Book takes: From clean-cut scientist to the most important figure in NZ organic farming

“I was 18 and worked at the supermarket while studying history at the University of Canterbury. I often saw him there.”

It didn’t occur to Morris at the time, but Crowder only used the supermarket to supplement the abundance of food pouring out of the Biological Husbandry Unit (BHU) at Lincoln University. Morris learned later that Crowder started the unit in the late 1970s, making him one of the pioneers of the modern organics movement in New Zealand.

“He left me with his card and told me that he was on the world board of IFOAM. At the time this meant nothing to me. I later found out it was the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, an organisation that had been driving and supporting the development of organic production across the globe for more than two decades.”

As Morris and Crowder got to know each other better during the next few years, Morris became more inspired by his work: trying to develop a system of living that was in harmony with nature, creating beauty, joy and nourishment as he went.

“Perhaps it was inevitable that I would end up trying to write his story.”

Morris’s book Bob Crowder: A New Zealand organics pioneer is out now. Here, Morris shares three top takes from the biography.

Metamorphosis

Bob Crowder is recognised as perhaps the most important figure in New Zealand’s organic farming history. Bob exemplifies many qualities, including service, courage, determination and, often, the brutality of plain-speaking. His story demonstrates, above all, how important it is to embody one’s own sense of self. His butterfly-like metamorphosis from clean-cut young scientist in the industrial horticultural machine to radical, Morris-dancing organics proponent (after a Sabbatical in the UK) was dramatic and magnificent.

Pragmatism