Organic Farming Digest

The Organic Farming Digest (1946-1954) was the first "organic" journal to be published by an agricultural association. The Digest was published quarterly and it included Australian, British, American, European and African authors. About half of the articles published were by Australian authors^[1].

The Organic Farming Digest was published by the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society (1944-1955) which was founded in Sydney, Australia on 5 October 1944. The Society was the first agricultural organisation in the world to call itself an "organic" association^[1]. The Australian society was founded two years before the UK's Soil Association^[1]. The Organic Farming Digest was also adopted and distributed as the official publication of the Living Soil Association of Tasmania^[2].

The main Australian contributing authors were V.H. Kelly and New South Wales grazier Colonel Harold White. The main UK authors published were Albert Howard and F.C. King. The main US authors published in the Organic Farming Digest were Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Jerome Irving Rodale^[1].

The Society promoted organic agriculture and distributed the Digest throughout Australia and beyond for a decade. The final issue of the Digest was Volume 3, Number 5 dated December 1954. The Society was wound up on 19th January 1955 and the reason given was lack of funds^[1].

See also

• Agriculture
• Organic farming
• Organic food
• Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society
• Living Soil Association of Tasmania

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Paull, John "The Lost History of Organic Farming in Australia", Journal of Organic Systems, 2008, 3(2):2-17.
2. ^ Paull, John "The Living Soil Association: Pioneering Organic Farming and Innovating Social Inclusion", Journal of Organic Systems, 2009, 4(1):15-33.