FIELD DAY ‘Making cover crops work‘ Plant nutrition, roller crimping and more. With plant and soil specialist Joel Williams and farmer Scott McCalman. Soils for Life are hosting a ‘Making Cover Crops Work’ field day on Wednesday 27 March in Emerald Hill, near Gunnedah NSW. Hear from grain and cotton farmer Scott McCalman about how he is integrating cover crops in his broadacre enterprise, and his experiences with roller crimping. Scott will also talk about his journey in easing off intensive inputs and how he is building resilience in his soils and business. Plant and soil health edu ..read more

Menu Farmer Story Farm Facts Landscape and Soils More about the Matthews The Matthews at Bedarbidgal Supporting biodiversity in the Hay Plains | Published  January 2024 ‘It was eye opening. We’d managed our way into just having annual grasses on the property. We became aware of how beneficial perennials were and that we needed to change our grazing management to improve the perennials.’ – Bert Matthews Bedarbidgal has a long agricultural history, beginning in 1861 with the establishment of the Robertson Land Acts. Originally spread across 40,000 hectares, the size of the ..read more

Menu Farmer Story Farm Facts Landscape and Soils More about the Nicholls The Nicholls at Tumulla Protecting pasture and preparing for dry times in the Upper Slopes region | Published  January 2024 ‘Managing our steep country, which is really susceptible to being washed [is a priority]. We’ve really got to maintain our ground cover. Ground cover is key. You can see with the recovery, how much quicker it comes back by maintaining that.’ – Anthony Nicholls Anthony and Bec Nicholls have four blocks close to Gundagai in the Upper Slopes region of the Riverina where they run 1 ..read more

Menu Farmer Story Farm Facts Landscape and Soils More about the Wilkes-Bowes The Wilkes-Bowes at Anderloose Building soil health and profitable farming in the Lachlan Region | Published  January 2024 ‘We always knew we wanted low inputs, partly because we needed to and partly because – coming from where I came from – I saw the value of native grasses.’ – Dee Wilkes-Bowes Craig and Dee Wilkes-Bowes have always wanted their own property and moved to Anderloose with their two young daughters, Imogen and Grace, in 2009 after the Millennium drought. They have made many change ..read more

Join our workshop on brewing biofertilisers at scale in Waitchie, Victoria! Farmers Brian and Carol Fitzpatrick will walk us through how they brew their own biofertilisers and apply them in their broadacre cropping enterprise. In this demonstration you will learn about the Fitzpatrick’s methods and recipes, the equipment they use including their liquid inject system, and their brewing tips and tricks. David Hardwick from Soil Land Food will also be there to share his insights on how biofertilisers help to build healthy and resilient soils. The workshop will be at Carol and Brian’s farm in Wait ..read more

Cropping Convos An online, interactive webinar series with regenerative specialists We are thrilled to announce our Cropping Convos – “Ask Me Anything” series with regenerative specialists! This is an excellent opportunity to connect with a range of agronomists, agroecologists, and consultants over a casual Zoom call with other grain growers. You can ask your burning questions and discuss your challenges over a range of topics including multispecies, plant nutrition, nitrogen management and photosynthesis. These free online sessions run from the 29th February – 8th March at 12pm AEDT ..read more

Menu Farmer Story Farm Facts Landscape and Soils More about the Scotts The Scotts at Glen Elgin Using evidence to grow a sustainable business in the Lower Slopes region | Published  January 2024 ‘‘I had this discussion with a friend of mine where we decided to name the most memorable four or five farming years, we were aware of. The years we came up with were ones when extreme hardship was experienced. We agreed that it’s such times when you are shaken out of your comfort zone and forced to make big changes to your operation.’ – Steven Scott Steven and Cindy Scott have a clea ..read more

Menu Farmer Story Farm Facts Landscape and Soils More about the Hannas Jack and Annabel Hanna at Erin Building drought and flood resilience on the semi-arid Hay Plains | Published  January 2024 ‘At the moment we can’t even really rotationally graze, because when we bring stock off a paddock, everything from the national park moves in because they don’t have any water out there or anything. So, once we can get it fenced properly, we can change the way that we graze.’ – Annabel Hanna Jack and Annabel Hanna spent their childhoods farming in different parts of the Riverina, and t ..read more

Menu Farmer Story Farm Facts Practices Trials Observations Jack and Annabel Hanna at Erin Building drought and flood resilience on the semi-arid Hay Plains | Published  January 2024 ‘At the moment we can’t even really rotationally graze, because when we bring stock off a paddock, everything from the national park moves in because they don’t have any water out there or anything. So, once we can get it fenced properly, we can change the way that we graze.’ – Annabel Hanna Jack and Annabel Hanna spent their childhoods farming in different parts of the Riverina, and the Millenniu ..read more

Frank Ashwood looks at soil life, up close Soil biologist and macro photographer shares him images | Published November 2023 British macro-photographer and soil biologist Frank Ashwood toured six regeneratively managed farms around Australia. He brought along his macro lens to see what he could find in the soil, and we were all delightfully surprised. Mites, springtails, slugs, spiders millipedes and flatworms all brought into magnificent large scale. We loved hearing from Frank about each creature, their function in the soil, and their critical roles in maintaining a healthy ecosystem ..read more