E18 Carolyn Suggate : Farming Champion & Founder of ORICoop

How do you live your beliefs while earning enough to eat?

This is the question we put to ORICoop founder and fair farming advocate Carolyn Suggate (amongst other conundrums). It’s a curly one, but Carolyn comes to the party with passion and insight aplenty.

She shares why she pursues her principles over financial gain, how she makes it work with her partner and family, tips for raising conscious kids (without being pushy or puritanical), her unexpected foray into olympic rifle shooting, and why we should put farmers at the top of the food chain.

Enjoy this conversation with a big-picture food-systems thinker and down-to-earth proponent of simple pleasures.

SHOW NOTES

• Carolyn’s accidental olympic rifle shooting career.
• Why she rebelled against conventional farming. 
• Her 20 year journey back to farming.
• The on/off-farm income balancing act.
• Why she follows fulfillment, not financial rewards. 
• A call to end the cycle of undervaluing farmers. 
• Noticing that our children emulate our values.
• How farming systems are reverting back to pre 1950’s practices where we encourage diversity and seasonal observation.
• How adversity builds character. 
• Why we need our tribe to stay on course. 
• How to raise changemaking kids. 
• The pitfalls of being puritanical about organic farming.
• How the industrial mentality of incessant production and high yields is hurting farmers. 
• Why our financial system thwarts our ability to be nimble with nature. 
• Her no-rule Sundays.
• The value of seasonal connection.
• Empowering our children to call out racism, sexism, culturalism.
• Thinking further back than our colonial roots. 
• Why we should be supporting farmers, not eaters. 
• Has community evolved as a concept? Can we still create the tight-knit communities of yesteryear? 
• Why we can’t forget that nature is in control.
• Her advice to “start early - it’s a long road and you need the right people.”
• Her experience of supportive-yet-stifling rural communities. 
• Is tourism good for communities?

LINKS YOU'LL LOVE

• The Barossa Coop
• ORICoop
• Prom Coast Food Collective
• CERES

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