PODCAST EPISODE 43: Anika Molesworth, farmer, scientist, storyteller, Wilyakali Country and Melbourne, Australia
Anika Molesworth – farmer, scientist, storyteller, soon to be author – is a truly inspirational force. With an agricultural science career in that has taken her around the globe, and many awards, degrees and accolades under her belt, Anika is fighting the good fight against climate change. Her motivation is personal, and stems from her life experience growing up on a farm in rural Australia; she now speaks and writes on resilient agro-ecological systems and helps farmers around the world respond to climate change in a way that builds their capacity while looking after the environment. For these reasons and more, I am thrilled to welcome Anika to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast for episode 43.
Anika recalls the transition she experienced as a child from living in the city of Melbourne – where food arrived in the kitchen via grocery bags from the supermarket – to moving with her family to a farm 1000 kms away on Wilyakali Country in far west New South Wales. Here, life was completely different to what she had experienced before, as was the source of the family’s daily meals: “City buildings and cars were replaced with open skies and paddocks with kangaroos. Food suddenly became something that did not originate from a supermarket, but from the farm that surrounded me.”
Falling in love with the landscape, she understood the privilege and benefit of having a connection to growing food that would nourish people. On the farm, her family learnt the ways of the land, an intimate experience that involved unravelling secrets and knowledge about the soil, the local flora and fauna. The very genuine, hands-on education developed a sense of belonging for Anika and her family in their new home and community. Touched by a ten-year drought, Anika, her family and the local community waited and waited for the rains to arrive between 2000 and 2010. This inspired Anika to research climate change, and to find out what was behind this devastating and extreme weather condition that was wreaking havoc on the farming community and natural environment.
Anika Molesworth is a wildly positive force in Australian and international agriculture. She is widely recognised as a “Future Shaper”, a warrior of sustainability, a community leader, and a game changer for agricultural science. Tune in to hear Anika and I discuss life on the farm, her incredible vision, and how we can all do our part to fight the war on climate change.
https://www.anikamolesworth.com