School gardens coming to fruition

One of these is Cultivating Community's CEO, Ben Neil. He recognises the good work done by the foundation and says that his organisation is in favour of Labor's proposal. He believes, however, that Labor would better serve the interests of both schools and those already involved in the use of gardens in them if it broadened its support to include approaches other than, but including, that of the Stephanie Alexander's foundation.

He asks whether opportunities will there be for schools, that already have kitchen garden projects, to access Labor's funding. It would be unfair to penalise schools that have already taken the initiative to set up their own garden project ahead of Labor's election promise.

The experience of Cultivating Community, says Mr Neil, shows that one approach does not fit all and that many students would miss out because their school would not have the capacity or space to develop the foundation's model. There are a number of schools such as Kings Patch, Fitzroy Primary and St Peters Primary, he points out, that are good examples of school garden programs that are flexible and which meet the needs of individual schools.

Models abound, but where is Labor?

There other gardens, in states other than Victoria, too. In Western Australia, East Perth City Farm, and in Brisbane, Growing Communities, a consultancy, already provide schools with edible garden services yet neither were consulted by Labor in its clearly off-the-cuff approach to policy development.

Models abound. There is the already-mentioned Black Forest model in Adelaide that, given its pioneering role in the development of school food garden practice and the integration of their school garden into the curriculum, would surely have warranted a call from Labor's policy wonks.

Then there's the approach of Care Designs in the New South Wales Illawarra. The organisation has obtained funding from local industry to impart skills to students in the design and management of gardens in a number of schools, and to train students as “garden ambassadors” to educate younger students and explain their gardens to the public and the media.

And in Sydney, local government is getting in on the act with Randwick City Council's Sustainable Schools Initiatives that assists a number of private and public schools in the municipality.

Also uncontacted by Labor is the national organisation, the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network (www.communitygarden.org.au), the only organisation to have held national conferences on school gardens in Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne. Why have they not heard from the policy makers?

Under Labor's plan who would decide which schools would receive funding and on what criteria? There are many organisations and individual schools able to assist in the development of educational food gardens, instigate healthy food programs and integrate activities into the curriculum at less cost than the Stephanie Alexander Foundation’s, admittedly good, model.

Those concerned would like a more considered, better thought out and comprehensive approach to this new field of education by Labor.

One can only wonder that, if this topic has been so poorly thought out by Labor, how considered are the rest of their minor policies?