It feels like a constant fight at the moment trying to overturn this FSANZ ruling preventing Moringa from being sold for human consumption. My time seems to be divided between social media, actual media, winter farm work and running a business. I am still very uncomfortable in front of a camera but I am getting better at it.
The Country Telegraph & The ABC
My first time on a live news show was the Country Telegraph. They are an independent news organisation that represents rural and regional Australia. It’s an extremely professional outfit and they are great to talk to. So far I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them and the fact they want to listen to what is happening in the Moringa world in Australia is great to see. Our first interview went real well and I believe it got over 50,000 views. It was enough for them to invite us back on for a second round.
During our first interview, we did all the tests for the camera, microphone and internet speed. But of course, once we went live, my microphone would not work. So I am nervous as hell already. And now I am talking as a mute while the poor host had to cover for me. Lucky for me, Gary, who I have been working with to overturn this ban could take over and give the useful content while I am in the back trying to work out how to talk.
We got it going of course. I managed to get a few minutes in. It felt good when it was over and I was quite surprised at the success of the video. The second time around I was a bit less nervous and my microphone worked. This was an hour-long session, and of course the program was derailed as the third person who was meant to join had major technical issues. He was an expert and we were a three-part panel that was going to have a good discussion on the Moringa ban in Australia. Even though it was not my equipment playing up this time, I can’t help but feel it was because of my attachment to Murphy’s Law that this happened.
If you want to have a look at their channel, and of course see me bumble my way through an interview. Follow their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@thecountrytelegraph
They are a small and independent firm and I truly believe they do great reporting on issues in rural Australia. I think it is important to support these kinds of people.
The ABC also came to the farm to do an interview. It has not been released as of writing this but hopefully soon it will be. I fear as everything seems to move so quickly at the moment the information won’t be fully up to date. But it was a good experience anyway. They were super professional and very friendly as well and we had a good talk about the Moringa situation.
I did not have too many good plants for her to see as this time of the year a lot of them have stunted growth. And there are some more issues with the plants I am facing. I am hoping she did not record the part of me swearing at my goats John & Deere in the background. They had gotten into the chicken coop again and were using their horns to push it over. The chickens were running for their life and I am in the Moringa field getting a photo shoot. Thank god Audrey came out to help shoo them away.
Stunted Growth & Crop Loss
With my wonderful run of bad luck, a few more surprises were on the horizon for my Moringa plants.
This time of the year, the Moringa does get a bit of stunted growth, I had hoped they would be established enough in the ground to survive the cold snap that happened. But I was wrong. Currently I am looking at about half of my crop dying out. I don’t know the full reason why it is happening. The soil pH seems right, it gets sun and the irrigation is set up. It could be not enough sun, not enough water, too cold, soil too hard or most likely a combination of all the above.
Some plants are thriving, some have lost all their leaves and are just a stick now. Others have just disappeared after they withered away. It’s a bit of a kick in the guts, but it is farming. And it is learning. This is going to make me better in the long term as I work out what I am doing wrong.
One big thing I have noticed is the increase in shade in the area I planted the Moringa. During the summer months this area had plenty of light. But now the autumn/winter sun has arrived, it is not getting the field nearly as effectively as it used to. Moringa thrives in the sun, it needs it and I can see this being an issue during these colder months.
The other big issue is the soil. It’s so hard. We have not had a decent rain event since it flooded in February. It’s just incredibly dry here and the ground is cracking. I get irrigation to the plants, but I can’t help but think the roots can’t get down deep enough to grow.
We are currently getting 13-degree nights. But the sun and heat should be enough for the moringa plants to continue growing. Except the sun is not getting high enough for the Moringa to thrive.
The next run of poor luck is with the new seedlings.
The Cookhouse And Roasted Moringa Seeds
I want to be ready for the Spring planting season. This is the time I have been waiting for since buying the farm. My best bet is to grow the Moringa seedlings the next few months in a greenhouse and plant them at the start of Spring. So I planted a couple of hundred seeds to start. Built a small greenhouse and placed the Moringa seeds in there.
In my head this would work, the seeds are protected from the cold nights and the heat should stay trapped in the greenhouse. But, much like England heading into an Ashes summer, I grossly overestimated my ability to grow Moringa and thought it would be a clean sweep.
Moringa loves heat, and sunlight. It does not like the cold. So a greenhouse should work. But, we are still getting mid-twenty degree days and no rain. This is making the greenhouse really bloody hot. So hot the seeds and soil are drying out quickly. I have been using biodegradable pots as I want them to go into the ground at the start of Spring. This should also help with the transplant shock Moringa goes through. But the heat is drying the greenhouse out completely. I did not even realise until two weeks in and the seeds were not sprouting at all.
I 3D-printed a couple of seedling trays and these retain moisture better than the compostable ones. They are the only seedlings that have sprouted and it is why I could pinpoint the issue to the heat in the greenhouse and the fact the soil is drying out. The simple solution is to open the greenhouse during the day and close it at night. Something so simple, and yet I did not think of it until I dry roasted my seeds.
I guess I will see if these seeds are “cooked” now or if they will sprout. Not a great situation when my plants in the ground are dying and my seeds are not growing. I don’t have a lot left so I better get this right.
Put it in the Bag
When I was nineteen, I worked at a wholesale nursery. I clearly needed to pay more attention to what I was doing and my surroundings. All the knowledge I needed was there, but as a young man I was far more interested in what to do in my free time, than learn a new craft. After all, my World of Warcraft warlock was not going to level and get stronger without my intervention and eight hours a day of gameplay. Priorities, am I right?
It was with a recent conversation I had with Gary who showed me an American farm that works with Moringa. I noticed the bags they were in straight away. This was something I spent a year doing when I was younger. Just bagging palm trees and other varieties of landscaping trees. It was for easy growing, maintenance and to be able to sell in a bag to housing developers when they needed them.
Why can’t I look at bagging Moringa the same way? At least the soil will be softer. The trees will be higher up and easier to guard against pests at a young age. The water will drain out the bottom easier and with the tractor I can move them around if they are being affected by no sun. This is definitely something I am going to set up and get ready for the spring.
So I have ordered my first 100 bags to set up, ideally I want over a thousand seedlings ready to go in spring. So the bags need to be ready to go, set up with irrigation and positioned in the right place. I can spend the winter getting the soil right and once spring hits, the Moringa should transplant without much shock.
At least, this is how it works in my head, but as per usual, something will go astray down the line I am sure. But for now I need to focus on not dry roasting the Moringa seeds and to get the Moringa ban overturned.
Progress With FSANZ & Why Moringa Was Banned
A lot of my time is spent working through this ban and reading documents trying to understand why. I am fighting this with a few people in the industry and they have been great to work with and talk to. Gary in particular has a lot of experience fighting governments and is a great asset to learn from. In both fighting for what is right and the farming of Moringa.
He also has an uncanny way of explaining the more complex written language in studies and government paperwork that anyone could understand. It took weeks to come to the crux of the ruling and why they did this. It really comes down to this:
A company based in Noosa wanted to change Moringa from a novel food to a schedule 25 novel food which deems it safe for human consumption and can be sold as such. FSANZ is the ruling body for this legislation and they required more information. The Noosa applicant failed to supply any further information or evidence that was required and FSANZ turned around and refused to give it the schedule 25 classification which ultimately led to the current situation.
So both parties are to blame, really. The case could have been thrown out due to a lack of evidence and the Noosa applicant could have supplied the relevant information that was needed.
But since they did not, the whole case was based on a study of mice…
How Much Moringa Do You Need to Kill a Mouse?
Well, I am unsure as the mice in the study were not killed by Moringa. They were killed by the scientists studying them. The main concern was in regards to mice that were aborting their babies due to too much Moringa.
But how much is too much? It turns out the amount of Moringa they gave to these mice was deliberate and near fatal for scientific studies. To compare it to people it is the same amount as a 76kg woman eating 150 capsules everyday for four weeks.
We sell Moringa at a 2 capsule serving. Our most common product is a 120-pack of Moringa capsules which we recommend having two in the morning and two at night. So for a human to compare to this study, they are having over a month's worth a day for four weeks straight. There is not a lot of foods you could eat in these quantities that would not cause health issues or worse.
No human studies were looked at in this ruling.
So this is the bureaucratic bullsh** that we have to deal with. It’s also why I believe we will eventually overturn this ruling and have Moringa treated as a normal food, which it always should have been. To say there is no recorded human use of Moringa in Australia over the years is quite insulting. It is a staple food in a lot of countries and communities here in Australia, and now we are getting a bit of international attention to this matter, Australia is going to look ridiculous on an international stage. Unless of course, we can prove something no other country has done yet with Moringa being unsafe. And since we only seem to focus on rodent studies and not human, I think we will just remain a bit of a laughing stock.
So We Fight
There is no real reason to roll over and take this ruling as is. They have managed to ban one strain of Moringa, there are another twelve or so strains out there that are not banned. So it is an extremely messy situation, one that no party has treated with the respect it deserves.
There is far too much red tape involved for FSANZ to do their job efficiently and if you are putting an application through to them, you need to have your ducks in a row. This Noosa group appears to have done the equivalent of defending themselves in a court case without bringing an actual defence.
It’s with these errors and these studies that I can see a light at the end of the tunnel finally. The ruling was not done correctly, it did not have sufficient evidence to prove or disprove Moringa being healthy for humans. It’s typical government bureaucracy and a showing of the times unfortunately. How do we ever progress as a nation if we are constantly hindering our own industries while looking like a joke on the international stage.
When this fight is over, I think I will need a holiday overseas somewhere. It takes a lot of energy to fight this, run a farm and run a business at the same time. So much for country life being a slower and more laid-back lifestyle.
About the Author
Joel Molloy is the founder of Moringa Products Australia and the writer behind The Moringa Farm Chronicles, documenting the wins, mistakes, setbacks and lessons of building a farm and business from scratch in rural Queensland.
From media interviews and crop losses to greenhouse failures, regulation shocks and the ongoing fight for Moringa in Australia, Joel shares a first-hand account of learning farm life and business survival the hard way.
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