Sugar vs the Reef ?
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botanical gardens rough plan
November 3, 2016

Mackay Botanical Gardens Project

Lucas Ihlein Events, Experiments 0 Comments

Just before I left Mackay, I had a great meeting with Richard, Maya and Aaron from the Mackay Botanical Gardens. I wanted to pitch them a crazy idea – a crop of sunflowers and sugar cane at the gardens. This is quite different from the usual thing you see at the Botanical Gardens. It’s big […]

abc rural screen shot smaller
November 3, 2016

ABC Rural covers “Sugar vs the Reef?”

Lucas Ihlein Media 0 Comments

This just went up on the ABC, by journalist Lara Webster. Really great news this week for the Sugar vs the Reef? project, as we began working with the Mackay Botanical Gardens towards a big work of land art – a crop of sugar cane and sunflowers – a collaboration between artists, farmers, horticulturalists, Mackay […]

kim coral drawings
November 3, 2016

Reef Madness – a camping weekend on Hook Island

Kim Williams Learning 0 Comments

In 1987 I had my first Great Barrier Reef experience, snorkelling on one of the outer reefs off Cairns. Seeing for the first time a wonderland of corals and tropical fish remains one of the most astonishing things I’ve witnessed. It was sheer, glorious, teeming beauty. The second Great Barrier Reef snorkelling trip was in […]

crown of thorns 2
October 28, 2016

Runoff, river, reef

Kim Williams Learning 1 Comment

Tuesday 4th October – Lucas and I got an early start this morning to drive from Mackay to Townsville for a 1pm meeting with environmental scientist Jon Brodie at James Cook University. Jon is the Chief Research Scientist, Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER). He has a long list of research articles […]

sugar wars
October 16, 2016

Trouble at Mill

Lucas Ihlein Learning 0 Comments

This article was published in the Daily Mercury yesterday. Here’s a link to it online. And here’s a second article about the “trouble at mill” published on the same day. I have to admit, for me, trying to get my head around those articles is a bit like how my 5 year old daughter Albie […]

bmp coreflute sign 1
October 14, 2016

Thinking about “Smartcane”

Lucas Ihlein Learning 1 Comment

This is a shout out to Sonia Ball from Canegrowers, who we had a fantastic meeting with a few weeks ago. A lot of the difficult thinking in my earlier blog post emerged from our discussion with Sonia, who is the Canegrowers Manager of Communications. Canegrowers is “the principal body representing the state’s sugarcane growers”, advocating […]

chromatographs 1
October 13, 2016

Farmers and soil health

Kim Williams Learning 0 Comments

Over the past month while I’ve been here in Mackay I’ve met many people who are in some way connected with agriculture – soil scientists, environmental scientists, official representatives of the sugarcane industry, local food producers, Australian South Sea Islanders who are descended from the indentured canefield labourers of the last century, a local MP […]

demonstration farm diagram
October 3, 2016

What might a Demonstration Farm look like?

Lucas Ihlein Ideas 0 Comments

Following our meeting with Jim Pearce MP, we’ve been thinking about what a Sugar Cane Demonstration Farm could look like. On Saturday Kim and I sat down with farmer Simon Mattsson and brainstormed a few ideas. I made the scrappy sketch pictured above while we talked. Fundamental idea 1: The Sugar Cane Demonstration Farm needs […]

spoonful of sugar
October 3, 2016

A Spoonful of Sugar

Kim Williams Ideas 7 Comments

On Friday Lucas and I spent the day at Simon Mattson’s farm, having a fun time printmaking with his wife Susie, son Luke and daughter Sophie while Simon was out in the paddocks working. The harvesting crew could be seen in the background, giving the fully grown sugarcane a number one clip to the ground. […]

kim and jim 3d model
October 1, 2016

A Demonstration Farm?

Lucas Ihlein Ideas 0 Comments

John Sweet called up Jim Pearce, the state Labor MP for Mirani and asked for a meeting. As part of John’s vision to redesign the entire Great Barrier Reef Catchment along Keyline principles, he brings together people to catalyse that small thing which might just set something big in motion. So the fact that Kim and I are visiting Mackay was John’s occasion to “Summon […]

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Our journey into the complex world of sugar cane farming on the shores of the Coral Sea

Recent Posts

  • john sweetVale John Sweet
    October 24, 2020
  • old ways new ways movieDocumentation from Sugar vs the Reef
    May 16, 2020
  • ihlein-04-john-sweet-with-soilDirt → soil → earth: the art of building life.
    June 12, 2019
  • catalog cover croppedArtspace Mackay Exhibition Catalogue
    December 11, 2018
  • news clipping mercuryCULTURE AND AGRICULTURE BLEND IN NEW EXHIBITION
    November 7, 2018
  • Invitation_sugar vs the reef (3)Exhibition at Artspace Mackay
    October 22, 2018
  • salmon creek farmGrowing plants and community at Salmon Creek Farm
    September 24, 2018
  • central queensland demonstration farm 2Central Queensland Demonstration Farm Sketch
    September 20, 2018
  • LA river concreted 475-250Scale in Californian Eco-Art
    July 30, 2018
  • bleached coral 475 x 250Closing the loop between land and sea
    July 6, 2018

Recent Comments

  • Lucas Ihlein on Future Garden in Santa Cruz
  • Lucas Ihlein on Central Queensland Demonstration Farm Sketch
  • Mailin on Growing plants and community at Salmon Creek Farm
  • Earning my “L” plates – Baking Dirt on The Narrow Road to the Deep North
  • Lucas Ihlein on Closing the loop between land and sea
  • Lucas Ihlein on Future Garden in Santa Cruz
  • KATH WINZER on Elegant Excretion in the Field
  • Lucas Ihlein on Runoff, river, reef
  • Jasmin Stephens on Back in Mackay – planning the Botanic Gardens Land Art Project
  • Lizzie on The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Bookmarks

  • Canegrowers
  • Central Queensland Soil Health Systems
  • Dakota Lakes Research Farm
  • Futurelands 2
  • Healthy Soils Australia
  • Soils for Life

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