Public forum for changing landscapes
An event celebrating the art and science of agriculture is coming to Kandos in November.
Futurelands2, a public forum will explore our changing relationship to land. The forum will gather farmers, artists, custodians and scholars to lead this essential discussion, and invites visitors to engage in novel ways with the region’s natural and farming environments.
Futurelands2 is hosted by Cementa Inc and the Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation (KSCA), in partnership with MECO at Wollongong University and Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney.
“We are bringing together speakers who are doing very interesting things in very different areas of investigation and facilitating a conversation between them,” said local co-organiser Alex Wisser.
“Local farmers, agricultural innovators, soil scientists, Indigenous historians and custodians, economists, entrepreneurs, writers and artists will explore the future of our relationship to land through discussions, tours, demonstrations and even food,” he continued.
Speakers include keynote Bruce Pascoe, Indigenous historian and NSW Premier’s Literary Prize winner and author of Dark Emu. Pascoe will discuss his groundbreaking account of Australia’s unrecognised Indigenous farming heritage, and his crowdfunded initiative to pilot native flora as commercial agricultural crops.
Other speakers include local Wiradjuri man, Larry Towney; award winning Landcare land steward Jill Moore-Kashima (Uralla); Mackay-based sugar-cane farmer and Nuffield scholar Simon Mattsson; economist Gerda Roelvink (Uni of Western Sydney); philosopher Jason Tuckwell and many more.
The weekend forum will feature a guided tour of Marloo, Mt Marsden – a degraded property being regenerated by Stuart and Megan Andrews employing Natural Sequence Farming techniques. This farming method was invented by Stuart’s father Peter Andrews at the celebrated Bylong Valley horse stud, Tarwyn Park, which featured on Australian Story in 2005, 2009 and 2015.
Guests will be treated to a gourmet dinner hosted by celebrated forager and artist Diego Bonetto, working with Chef Joey Astorga. This unique culinary experience will be created from wild food and weeds collected from the local environment.
On the second day, the sandstone pagodas of Ganguddy/Dunns Swamp (Wollemi National Park) will provide a majestic setting for a talk by esteemed environmental scientist and author Haydn Washington on Australia’s eco-sustainable future.
Futurelands2 will be held at Kandos Community Hall and Kandos surrounds on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 November 2016. For more information visit their website: http://ksca.land/futurelands/ or http://ksca.land/futurelands/bookings/ to purchase tickets.