"Jangarri": economics, environment, society

Abstract

A BRIEF description of my formative years and the location of my early development provides clues to my philosophy about life which influences my approach to farming. I was fortunate to have had the experience of an upbringing on the land during the 1940s, at Kukerin in the wheatbelt, and 19S0s, in the Mount Barker region, in southwestern Australia. It was a period of rapid change when mechanization brought about development that far outstripped long-term planning. Huge areas of the Jarrah Eucalyptus marginata forest were cleared and burnt to make way for agriculture. The sandplains rich in flora and fauna were easily cleared for extensive agriculture. These changes left me with a feeling of regret and those who follow my generation will never know what we have lost. This period was a time when education taught the basics of life and when good "life" values were inculcated with sayings, morals and mottoes. Two of these I have never forgotten: "waste not, want not"; and "good, better, best, never let it rest, till your good is better, and your better best". They have been guiding principles for me. I also hold to the sentiment that nature and experience are the best teachers and that nothing is more certain than change.