2 August 2000 From radicalism and ridicule to respectability – history of biological husbandry at Lincoln

The study of biological husbandry – organics – at Lincoln University started in the mid-1970s as a response to radical student elements of the time who felt that conventional farming methods were not the only ‘way’ and that alternative practices should also be taught on campus.

Horticulture lecturer Bob Crowder picked up the initiative but it was a reflection of the times that the land allocated was out of sight away in the furthest extremity of the Horticultural Research Area, and a mere 0.2 hectares in size.

Nevertheless, over 1976-77 a Biological Husbandry Unit was born and with the enthusiastic help and encouragement of that original bunch of radical students it survived ridicule and crawled into infancy unfinanced and unrecognised but not unloved.

Slowly it rose to become noticed and to incorporate an orchard and tunnel houses.

For the first seven years considerable use was made of voluntary labour and Government labour schemes and Bob Crowder developed it as a demonstration unit based on the philosophy of Dr Stuart Hill of McGill University and he increasingly followed the standards for production laid down by IFOAM, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.

A big boost for the unit came in 1985 when the NZ Soil Association launched a national appeal for funds to promote research and extension activities. This resulted in money being made available to subsidise the employment of a permanent technician – Geoff Barnett – at the unit.

Geoff's involvement became an essential part of the unit's on-going success.

Enthusiastic voluntary participation continued, with particularly valuable contributions from the Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) movement.

Bob Crowder became much in demand as a spokesperson for organics in New Zealand and by the second half of the 1980s the unit had a firm place and high profile within Lincoln's structures.

Part of this was a reflection of changing times and attitudes as worldwide there was an emerging appreciation of the validity of alternative approaches to almost everything, agriculture included.

At the unit itself by the mid-1980s a great deal of attention had been given to the establishment of shelterbelts, woodlots and headlands as essential elements for the success of the system.

Production was based on the use of compost, minimal tillage, mulching, rotation and plant diversity with plastic tunnel houses producing vegetables year-round and an apple area proving invaluable for determining cultivars suitable for biological husbandry.

Research projects included investigations of an intensive six-year rotation for larger scale commercial vegetable production (started in 1985) and a six-year rotation appropriate to mixed agricultural systems (established in 1987) to investigate the response of grain crops in the organic system.

Interest in the development of ‘appropriate technology’ led to the involvement of Lincoln University's then Department of Natural Resources Engineering with thermal weed control, particularly in relation to onion production.

Activities received a major fillip in 1988 when the Soil and Health Association held its national conference at Lincoln University drawing over 600 participants to the campus. The University announced that the size of the Biological Husbandry Unit would be extended to 10 hectares and the Soil and Health Association agreed to continue its funding grant for a further three-year term.

Expansion at the BHU was matched by an expanding global stature for Lincoln's involvement in biological husbandry teaching and research. In 1993 Bob Crowder, by then an elected Director of IFOAM's World Board, was presented with an IFOAM Recognition Award for his international contribution to biological husbandry. Then in 1994 Lincoln University received the accolade of being chosen to host the 10th International IFOAM Conference.

Close to 800 delegates and observers from around the world came to Lincoln University for this conference and Lincoln's international reputation for organics research was confirmed. The road from radicalism and ridicule to respectability was complete.

In July 1996 Bob Crowder retired from the Lincoln staff after more than 30 years of service. In the Queen's Birthday Honours List the following year Bob was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in recognition of his services to biological husbandry. Through university and outside activities he had been at the forefront of research, promotion and certification of organic production systems for some 20 years.

On his departure from Lincoln it could truly be said that the philosophy, theory and practices of ‘organics’ now permeated numerous papers offered by the University across many disciplines and departments. Biological husbandry had come in from its out-of-sight distant corner at the furthest end of the campus.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand