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Who is Dr John?
Dr John Vella, PhD Agricultural Science & Research, Sydney University is really into the natural aspects of plant science.
After receiving his PhD in 1989 He went on to work in his family business making it into the biggest seedling supplier in Australia at around 300 million seedlings per year, which some consider to be one of the highest quality seedlings in the world.
With over 25years of growing experience, Dr John consults to commercial farmers and various Government Agricultural departments.
Dr John has used his scientific observations and found solutions to many of the problems that Australian farmers are faced with in order to grow high quality disease free produce.
Dr John now endeavors to provide Australians with his uniquely grown seedlings, produced as organically as possible so that you and your family can grow your own great produce without the use of potentially harmful toxic chemicals that is found on much of the imported produce that we find in the supermarkets today.
In 2004 Dr John was the recipient of a prestigious Australian Design Mark Award for his developments of a new hygienically sealed packaging system for fruit and vegetables.
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Pesticides
Pesticides are an increasing problem as more and more contaminants enter the environment and accumulate in the food chain.
The government has statutory limits for permissible levels of all pesticide residues in food. These levels are known as Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) and have been established to protect consumers. Since the 1970's, the Australian and New Zealand governments have phased out the agriculture use of organochlorine pesticides including DDT but these persit in the soil. All pesticides have a withholding period i.e. the mimimum time between the final application of the chemical and the harvest of the crop, this is to give time for the levels of pesticide that the crop contains to drop to the correct MRL that the government has decreed as safe.
Fertilisers are also a cause for concern. Due to increase technology and greater residue testing has found Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPCs) of cadmium and copper have been exceeded in some produce sampled in several Australian states.
These are some of the examples of pesticides and heavy metals accumulating in our food chain and these build up in our body tissue to dangerous levels as shown by the recent Sydney Harbour contamination of entire fishing families.
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Nutrient Deficiency
Most top soils in Australia are nutrient deficient. Combine this with harvesting early and storing produce in cool rooms it is no wonder that the vital ingredients that nourish and replenish the body are missing from our produce. All these factors result in produce that has little taste and low nutrient value. |
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Herbs & Health-The Australian Medical Journal
"Herbs and spices are packed with antioxidants-and the more you use, the greater the benefits" This was the headline in a recent Sunday Life article by Paula Goodyer. In this article it made reference to recent research review published in The Medical Journal Of Australia. You could raise your salad bowl's antioxidant by 200% by adding some herbs and spices http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/185_04_210806/supplement_210806.html |
