The Earthcare Group
The Earthcare Group demonstrated how a commitment to sustainability at the grass roots level can grow into mainstream change. With humble beginnings in the 1970s, the Earthcare Group initiated a process that has led to Saskatchewan being one of the most active jurisdictions in the world for organic farming.
In the mid-1970s, organic farms were few and far between in Saskatchewan. Less than 10 farmers were using organic methods and only one was considered a certified organic producer. Organic farmers were often considered eccentrics.
In 1976, the University of Regina sponsored a class on organic agriculture called Earthcare. Taught by Louis Xhignese, a professor of human ecology, the class was held at St. Peter's Abbey at Muenster, Saskatchewan. Participants were drawn from a list developed by Al Hergott and Paul Hanley, as well as a number of people in the St. Peter's community and the Muenster area.
The class generated an ongoing network informally called the Earthcare Group. Over several years, members of the Earthcare Group continued to collect names of persons interested in organic agriculture and to establish a network. The mailing list ultimately grew to 500 contacts throughout the province and beyond.
In 1978, the Earthcare Group received funding from Saskatchewan Agriculture and other sources to establish the Earthcare Information Centre and publish a newsletter. In addition to the information centre in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, a resource centre was established within the provincial library system, making books on organic agriculture available to anyone in the province with a library card, through interlibrary loans.
The Earthcare Group was represented on a provincial committee that organized a series of five conferences on organic agriculture held in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The mailing list for the conference was based on the list developed by Earthcare. As many as 200 people attended these conferences, which for the first time brought together farmers and agricultural researchers to explore ecological agriculture systems appropriate to the province.
The conferences are widely considered the launch point for the organic agriculture movement in Saskatchewan.
In 1979-80, Paul Hanley and Robert Morrison produced the book Earthcare: Ecological Agriculture in Saskatchewan. A comprehensive guide to organic farming methods for the prairie bioregion, it combined relevant research results from conventional agricultural research with case studies of 20 of Saskatchewan's organic producers.
The book became a prairie bestseller and copies were sold around the world. It was widely and positively reviewed. One review, in Rodale's New Farm Magazine, called it the book of organic agriculture. The Earthcare book was the information base from which many farmers in Saskatchewan and elsewhere were able to pursue organic production.
Following the publication of this book, the organic agriculture movement began to gain momentum. However, the Earthcare Group was soon replaced by farmer-led industry organizations involved in the certification of organic farms and the processing and marketing or organic products to a local, national, and world market.
The early work of the Earthcare group helped lay the foundation for the development of a robust organic agriculture movement in Saskatchewan. There are now approximately 1100 certified organic farmers in the province, farming in excess of 1 million organic acres. There is no other area in Canada with this level of participation in organic agriculture, according to Statistics Canada and Canadian Organic Growers.
"The Earthcare book helped a number of farmers make the transition to organic production."