Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Agricultural Runoff on Gumbaynggirr Country

On Gumbaynggirr country in northern NSW, the dominant crop farmers grow in all seasons of the year are blueberries. Yet unregulated farming practices and blooming consumer demand have led to the abundant use of pesticides. With unprecedented rainfall in the region, the consistent downpour has swept sediment, debris, and toxic runoff from the blueberry farms through the hills and into freshwater creeks and rivers, which dilutes the drinking water of plants, insects and inland animals, and goes onto race to the coast to spill out into the frothy seas where it flares the lungs and skins of all its residents, to then be evaporated by the sun and form floss-like clouds in the sky which grow heavy with acid rain, and so on. Hence, if we begin to think beyond the immediate pleasure we gain from bursting blueberries in our mouths, we soon become uncomfortable with ‘aspects of our existence that have remained unconscious for a long time.’ To paraphrase Morton, the ecological thought isn’t like thinking about where our waste goes; it is thinking about where our waste goes. 

You can find a more detailed explanation of the contamination crisis from blueberry farms in northern NSW here: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/28/blueberry-blues-how-the-cash-crop-is-causing-a-contamination-crisis-in-coffs-harbour.

A 2021 study undertaken by researchers at the University of Sydney also revealed that with global pesticide use set to increase, 64% of land used for agriculture globally is at risk of pesticide pollution: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/03/30/two-thirds-of-farmland-at-risk-of-pesticide-pollution.html.

Additionally, the Environmental Defender’s Office have found that many government-approved chemical substances for agriculture use are dangerous to most plants, animals and humans: https://www.edo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Chemicals-and-pesticides.pdf.

George Raptis (z5206747)
 

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