Name of your Archie: Veggie Patch
Allocated industry (e.g. Wool, Cotton, Horticulture, Pork): Horticulture What years and KLA classes were involved? Visual Arts and Year 5/Year 8 (mentors from Matraville Sports High School) Theme: Celebrating all things green Concept: Our design offers a celebration of the innovative, creative and educational components of the horticultural industry. The first side of our Archibull features a shipping container farm located in the middle of a busy city centre. This innovation provides a perfect answer to Australia’s continual growth of population and the big challenges of feeding a hungry nation. The shipping container farm is able to provide farmers an additional way to allow the nation to receive fresh, nutritious and local produce. Were are highlighting the advantages of container farming such as enabling any individual, community, or organisation to grow fresh produce year-round in any climate. As consumers we need to help growers increase their productivity and profitability. Artistically the choices made in the design are inspired by the Bauhaus movement and the aspects of applying art to reunite creativity and manufacturing as well as comic book styles. On the flip side of our Archibull, side 2 highlights the importance of biosecurity in the horticultural industry and the need to maintain high standards of policy. Using an educational, info graph technique again inspired by comic book styles our main design walks us through a veggie patch. As you being along the path on the left you notice the dying veggies but as you progress the pest detectives are able to employ biosecurity needs to this veggie patch to ensure by the end it is healthy and thriving. We have also featured some renewable energy sources that farmers are now utilising on farms as a way of combating climate change. This side of our Archibull celebrates the need for biosecurity and the success farmers but also on a local level. As your eyes travel between the legs of the Archibull, we have designed a ‘Farm to table’ conveyor belt adorned with the transformation of a seedling into a lettuce. The felt sculptures have been inspired by artist Claes Oldenburg and his pop art soft sculptures. The conveyor belt celebrates the strong cycle of the ‘farm to table’ social movement. We are promoting our viewers to become part of the direct relationship between themselves and farmers. The head of our Archibull truly celebrates all things green as he has transformed into an overgrown forest, the beauty of plants inspired this bright and eye-catching design. Additionally, the honeycomb patterns highlight the integral position bee’s play in the industry. Lastly but not the least the back of our Archibull provides an educational, bright and fun message to our viewers, ‘Eat a rainbow’. Individually cut and glued onto the cow we have created a rainbow out of fruits and vegetables. This allows viewers a visual celebration of the importance of fruits and vegetables in our life. Stylistic influences:
Our Archibull is truly unique as it brings to life a celebration of all things green and the success of the horticultural industry. Each element has been designed in an innovative and fun way that celebrates a simple, visually interesting and idiosyncratic design.
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The world relies on its farms in order to survive. Agriculture is hugely important and is incredibly big business. No other industry can feed the world’s population that is growing at a rate where we cannot produce enough food for the number of people. This year we are very interested in exploring the jobs in the HORTICULTURE INDUSTRY Food waste is a global challenge that has environmental, economic and social impacts. It costs the Australian economy about $20 billion a year. Solving the problem of food waste requires a commitment from all Australians. We need to identify where improvements can be made so that we can change our behaviour, improve technology and make our food system more efficient to achieve the goal of halving our food waste by 2030. Food waste is food that is thrown away everyday. It is estimated that between 20 and 40 % of fruit and vegetables grown in Australia is rejected even before it reaches the supermarket because the produce does not look perfect. Once disposed of in landfill, food waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that 7.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent will be generated from food waste disposed of in 2014–15 over the life of its decay. Food waste also causes issues with odour, attracting vermin, and is a potential source for disease. How is the horticultural industry solving these problems?
Fight food waste at home by getting into good food saving habits when you look, buy, store and cook.
The workplace fridge can be a major source of wasted food
Get the whole school involved in fighting food waste
Help support Aussie farmers from a massive loss"Video of a Queensland strawberry grower dumping hundreds of kilograms of fruit has gone viral, coinciding with QLD Premier Annastacia Palasczuk’s announcement of a $1 million fund to help growers impacted by the sewing needle contamination scandal."
Growers tell of how the fruit-tampering cases could end the $280 million industry Social media users are encouraged to post a picture of themselves buying or eating strawberries – using the hashtag #smashastrawb – to show support for the industry. SO WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SMASH A STRAWB How do we protect our food sources to help feed the world? Do you know how many people there are in the world today? For most of our human history our population has been slow and steady but in the last 120 years it has accelerated from 1.5 to more than 7 billion. Around 1 billion or 1/7 are chronically hungry. We can definitely produce enough food for 11 billion but do we do it ways that is sustainable? We need to ensure safe and nutritional food is available. This is food security Food security is defined by the United Nations as having access at all times to sufficient, safe and nutritious foods; that meet the dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. There are 4 dimensions of food security: 1. Availability 2. Access 3. Utilisation 4. Stability Australia is one of the most food secure countries, we produce enough food to feed the country 3 times over. Our country has produced a consistent supply of healthy food and it has been accessible to almost all! The use of food or knowledge about safe food preparation and good nutrition are key aspects. Comprehensive biosecurity systems help ensure Australia’s food security and food safety, while good biosecurity practices protect our farmers’ productivity and make good business sense.
What challenges are farmers facing?
We need to adapt, innovate and form successful collaborations to support a strong and prosperous Australia with sustainable food security. Given the limits to natural resources the world simply cannot afford to sustain the loss of food that is caused by diseases of plants and animals. More efficient technologies and crops will need to be developed to address this challenge and, equally important, better ways of applying these technologies locally for farmers. Currently, diseases (bacterial, viral, fungal) cause general losses of 20-40% of horticultural crops worldwide. “Our limited land and resources means we’re going to need more innovation and more sustainable agriculture."
“Being in Australia where we have access to food, and knowing other countries are without this access, is a big driver for me.” - University of WA PhD candidate Sabrina Davies. Ms Davies’ aims to tap into the process of plant cells that cause seeds to germinate, for rehabilitation, conservation of threatened species, and production of crops critical to world food supply. WHAT IS BIOSECURITY?Biosecurity is the management of risks to the economy, the environment and the community of pests and diseases entering, emerging, establishing or spreading in Australia. A pest is any animal, plant, invertebrate or pathogen with the potential to have a negative effect. An invasive pest is a pest that requires effort to control it because it is easy for the pest to move into a habitat. Exotic pests or diseases are not native to, or established in, Australia and may not have predators or other population control mechanisms. Why is it so important?Biosecurity is becoming increasingly important in the future as global food demand rises to unprecedented levels. In Australia, where more than two thirds of the population lives in major cities, there is a growing disconnection between consumers and their food source, and consequently their understanding of food-related issues. Increased levels of trade and travel have opened up opportunities for Australia’s economy and people, but at the same time have increased the risk of pests (i.e. insects, feral animals, weeds, diseases) entering the country. This poses a major threat to Australia’s food production, trade, environment and biodiversity. It is important that Australia has some protection measures (biosecurity) in place to:
What can your community do about it? LEARN, SHARE AND COMMUNICATE ways to help protect our agricultural industry and for us to be proactive rather than reactive to these challenges. Biosecurity is everyone’s business! HERE ARE SOME EASY STEPS TO INTRODUCE BIOSECURITY AT A LOCAL LEVEL 1. Look for signs that your plant is unhealthy
Kids can help by becoming pest detectives who spot signs of trouble early. When it comes to spotting pests, kids are usually better than adults. Small people are nearer to the ground where pests usually live, and usually have sharper eyesight so they can spy really tiny insects or the little signs which tell you a plant disease is starting to grow. 3. Download the MyPestGuide Reporter app to a mobile phone and you can use it to send in a report or photo of the pest you have found. 4. Plan and carry out weed surveillance projects using the MyPestGuide pest reporting tools. 5. Prepare fruit fly traps at school or at home 6. Follow border security rules when travelling 7. Come in clean and go out clean - when walking through gardens or farms ensure your shoes are always clean 8. Develop in school communities, an education program that emphasises the relationship between food and fibre industries, individuals, communities, the environment and our economy. 9. TALK - it is important to share your knowledge with everyone Some of the students recently went on an excursion at the Maritime museum to explore the different uses of shipping containers. Little did we know that the horticulture industry was already using shipping containers to create farms. We thought this was the PERFECT solution to ensure EVERYONE in the country has access to safe, affordable and healthy food. Imagine walking out of your door and right in the city centre was a thriving farm. We decided to do some investigation into freight farms... WHAT ARE THEY? These farm systems are complete indoor vertical farming systems that are capable of producing fresh, healthy plants anywhere in the world in ANY CLIMATE! The system is to help farmers expand their business and help make farms more sustainable FEATURES Lighting - LED lightings to promote maximum growth Insulation Air - recapture the evaporated water from the air Size - purpose built Clean - chemical free Water - uses less than 40lt of water a day |
"Join the movement of teachers and students working together with farmers to ensure everyone in this country has access to safe, affordable, healthy food and quality fibre every day and a brighter future for all." Categories
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