Tuesday 8 April at 10.00am – 12.00 noon
Cooroy Community Garden Pavilion

Link to book online via Noosa Libraries website

If this date is booked out don’t worry as the presentation will be repeated at the
Noosaville Library on Thursday 18 September at 9.00am-11.30am

Title: Shane Simonsen – How to Breed Locally Adapted Crops

Our subtropical climate can be challenging, even for heirloom varieties. Most vegetables available for home growers were developed in places far away and long ago.Our ancestors managed to breed a constellation of locally adapted crops, without scientific training, and so can anyone today with a little space, time and persistence.

Shane Simonsen is an experimental farmer who has been trialling and breeding a vast array of different useful plants in Cooran, seeking out species and varieties that love our local soil, climate and pests so much that they produce a reliable yield with zero inputs (no irrigation, pest control, mechanical tools or imported fertility). Why change the world to suit the plant you decide to grow, when you can change the plant and avoid all that effort?

In this talk Shane will outline the simple process for developing new locally adapted varieties, and invite people to join in his latest effort to breed the perfect subtropical tomato, Ethiopian kale and society garlic. Future hopes to begin a community based bunya nut breeding program will also be discussed.