovered they wanted to move beyond feeding themselves, to feeding a larger community of people in sustainable and ecological way.
“We started out really idealistic about homesteading and sustainability and all that sort of stuff,” Sasha says.
“In the process I started gardening seriously for the first time ever and really fell in love with it.
“I realised I really liked farming and thought - that’s how we’ll make money to pay the mortgage.”
In 2010, they made the leap to become certified organic and started getting professional, wholesaling to local shops such as Fundies and Santos and selling
at the farmers markets.
With a philosophy of ‘if we grow it we eat it too’ Sasha and Rhys are passionate about growing clean, natural, nutrient-dense organic food to feed themselves and others and closing the gap between farmers and consumers to build greater awareness around food and how it is produced.
“I’m really interested in community and feeding people. Bringing people together through food and redefining how important food is. It’s not just something we just shove in and go again,” says Sasha.
“I’M INTERESTED IN KNOWING PEOPLE AND THEM KNOWING ME - THE FARMER. JUST CLOSING THAT LOOP A LITTLE BIT MORE, BECAUSE IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING REALLY.”
“It can’t just be as easy as it has been I think, because that’s just led to too many problems.”
Problems such as soil depletion, an issue that threatens the future of food production in Australia.
About two thirds of agricultural land in Australia is suffering from acidification, contamination, depletion of nutrients and organic matter and/or salinisation, much of this due to intensive farming practices, chemical fertilisers and irrigation.
“We’re depleting our soils at such a rapid rate and our growing area areas are shrinking every year because of factors like man-made drought, over cultivation, bad farming practices and use of glyphosate,” says Sasha.
“It’s looking really grim for Australia.
“The whole farming system had to completely change if it wants to be sustainable.” According to Sasha, regenerative farming – a system of farming that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, and improves the land – is the answer.
It’s a method she has recently employed on her own farm, after realising her own farming practices – although organic – were still degrading the soil.
She has moved to a no-till system, which means she no longer ploughs her soil before planting.
Ploughing can kill or displace the soil bacteria that keep the soil healthy and disturb the structure of soil, making it less able to absorb water. It also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to greenhouse emissions and climate change.
Instead of ploughing, she uses heavy tarps to smother weeds before planting.
“IT’S A RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE ESSENTIALLY. TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO NOT BE SO RELIANT ON FOSSIL FUELS, MAINTAIN SOIL MOISTURE, NOT WORK AS HARD WHEN IT’S HOT, NOT LOSE FERTILITY CONSTANTLY BY PLOUGHING, AND TO SEQUESTER CARBON.”
“It’s been really challenging but really cool to see the results. Lots of positive things are happening in the soil already.”
Eleven years in to her farming journey, Sasha admits life on the farm can be hard. It’s a seven-day-a week job, holidays are rare, and it’s a two-hour drive to visit friends, but she and Rhys are also living their dream.
“Farming is the most meaningful work we’ve ever done and keeps us motivated and inspired. We care deeply about a sustainable environment, about health and about our future; we believe farming is incredibly political and can contribute enormously to a better world.”
“It’s such a rewarding job. It’s not just a job either, it becomes part of who you are, and that’s what makes it so rewarding. You can really feel good about it.”