There’s been a lot of talk over the past few years about the need for farmers to reduce their carbon footprint but not a lot of practical tools to help them do so.

Enter Ruminati. This farmer-led initiative has teamed up with climate scientists, farm data professionals and software engineers to help Australia’s agricultural industry meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, one farm at a time.

Beef cattle farmers Bobby Miller and Will Onus from the Gundagai area had a watershed moment in early 2021 when they read an article comparing beef producers with coal mining in terms of the carbon emissions they produce. They saw a lot of carbon emission reduction target-setting bandied about at the government and industry level, but not much was being done to help farmers use their existing farm data to establish their baseline and plot a path towards emissions reduction.

“That’s a big bottleneck,” Miller explains. “As soon as we saw the problem, we couldn’t really unsee it. So, we decided to set up a company in late 2021 and put together a multi-skilled collaborative team to address what is essentially a data problem.”

First, they approached the University of Melbourne’s Professor of Sustainable Agriculture Richard Eckard, who created the admittedly rather complicated greenhouse accounting framework (GAF) for a broad range of farms. 

Next, they contacted John Francis of Agrista, a company that has a background in farm data analytics, and asked him to help them simplify the GAF while retaining its accuracy.

They then employed software design group, Nakatomi, to create an online version that would be simple and easy for farmers to fill out.

Finally, they brought on strategic advisor Peter Leihn who has extensive expertise in technology commercialisation, to become Ruminati’s CEO to help lead the company in its expansion phase.

Ruminati launched its baseline management tool in April 2023.

“We believe that the push-pull dynamic of this collaborative approach has enabled us to build a stronger, more effective, user-friendly platform for farmers to use. We’ve placed strong emphasis on farmer knowledge and perspective, accurate farm data that is fully secure, and digital ease of use,” says Miller. “We go above and beyond the codes and frameworks listed in data privacy and security as it’s the life blood of our business. Farmers’ input data stays in their private account. It isn’t shared or monetised in any way. The emissions data that our system generates is shared but only after the farmer explicitly agrees to do so and it can be withdrawn at any time.

“Offering farms a baseline calculator tool is all good and well and it should be free,” he adds. “But there’s no business model here. So, we’ve added products, such as the ability to calculate emissions intensity and plan reductions via bespoke models as well as a baseline tool for feedlots and processors.”

Thoughts behind the scenes

“There are numerous agricultural baseline accounting tools available right now, including the late February beta launch of the non-profit Agricultural Innovation Australia’s (AIA) Environmental Accounting Platform (EAP), an online carbon calculation engine for Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors,” explains Eckard. “I’m a technical consultant on this project. It’s a free, digitised, accessible and standardised platform to calculate carbon footprints at a commodity, enterprise and whole of business level and can be used by farmers, supply chain participants, agribusiness, and financial institutions.

“But none are offering the commercial services to help farmers reduce their carbon emissions like Ruminati is,” he says. “They’ve done their homework.”

“Ruminati’s special advantage is that after a baseline is established, it gives farmers a range of options to consider as a way to move forward to reduce their emissions.”

Richard Eckard, University of Melbourne’s Professor of Sustainable Agriculture

Miller of Ruminati, in effect, concurs. He says that 99 per cent of farmers have not done their baseline reporting because up until now it’s simply been too onerous. He believes that if pressure is put on farmers to do reams of paperwork for a completely traceable auditable baseline – they won’t do it. Ruminati has developed an excellent facsimile to help farmers easily establish their baseline by using their existing farm data.

Ruminati is still in its pilot phase and has developed partnerships with supply chain members, such as McDonalds, as well as the CBA and livestock finance provider, StockCo. This is a rapidly evolving space. 

“We’re exploring what a continual working relationship might look like based on what the supply chain wants and what we can provide,” he says. “It’s conceivable that Ruminati will move forward in a consulting capacity to these businesses.

“We need the supply chain to be on board before we sell the larger concept to farmers. We have to get the value proposition right for them. These are all emerging markets, and everything is a bit up in the air, but we believe it’s good to give farmers literacy about their carbon emissions.”

Moree-based cropper and NSW Farmer board member, Oscar Pearse, says that Ruminati has a number of advantages for farmers over other data management systems. But for any farmers considering an emissions reporting tool like Ruminati, understanding commercial and regulatory frameworks is key. 

NSW Farmers Association committees have been discussing aspects including:  

1. Farmers must understand how their data is treated and control its exchange. Baseline reporting tools require farmers to map their farm and it’s important to ensure that these data sets are secure. Farmers should ensure that all data service providers are compliant and/or certified with the National Farmers Federation (NFF) Farm Data Code to ensure landholders control how their private data is exchanged (Ruminati is compliant and in the process of getting certified). 
2. Farmers should understand what payments or premiums banks and buyers offer before sharing data. Once farmers begin reporting their annual emissions, will supply chain partners start to demand emission reductions from a baseline point without payments or reimbursement? Will this set up targets that are impossible for farmers to meet?
3. State farmer organisations and other peak bodies are concerned that models based on the GAF don’t yet account for a range of beneficial farm level sequestrations, especially existing transient pasture carbon or even permanent carbon sinks offered by trees. Both the NFF and NSW Farmers continue to call for system and rule changes which ensures farmers can count and be recognised for the more accurate total picture of farm emissions.
4. Many multinational companies operating in Australia have emission reduction goals, which don’t account for the Australian agricultural context and which may simply be passing impossible demands onto farmers. State farmer organisations and other peak bodies may need to develop collective bargaining tools or codes of practice to ensure the cost burdens don’t fall on farmers.

“While these aspects demand ongoing advocacy work, the fact that Ruminati gives farmers a safe and secure way to report, and a tool which can adapt as rule improvements come in, makes them an ideal choice,” says Pearse. “And on the plus side, in the process of making their first annual report, farmers might discover some easy improvements to make that will both reduce their emissions and increase
farm profitability.”

Miller agrees. “We’re seeing farms that are implementing tactics to lower emissions are also showing higher efficiencies and productivity. Healthier soil, better water retention, lower methane emissions also equate with better feed efficiency, higher fertility rates, and higher turnoff.”

If you enjoyed this piece on Ruminati, you may like to read about other great innovations such as how science and tech are improving food security.

The post Ruminati: a farmer-led carbon emissions calculator appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

Tom Bull, founder of LAMBPRO, is not your ordinary Australian sheep farmer. For a start, he doesn’t even focus on merinos, but he’s been on a mission for quite some time to produce the world’s tastiest lamb chop.

While he personally does not like the term, his breeding initiatives have created what has been called ‘The Wagyu of Lamb’ for its significant marbling, and his sophisticated marketing of this premium product has tapped into high-value export markets. 

LAMBPRO is Australia’s largest prime lamb seedstock business providing genetics to more than 350 lamb producing businesses around the country. More than 1.2 million lambs will be produced this year from LAMBPRO genetics. 

LAMBPRO’s Primeline Maternal has built a reputation as the largest supplier of maternal genetics to the Australian lamb industry, while the terminal sire program is focused on producing different levels of marbling depending on varying market requirements.

For these trailblazing innovations, he and his wife Phoebe were awarded The Weekly Times Coles Farmer of the Year in 2018.

From the beginning

Tom, 47, grew up on a sheep property in Holbrook. After senior school years at Scots College in Sydney, he studied farm management at Orange Agricultural College, now part of Charles Sturt University, and afterwards went jackarooing before a stint working in abattoirs.

“Working in abattoirs was really grounding because I learned about lamb literally from the inside out. So many people only understand one part of the lamb industry, but I’ve been involved in all elements from production and processing to marketing, retailing, and exporting.”

Tom Bull, LAMBPRO founder

When Tom came home to Holbrook in 2001, his father had sold the family farm down to 90 acres. He married his college sweetheart, Phoebe, originally from the Hunter Valley, who came back from London to help him.

With the help of his father, Tom and Phoebe purchased their first farm and since then have bought four adjoining properties. The business now runs 11,000 ewes on 4500 acres and is focused on a triple bottom line accounting framework that delivers financial, environmental and social-animal
welfare benefits.

Lamb genetics

But it was never going to be just about sheep farming. The core of the business is lamb genetics. 

“I’ve always been fascinated by sheep and started breeding sheep as a teenager. It’s been a life-long passion,” says Tom. “My goal is all about reducing the cost of production and maximising carcase returns.”

So, how did he go about solving this equation?

“The biggest thing we did was look at the end product and then worked backwards to production,” he explains. “We take an evolutionary approach to breeding and measure heaps of stuff.”

LAMBPRO’s motto is very simple: ‘identify and multiply’. They identify sheep that will increase kilograms per hectare through productivity and dollars per kilogram through carcase quality and then multiply them through their various breeding programs.

By measuring production traits in their seedstock when run in commercial environments, they cull sheep with weak constitutions and select ewes with strong mothering abilities that tend to produce twins as well as selecting breeds that don’t need drenching or mulesing. Marbling qualities are based on the capture of accurate carcase data, which has been collected in partnership with the University of New England over the past decade. The loins are removed from the processing plant and tested for marbling and tenderness.

“Our approach is not traditional, many of our sheep are hybrid, and the focus is on performance not purity. While not mainstream, our sheep hold many Australian sales records,” says Tom. “We have been a leading driver of productivity gains in the Australian lamb industry over the past two decades. Our future is focused on increasing the profitability of our sheep ensuring our client base is at the forefront of production and profitability.

“All our LAMBPRO breeding programs are based on a specialist self-replacing meat sheep program which doesn’t rely on the merino population,” explains Tom. “Merinos do not have a high productive rate. Our lamb survival rate has increased 10 per cent in the last 10 years.”

Breeding programs

There are five main breeding programs. The Primeline Maternal breeding program is the bread and butter of the business.

“When we commenced this program, our aim was to develop the ‘Angus cow’ of the lamb industry with a breeding objective based on reducing the cost of production through improved fertility, rapid growth, milk production and cost traits (worms, dags) and on improving the product quality with high marbling and tenderness,” explains Tom.

The Primeline Shedders breeding program has the same breeding objectives as Primeline Maternal, but the sheep have been bred to shed wool.

Dorsets are primarily crossed with Merino ewes for both the Primeline maternal and shedders breeding programs.

The Poll Dorset terminal sire breeding program is focused on high marbling, high muscled animals targeted toward high-end domestic and
export markets.

The Tradie terminal sire breeding program is a specialist Dorset/Hampshire Down breeding program targeted traditionally on the domestic market but now is focused on the high-end USA market. 

The Hampshire Down terminal sire breeding program focuses on highly marbled meat for
premium markets. 

“The Hampshire Down breed had some outliers for marbling which we found very exciting. Carcase measurement has continued to progress this trait,” says Tom. 

“While all our breeds have similar levels of intramuscular fat (IMF), the Hampshire Down program has been found to have the highest marbling. The best line we have processed has averaged
7.4 per cent.”

Premium markets

“We have been involved in large scale consumer testing which highlighted the impact of marbling on eating quality. Primarily, the aim was to understand the traits that consumers enjoy and then produce the genetics that enable this with the aim of offering a consistent product at retail and food service.”

Tom Bull, LAMBPRO founder

In addition to their intense genetics program, they also feed lambs barley and lupines in small paddocks for 40 days at their Willow Bend property and for 60-70 days at Kinross Station.

Tom and Phoebe are expanding their access to high value export markets.

“We’ve seen the success of marketing beef wagyu and we’re applying it to the lamb industry,” says Tom.

Through its associated premium lamb brands Willow Bend and Kinross Station (which are supplied by their clients), LAMBPRO is now a global lamb market leader, exporting lambs to ten countries through a joint venture with Endeavour Meats.

Kinross Station is a specifically Hampshire Down brand which is targeted towards the Asian markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, China, the Maldives, and the Middle East.

Willow Bend focuses on all the other breeds as well as the Primeline Maternal, Dorset and Tradie breeding programs for clients’ progeny. It is targeted specifically for the US market and more
recently Japan.

All in all, not only has LAMBPRO been a leading driver of productivity gains in the Australian lamb industry over the past two decades but also has forged a path for farmers to be rewarded with significant premiums for producing Wagyu-quality, highly marbled lamb.

“Australian lamb has lagged behind beef in targeting premium markets. By strictly controlling genetics and nutrition, lamb meat producers have the possibility of adding significant value to the industry,” says Tom.

If you enjoyed this piece about LAMBPRO premium lamb meat, you may like to read about an innovation from Charles Sturt University on the sheep “Feedlot of the Future.”

The post Premium lamb meat from LAMBPRO appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

“The farm has been central to our family and we spent every single holiday here with the kids growing up,” Rachel says.

Now her grandchildren come to visit.

For 30 years, she contracted local managers who farmed the property conventionally, which included tilling the soil, irrigating, and planting winter feed using Roundup to kill summer grasses. 

“I didn’t pay much attention until the 2019 summer bushfires hit,” she explains. “They were apocalyptic. It was the worst bushfire season ever recorded and clearly driven by climate change. Our neighbour’s farm was a smouldering heap.

“I felt very frightened by it all but really struggled to figure what part I could play to help turn things around. It was so overwhelming.”

As she says in her documentary film Rachel’s Farm, released in Australian cinemas on August 3: “Who would’ve guessed that the hoon up the street would be my salvation?”

Mick Green Jr had been working with his father, Mick Green Snr, to manage their property as well as Rachel and Bryan’s farm for several years before taking everything over when his father retired.

“He came to me one day during the 2019 drought when we were handfeeding the cattle and selling yearlings at $1.50 a kilo and said, simply, this conventional way of farming is just not sustainable, either economically or ecologically. He showed me how our soil was dry and dead, and said that every bad thing on the farm came back to something we’d done.

“Here was a dinky-di small farmer with absolutely no pretentions telling me we had to do something differently,” says Rachel.

Mick had grown up travelling around Australia with his parents, who were drovers and cane workers, before the family bought a small farm in Macksville. He spent time working in and around BHP Steelworks and in the coal mines of the Hunter Valley before returning to the family farm. He and his good friend Darren Newbury, known as Normie, had been working together as fencing contractors in addition to their farm work to try and scratch out a living for their families.

“They both had become increasingly concerned about the diminishing fish stocks and explosion of algae in the river, caused by excessive urea from the industrial fertiliser run-off of excess nitrogen. Normie, who’s had many jobs over the years, from electrician to grave digger, is an autodidact [self-taught],” explains Rachel, “and started researching another way to farm.”

Between them they explored the holistic principles of regenerative agriculture. Instead of oxidising the soil through over-tilling and burning with chemicals, they wanted to use the cows as a tool to manage the pastures, with rotational grazing and manure distribution, to help restore the health of the soils, which could then store more carbon and help combat climate change.

“This was the most hopeful thing I’d heard in a long time,” says Rachel. “And it was something I could do. I have a farm and I could make a film about it, too.”

And she has.

“I really wanted to help people look a little closer into how food gets on their plate. And I thought the film might help bridge the gap between farm life and city life. The film is really a story about climate anxiety and a first step toward making some changes. It’s light-hearted and entertaining but also, hopefully, informative,” she says.

“Most of all, I want people to understand that we’re all captive to the big supermarket chains and large multinationals driving down the prices that farmers get for their hard-earned labour. I want to open the discussion about what our priorities should be. Do people really think the agricultural industry can continue spraying pesticides to the tune of billions of litres worldwide every year, and not have this get into our food system?

“The alternative paradigm based on regenerative agriculture will only succeed on a large scale if consumers demand healthier food from healthier farms, which admittedly will come at a higher cost. But how do you attach a price to a healthier diet and a healthier planet?”

As a first step, they joined their two properties – Rachel and Bryan’s 340-hectare farm with Mick’s 100-hectare farm – so they could move the cattle around a larger area.

“It was a bit of a risk and it involved a lot of trust, but we decided it was both logistically more efficient and the cattle could work optimally across a larger number of smaller paddocks,” she says. “Each paddock would have more time to regrow between grazing.”

Then they began implementing some of the basic tenets of regenerative agriculture, sometimes hilariously, warts and all. It’s all documented in the film.

“The first year was the hardest, because the soil and the winter perennial grasses were used to doing no work,” explains Rachel. “We tried worm juice and our own compost and I even got an expensive shipment of dung beetles, but the soil was still hard and dry.”

Rachel did a holistic farm management course, and Mick and Normie created lots of smaller paddocks with their own water points; it was a great initiative but it blew the budget. Rachel moved up to the farm fulltime to become Mick’s eager farmhand, because they could no longer afford to pay Normie.

“I imagine the local farming community looked at what Mick and I were doing with great suspicion with the attitude of ‘what do I know about farming?’. Both of us are rebels!

“We don’t slash anymore so the whole place looks a bit rough. We’ve gone back to nature,” she says. “I must admit, they’ve been nothing but generous and welcoming down at the cattle yards, but I do think they saw me as an imposter. But hey, I’ve always felt like a bit of an imposter, both in the film industry and as an Australian.”

By the summer of 2021, at the one-year anniversary of their regen ag journey, there’d been no more devastation, they’d sold their cattle at a good price and were out of the red. Then it started not just to rain, but to bucket down in a one-in-a-century flood.

“The cattle struggle so much more with the wet than the dry,” says Rachel. “We had to get our soil healthier for better water drainage and storage.”

So, they consulted with Australian landscape scientist Peter Andrews, who showed them how to use vegetation as a filter to reduce run-off and to build contours in the landscape as a water retention system.

“We’ve now been assessed on our ground cover, water infiltration, biodiversity, soil carbon and soil health by Land to Market consultancy, and have received an Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) that our farm is moving in the right direction.”

“We still have a way to go but it’s a start,” says Rachel. “With this verification, we can market our beef as a paddock-to-plate business that does right by the land and right by the animals.

“We now have a herd of Angus and Murray Grey cross and we’re looking at Senepol and Mashona, too, because they’re very suited to our sub-tropical environment and do better against buffalo flies and ticks. We’re trying to change our genetics as a creative problem-solving tool.”

“It’s crazy that Angus have become the go-to beef cow even in sub-tropical areas, just because it fits into the supermarket mould – sort of like the meat version of supermarket tomatoes. Farmers get penalised if they go with another breed, even if it’s better for their ecology.

“Grass-fed cattle should also be sold at a premium over grain-fed feedlot cattle because they do so much to pull down carbon and keep the landscape healthy and, ideally, they’re exposed to fewer chemicals. Instead, these days, almost 50 per cent of Australia’s beef is grain fed because it’s cheaper to produce,” she says.

“I want to unravel some of these assumptions to expose the truth. Consumers should really be paying attention to the impacts on our health of industrial farming, with its reliance on chemical additives.”

“If we want to do a U-turn with our agricultural production and put more emphasis on caring about our environment and biodiversity, we must pay attention to where our food is coming from and push for best practice on our farms. So often, industrial farming and mining is sacrosanct in Australia, which built itself of the back of sheep and mines.

“The average age of farmers around here is 65 and they’re very entrenched about the way they farm. It’s up to the next generation to take on this new farming paradigm. There are lots of young people who want to be on the land and be part of the solution of addressing climate change,” says Rachel. “This film is for them.”

Rachel’s Farm is now in cinemas, with Rachel herself appearing at select locations. For more information, to read about how to take further action, obtain educational licences to host screenings of the film, or just to book tickets, visit theregenerators.org/rachels-farm

The post Regenerative farming hits the red carpet appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

In 2020, as she and her husband began planning for their biggest harvest in four years, Camilla decided to start an Instagram page called ‘Tractor Snacks’ (@tractorsnacks) where she could share recipes, tips and ideas for how to efficiently prepare delicious healthy food to eat on the tractor.

“It really began as a tool to give inspiration to other farm families who were in the same boat as us and it was also a way to keep me accountable,” says Camilla.

“I love cooking but I’m no gourmet chef. I just started putting together old recipes that just work for good, hearty country food, and then I started suggesting time-saving tips such as doubling or tripling recipes, and freezing single portions that can be easily pulled out of the freezer in the early morning.”

“For many farming households, women are no longer solely working on household tasks and raising children. Many, like me, are working off-farm, or running their own small businesses and/or also working in the farming business,” says Camilla.

“I believe that while we look for quick and easy solutions, we also should not compromise on the health component.”

The name ‘Tractor Snacks’ came from her husband, who wrote it on the shopping list one day, hoping for pre-packaged lunchbox snacks like chips and biscuits. Never did he realise that it would turn into this new initiative. Her Instagram account has exploded and now has more than 2,600 active followers.

“I love cooking but I’m no gourmet chef. I just started putting together old recipes that just work for good, hearty country food, and then I started suggesting time-saving tips such as doubling or tripling recipes, and freezing single portions that can be easily pulled out of the freezer in the early morning.”

Camilla is a fourth-generation farmer who lives with her husband Jason and daughter Sophie on their broadacre cropping farm in Collie, in the state’s Central West. She is also a social worker with the Rural Adversity Mental Health Program in Western NSW, where she does community outreach and training on mental health and wellbeing, and links people in remote areas to mental healthcare services.

As a member of the Dubbo Show Society and a volunteer with multiple community organisations, agriculture is her big love. She’s equally passionate about reducing the impact of mental illness in rural and remote communities.

“As a social worker, I’m interested in understanding all the contributors to good health,” says Camilla. “We know that diet, exercise, sleep, social connections, down-time and hobbies are all important for good health, however many of these are really tricky to maintain at peak times on farm, particularly during sowing and harvest. A healthy diet is one element which I can influence and, while I haven’t done formal research about this, I’ve learned anecdotally that a nutritious, varied and interesting diet can assist our bodies with effective concentration, problem solving, conflict resolution and safe physical exertion especially during times of stress.”

“We’ve had our fair share of adversity through droughts, fires, floods, and mouse plagues (yes, plural). But one constant through it all is a love of food and the way it brings people together.”

She started focusing on how food could play a bigger role in wellbeing and decided to put more effort into lunchboxes and tractor dinners.

“It’s about providing healthy and varied heartwarming, belly-filling, nutritious comfort food for busy farm workers to keep them going through the long hours and to have something to celebrate when the job is done.”

“Tractor Snacks is more than a bunch of random recipes but it isn’t about putting a gourmet restaurant into a lunch box either,” says Camilla.

“It’s about providing healthy and varied heartwarming, belly- filling, nutritious comfort food for busy farm workers to keep them going through the long hours and to have something to celebrate when the job is done.”

“Mental and physical health is so closely linked with productivity,” says Camilla.

“I genuinely believe I can see a difference in my husband’s wellbeing and motivation, depending on what’s in his lunchbox and tractor dinners. When there are fresh options and plenty of variety in the meals I make, he’s in a better mood with a clearer mind… and the lunchbox returns empty.”

“It’s not only about what goes into the lunchbox but also how it’s packaged. Ideally the recipes are simple to make, healthy and delicious to eat and are also easily frozen, transported, and reheated. They must be easy to eat as wraps or with forks, as farmers
often are working with one hand and eating with the other,” she says.

“We also bought an inexpensive 12V oven from a car accessory store. You just plug it into the cigarette lighter and you can warm up sausage rolls or pinwheels and toast sandwiches.”

Recently, Camilla has also been hired by NSW Farmers to create Instagram videos that showcase how simple and delicious it is to follow recipes from The Farmer magazine, which highlight local produce from around the state.

Some of Camilla’s most popular recipes include zucchini slice, pizza pinwheels, Greek chicken tray bake, and lemon coconut slice. You can find some of these recipes on her Tractor Snacks website (tractorsnacks.com.au) or you can buy her Harvest Hacks cookbook ($22 print version or $12 e-book version) on the website. The cookbook also includes lots of handy tips to make food preparation easy and efficient on a busy farm.

The proof, as they say, is always in the pudding. So, what does Camilla’s husband Jason think of her healthy, homemade tractor snacks?

“It’s so good to open the lunchbox and find so many different snacks when things get really busy on the farm,” he says. “It’s great to have such a variety of things that are tasty and easy to eat on the run.” Enough said.

The post Tractor snacks appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

Michael and Billie wanted to move to the country to raise a family more than a decade ago, and started looking around for a place that was not too far from Sydney. They had no farming background but had completed a course in permaculture. Their price range put them in the Mudgee region and when they found a farm surrounded by stunning sandstone cliffs, they were sold.

“It was the last property at the end of the road, and we would own the whole valley,” says Michael. “It was so quiet and peaceful and surrounded by bush. With 105 hectares, we would have enough land to do something interesting. Sure, it had its issues – access was difficult with the last five kilometres on a 4WD track, and there were blackberries everywhere, but we shared every tree changer’s idealistic dreams and had grand plans for self-sufficiency.”

A rocky beginning

They bought the property at the end of 2013 and started planting trees and vegetables. However, 2014 was a very dry year and the farm was like a dust bowl. “There was no ground cover, the topsoil was gone and we killed everything we put in the ground,” says Michael.

But that wasn’t their only problem. After they bought the farm, the local council’s weed inspection team paid a visit and ordered them to remove all the blackberries growing along the creek line. Even after they cut out much of the blackberries, when the council re-inspected, they found enough of the noxious weed on the property to threaten to hire a contract spraying company which estimated it would take five ten-hour days – at $100 an hour plus the cost of chemicals – to solve the problem. Apart from the fact that they opposed a chemical solution, Michael and Billie simply did not have $5,000 to spare.

They had to find another way.

“One of the key ideas of permaculture is that the problem is the solution,” says Michael. “Our problem was not too many blackberries but not enough animals to eat them. We had too much of a resource and no way to use it and any resource in excess becomes waste.”
So, they decided to buy a small herd of 14 goats. “In the first 10 minutes, the goats broke out and got away. That’s what goats do,” he laughs. “We learned pretty quickly about moving the herd with feed and we started using three 50-metre electric net fences around the blackberries. We moved them around like this for 12 months and they ate all the blackberries at least once.

“We had this light bulb moment that since the goats were so successful for us, maybe it would be an interesting sideline business,” says Michael. “A few years later, it turns out that it’s our main business. It’s what we do.”

They set up a website in early 2018, as well as Facebook and Instagram accounts, to advertise their goat herds as an alternative to spraying.

It turns out that the Local Land Services (LLS) office will tell you to go and engage a sprayer or look up a list of local sprayers, but staff won’t give any information about a company that provides an alternative solution because they cannot promote an individual business.

“It seems more than valuable to consider alternatives, especially if they solve a noxious weed problem and offer a product at the end (goat meat) versus spending a lot of money and degrading the environment,” says Michael.

Michael and Billie’s typical clients are new to farming with hobby blocks in the Mudgee area or those with residential properties in the Blue Mountains where vegetation grows profusely.

A novel solution to fire hazard reduction

Two years ago, their focus changed when they were approached by the Rural Fire Service (RFS) in the Cudgegong area to participate in Australia’s first trial using goats as an alternative hazard reduction tool. The trial came about because of the independent inquiry into the Black Summer bushfires which recommended expanding grazing as an additional fire mitigation strategy. The LLS in Mudgee was very helpful and worked closely with the RFS to facilitate the trial.

“We’ve had 80 goats moving along a corridor around Lue, between Mudgee and Rylstone, for about 18 months, and the RFS is collecting data on their efficacy,” says Michael.

Goats not only eat a wide variety of vegetation but they also eat into weedy, woody plants, which is useful in areas that have not been rotationally grazed regularly. It’s these woody environments that are particularly fire prone.

The RFS has complex regulations regarding burns. Meanwhile, goats can reduce a lot of woody growth to stop fire getting into shrubs and canopy. They turn the woody growth into manure which makes the soil more fertile and less susceptible to weeds. They also work well in difficult sites, such as along train lines cutting through gorges, on steep hills or where there is old refuse in areas near schools, hospitals, townships and along main roads where it is problematic to do burns. And they work year-round rain, hail or shine. As a result, they can completely change the fire hazard.

Michael and Billie have developed quite a reputation as early adopters of goat herding for weed control and fire hazard reduction in Australia. And they have consulted with the RFS as they expand the goat program to six more locations around NSW. It turns out that using goats for vegetation control is not a new thing. They’ve been employed for quite some time in the USA, Canada, Portugal and Spain. It’s commonplace, for instance, for Lee Hazeltine and Laura Gunderson of Integrazers – trailblazers in systems-managed grazing in California – to run herds of hundreds and thousands of goats and sheep to undertake vegetation control on a larger scale.

“It seems more than valuable to consider alternatives, especially if they solve a noxious weed problem and offer a product at the end (goat meat) versus spending a lot of money and degrading the environment.”

MICHAEL BLEWITT
Owner of Dry Creek Farm

Permaculture paradise

Today, Michael and Billie have 160 goats in total, with 80 working on the road and 80 at home rotating through paddocks to encourage grass regeneration. They keep most of the girls – who are generally better behaved – and eat any boys that are troublemakers.

Now, they also have a few beef cows as well as a dairy cow, and are on the way to developing a fully-functional permaculture farm with swales covering wood chips and hay bales to create an effective water harvesting system, a prolific multi-species orchard, nitrogen fixing plants supporting productive plants in raised wicking garden beds, and flowering shrubs attracting pollinators and birds.

“When you take the goats out for weed control you have conversations with new hobby farmers about what else they can do to improve their soil fertility and water harvesting capabilities and hence the productivity of their farm,” says Michael. “We’ve started sharing some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way and now offer permaculture design and implementation (including earthworks) as well as advice on regenerative agriculture as part of our business.”

They consider the overall farm plan working backwards from the house, so that native bush is furthest away, then establish the location of the animal systems (ideally with rotational grazing to manage weed growth and encourage soil health). Then it comes to what to do with fences and roads, where to put dams and how to set up watering points, where to build contour structures to passively harvest water, and then where to set up orchards, vegetable gardens and ornamental gardens that encourage pollinators around the house.

It’s been quite a journey but, as recent adopters of permaculture principles, Michael and Billie have certainly proven that the problem can also offer the solution. Since goats could be considered a key component of a natural ecosystem, they may just become the leaders in a goat-led approach not only for managing noxious weeds and regenerating the land, but also for reducing fire hazards on our increasingly hot and dry continent.

Want to read a yarn about Mohair? Click here.

The post Goats for hire to combat weeds appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

“What shocked us was the wall of water that was so ferocious it burst all the shopfront glass windows and lifted and ripped apart the turf of the hockey field. It was like an inland tsunami,” says resident Kate Strahorn. “The water was all gone in the morning, but it left a trail of utter destruction.”

The very next day, everybody came out to clean up.

“I’ve never been more proud of our little community. Hundreds of people were up to their arms in mud doing their bit. It was galvanising and it’s why we all love where we live.” 

Tim Sullivan, Molong resident

Kate adds: “The team from Molong Ready Mix Concrete brought in their trucks to take loads to the tip. Builders from Dubbo, Wellington and Orange donated their services. Armies of kids picked up garbage. The Brethren Rapid Relief Team and Bunnings fed us all and the local pre-schoolers in high-vis vests handed out scones and Anzac biscuits.

“At the end of the day, The Telegraph Hotel – whose first floor had been under water – shouted everyone drinks. This is what happens in regional communities. Everyone wants to help no matter what age or what skills they have.”

Help Rebuild Molong campaign

The very next day, Kate launched the GoFundMe campaign called Help Rebuild Molong at her friend (and local photographer) Emily Eckhard’s kitchen table.

“I began to think my skills might be better used to raise awareness,” says the former director of marketing at Macquarie Bank, who moved from Sydney to Molong a decade ago when her husband bought a cattle property. 

“I realised I can make a meaningful difference here. There are amazing multi-talented people in country towns, and we worked together organically to set things up pretty quickly.”

Kate Strahorn, Molong resident

“A small team of locals passionate about rebuilding our town launched an Instagram account to highlight the many acts of kindness that really speak of the wonderful sense of community we have here.” Between them all, they decided to concentrate on raising funds to rebuild Molong’s sporting facilities, which play such a key role in a small country town.

“These facilities – the hockey club, the bowling club, the rugby fields, the cricket pitch and the tennis courts – are the heartbeat of the town,” says Tim, who was born and bred in Molong, and returned seven years ago to raise a family here after years working around the world for meat exporter Sanger Australia. He now runs Endeavour Meats from Orange.

“It’s not just about the sporting assets,” he says. “It’s what they add to the mental and physical wellbeing of the town. The clubs and pubs also drive the economy and when everyone comes to play or watch sport, the streets are busy and the town feels alive.”

Molong won the NSW Primary Schools Sports Association competition this year for primary school age girls and 14 Molong hockey club players were selected to play in the NSW Under-15 training squad. There are 180 paid-up members of the Molong Hockey Club and a very successful mixed twilight league of 10 adult teams in a town of just 1,600 people.

“There’s an incredible depth of skills in country areas like ours and the calibre of coaches is amazing,” adds Kate. “We have so many talented young players not just in hockey, but also in cricket and rugby union and league.” 

Reaching out

Tim and his wife Cass, as well as Fliss Armstrong, used their contacts to get exposure on programs like Channel 7’s Sunrise, ABC’s The 7.30 Report and numerous radio stations. But it’s also been the community’s work on social media that has had a direct impact on the success of their fundraising.

The GoFundMe Page has already raised more than $100,000 while Auctions Plus ran an online charity auction with 33 impressive lots including herd bulls, rams, semen and embryo packages, stud kelpie pups, meat and even five nights at a luxury Noosa beachfront apartment that raised another $143,000. 

Two weeks after the flood, also thanks to social media, 3,000 people came to the Molong Christmas market where local shops were selling their salvaged goods, the preschool filled the empty walls of the post office with student art, the Spilt Milk Bar (with donated milk from Little Big Dairy Company) gave out free gelato, while market, food and wine stalls were run off their feet, everyone sang Christmas carols and the pubs were heaving.

Meanwhile, Sydney sports clubs and schools have been donating equipment and raising money and the plan down the track is to invite city kids to come and play the country teams in Molong to build an even bigger community.

“In January, we’ll be focusing on government grant applications many of which require co-contributions, so our Rebuild Molong funds will be very useful,” says Kate. “We’re encouraging everyone to apply to bolster the local economy.”

“Our goal is to unite the sporting clubs of Molong, to create something for many generations and to build back better,” says Tim. “We’ll have lots of in-depth conversations and perhaps rethink where sporting facilities might be co-located and we’re looking forward to partnering with the council to make a meaningful difference in the community.”

If you would like to help #RebuildMolong, please go to the GoFundMe page.

If you enjoyed this story about Molong, you might like to read our feature on how flooding affects farmers’ mental health.

The post Rebuilding Molong after the floods appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

At his wake in Ardlethan, a short, dusty drive from where Wes grew up, his mates came up with an idea called Beard Season, which has gone on to save thousands of Aussies from skin cancer.

“There were some old fellas with amazing beards in the corner of the bar,” says Wes’ friend Scott Maggs who was working in advertising at the time and was well-versed in wild ideas. 

“Young blokes weren’t growing beards back then so we thought we’d grow a fine field of facial follicles every winter and use them as life-saving conversation starters, encouraging people to get their skin checked.” 

Now, 12 years on, Beard Season has ambassadors in over 24 countries, gained the support of the likes of Sir Richard Branson and Chris Hemsworth, and has inspired men (who account for over 69 per cent of Australia’s melanoma deaths) to become advocates for early detection. 

One such ambassador is John Arthur Elliott, who’s been on a camel trek around Australia since 2018. Before his journey, a GP found an early-stage melanoma in the centre of John’s back which could have killed him if left unchecked. Now, he promotes skin checks in rural and remote communities across the country. “I think of it as taking out a Lotto ticket on continued life,” John says. 

A farmer’s cancer

People living in hot sunny climates and/or who work outside are far more susceptible to skin cancer, which makes it a major risk factor for farmers and others living in Australia’s rural and remote communities. 

The problem is compounded because they have limited access to skin specialists since most dermatologists (of which there are only 600 registered in Australia) work in urban and coastal centres. According to a report by the National Rural Health Alliance, farmers have a 60 per cent higher death rate from skin cancer compared to the general population. 

Evolving the cause 

As Beard Season grew, Scott Maggs decided to fold the campaign into a master charity called Skin Check Champions, which appeals to ‘everyone under the sun’. 

“We realised that awareness raising itself was not enough. We had to be more accountable by addressing something that wasn’t being done on a national scale,” says Scott. 

The goal of Skin Check Champions is to pioneer a targeted national skin check program, bringing skin specialists and education initiatives to communities most at risk. “The benefits have such a massive impact for regional Australia,” says Scott. “Coming from a farming family in Oberon, I know first-hand how unavoidable sun damage can be.” 

The problem 

Skin cancer is, literally, the national cancer of our Sunburnt Country. Australian skin cancer rates are 12 times the global norm. It affects two out of three Aussies, kills an average of one of us every five hours (particularly young people who are surprisingly the most affected), and it costs over $1.7 billion a year, making it Australia’s most costly cancer. 

The opportunity

Despite these scary figures, the survival rates for skin cancer can be over 98 per cent, if it is detected early, which is far greater than for any other cancer. 

The market failure

The federal government funds screening programs for breast, cervical and bowel cancers, but there’s never been a coordinated national focus on skin cancer screening, despite the value of early detection. 

“Previous models presented to the Health Department were too expensive on a ‘cost per check’ basis,” explains Scott. “However, with the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence, these models are due for an upgrade.” 

The Solution 

Skin Check Champions has developed Project Check Mate as a ‘proof of concept’ research initiative to pilot a targeted skin cancer screening program around the country. The project was created in partnership with the Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre at the University of South Australia and DermEngine by MetaOptima, an artificial intelligence (AI) dermatology software that images, documents and records clinical diagnosis for skin cancer.

Professor Marion Eckert, the Inaugural Professor of Cancer Nursing at the University of South Australia and the Inaugural Director of the Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre, has been researching the incidence of skin cancer in remote and rural regions for years. 

“We felt a huge sense of relief when we were approached by Skin Check Champions because we finally felt we had comrades on the same dance floor with a mission and the energy to take our research and deliver a primary health care strategy for early skin cancer detection for rural and remote Australia,” she says.

“Nurses make up 60 per cent of the health profession and they are everywhere in rural and remote Australia. It’s a huge opportunity for nurses to be trained in dermatoscopy using AI software to screen people for skin cancer. 

“This technology produces an accurate skin assessment report which is sent electronically to a dermatologist for evaluation,” explains Marion. “In a post-COVID world, people have adapted well to telehealth and nurses are at the forefront to progress technology in remote areas. It’s a low-cost, efficient process and farmers don’t have to travel long distances to see a dermatologist. By making access easier, it also helps overcome that behavioural reticence among many men, the ‘she’ll be right, mate’ attitude.  

“Our goal is to perform 10,000 skin checks using this new model to present the data to the Government showing how much it costs per check, how many skin cancers we found, how many lives we saved and the health care costs saved per dollar invested in this early screening program, proving it’s great value to the Australian people,” explains Scott. 

Introducing SPOT

Multiple skin cancer survivor and Lake Cargelligo-born Don McInnes is a huge promoter of Skin Check Champions, as you can see on his graphic Instagram feed. 

“I grew up among broad-acre farmers in Griffith who are out in the elements all day every day, but who are less likely to get checked for skin cancer because they live in a remote region where there aren’t many specialists. I’ve had 80 skin cancers surgically removed and now so many people are reaching out for advice on where to go and what to do,” he says. “I specifically tell them about Skin Check Champions and SPOT.” 

SPOT is the world’s first digital assistant designed to save Aussies from skin cancer. It lives on Facebook Messenger and chats with you like a friendly, niggling mate who will do whatever it takes to make sure you get a skin check. 

SPOT was designed in response to a report from Cancer Australia showing that because of the COVID pandemic, over 81,000 people had not been treated for skin cancer compared to previous year averages. It is yet another way to remind people how important early detection is for skin cancer survivability.

Not only will SPOT help you find your nearest GP, skin cancer clinic or dermatologist, but it also will help you make an appointment, put it in your calendar, send you reminders to help you get there and then follow up to see how you went, providing further information depending on your results. It also helps you assess your skin cancer risk and gives you information on different types of skin cancers.

Down the track, Skin Check Champions hopes to plug in a telehealth option so people who can’t find a GP or skin check clinic nearby can scan their own skin using their mobile phone. 

Making skin cancer history 

All these initiatives are part of a broad early detection strategy, the importance of which was highlighted in a recent ‘State of the Nation’ report produced by the Melanoma Institute and Melanoma Patients Australia. 

In the meantime, Skin Check Champions isn’t sitting around waiting for funding. They’re out and about at field days, country shows and regional festivals all year-round providing skin checks, raising awareness and honing their revolutionary model. 

To show your support, you can join close to 7,000 Australians who have signed their government petition demanding a targeted national skin check program. You can also make a donation, take part in Beard Season, or book a skin check with SPOT all at skincheckchampions.com.

As Scott Maggs says, “The more Aussies who get checked, the more lives we’ll save.”

If you enjoyed reading this feature, you might like our story on cancer support in the country.

The post Skin Check Champions – fighting melanoma appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

While it may be difficult to see the forest for those trees, one thing is crystal clear: Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud is on a mission to reward Australian farmers for their agricultural stewardship of the land with a world-first scheme that measures and rewards biodiversity improvements alongside carbon abatement. 

Recognising that agricultural land managers are responsible for managing 58 per cent of the Australian landmass, the federal government has budgeted $66.1 million for its Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package, which it is developing in partnership with the Australian National University (ANU), the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and Natural Resource Management (NRM) organisations to trial pilot projects, develop market arrangements, and kick start private investment in farm biodiversity.

It’s a tightrope act to create an environment policy that’s appealing and accessible to farmers while not aggravating Coalition MPs that have generally been opposed to emissions-reduction initiatives. However, the Minister believes that farmers have already done the heavy lifting because they know their profit and loss is tied to the health of their land. 

“It’s not about locking up productive land but about rewarding farmers for the management and rejuvenation of unproductive land”

Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud

He believes this is an opportunity for farmers to make additional money that could be paid by big corporations, which are increasingly focused not only on reducing their carbon emissions but also on augmenting their social license through good news stories about investment in biodiversity and natural capital. To that end, the Minister has been in discussions with the Business Council of Australia about the viability of creating a biodiversity market similar to the carbon market.

His Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship legislation was tabled in parliament in February. It’s been a very tight turnaround in this election year and there are some concerns that mistakes will be made, however there is clearly a lot of momentum to make things happen.

“It’s really important for farmers to look at the legislative framework being constructed by the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (DAWE),” says Warwick Ragg, General Manager Natural Resource Management at the NFF and the key NFF negotiator on this legislation. 

“Minister Littleproud is driving this initiative and there are some exciting opportunities on the horizon. Everybody involved in agriculture should understand the issues and start thinking about getting engaged. 

“At the same time, it’s worth noting what the Agricultural Biodiversity Stewardship Package is and what it is not. The program is completely voluntary, not compulsory, and it’s nothing to be scared about. It’s not an additional compliance program and farmers will not have to unwillingly expose their process to the world.”

Warwick Ragg, General Manager Natural Resource Management at the NFF and the key NFF negotiator on this legislation. 

“The government is doing good work here. It’s not perfect, but things are moving in the right direction. It has arranged for consultants to go out and talk to the community, identify the problems, and test potential solutions with various trials. Obviously, some things get lost in the bureaucratic process, but the government is at least being transparent about how it’s going about fostering biodiversity.”

In their approach to the legislation, the NFF is taking a big-picture view to seek to ensure that Australian agriculture on a national level is verifiably sustainable both to minimise lending restrictions from financial institutions and to minimise export risks if Australian farmers have not complied with increasingly stringent international market requirements for clean, green products.

“In five years, these sorts of agricultural environmental standards are likely to be de rigueur,” says Ragg. “This is a rapidly changing landscape and, although this may be difficult to process, it’s worth being ahead of the curve.”

The stewardship package in a nutshell

The package, which is a multi-stage process being developed by experts from the College of Law and Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU, is complex with lots of moving parts. To get an understanding of the current state of play, here is a snapshot of each element.

There are two rounds of Carbon + Biodiversity Pilots in six different National Resource Management (NRM) regions around the country. For NSW, Round One took place in the Central West. Round Two is currently underway in the Riverina.

This world-first program offers farmers two revenue streams: biodiversity payments up front and the opportunity to earn income down the track by selling Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).

Essentially, farmers offer to deliver long-term biodiversity improvements through plantings (for which they are paid in two instalments) in conjunction with specific ERF environmental plantings of native trees and shrubs on land that has been clear of forest for at least five years in order to store carbon (and generate ACCUs). Farmers must maintain both planting projects for 25 years.

“This is important stuff,” says Ragg, “because it’s essential to understand the challenges of measuring biodiversity on its own as well as its carbon abatement potential. The ANU team has been developing the specific biodiversity metrics using improved habitat as a surrogate for environmental outcomes.”  

Enhancing Remnant Vegetation Pilot was run in the same six NRM regions as Round One of the C+B pilot (in the Central West of NSW) with the goal of improving existing native vegetation on farms and testing the locally adapted biodiversity protocols developed by ANU. 

Farmers enter contractual agreements with the Australian Government and receive regular payments to manage and enhance remnant native vegetation by installing fencing, weeding, pest control and replanting. 

“The goal is to develop consistency on a national level as the current incentives differ across the states,” says ANU environmental law and policy expert, Professor Andrew Macintosh, who is one of the scheme’s architects.

The voluntary Australian Farm Biodiversity Certification Scheme Trial (part of the Carbon + Biodiversity Pilot) to showcase farmers’ best practice natural resource management to sustain, build, and report on-farm biodiversity and enable consumers
to identify Australian produce from farms that sustain biodiversity. This certification could help increase farm profitability by supporting access to markets, creating price premiums, and improving land management practices. 

“The Certification Scheme aims to provide farmers with tools to prove sustainability across five parameters: carbon sequestration, biodiversity, tree and land cover, and drought resilience,” according to Professor Macintosh. The National Stewardship Trading Platform (NSTP) is a single platform (https://agsteward.com.au) to help farmers participate in emerging environmental markets by:

• Providing planning tools to evaluate biodiversity and carbon projects

• Providing easy-to-use portals to apply to the pilot programs; and connecting them with potential buyers of biodiversity and carbon services.

“We’ve got to make this process easier for farmers,” says Macintosh. “The online marketplace is designed to function like a sort of eBay where buyers and sellers can meet. Ideally, the marketplace will help kick-start private sector biodiversity markets as well.”

Essentially, the marketplace will be a way to find project partners with confidence. It will help farmers monetise their biodiversity and carbon services by connecting them directly with private buyers and it will help private buyers find potential on-farm biodiversity and carbon projects that could be purchased or co-funded. Both parties can search the marketplace or create their own project listings for environmental services they’re looking to buy or sell. 

Initially, the marketplace will list biodiversity-enhanced carbon credits but eventually the goal is to also create straight biodiversity credits once a tradable biodiversity unit has been established. Negotiations between farmers and buyers will occur privately, independent of the NSTP.

Farming perspectives

Oscar Pearse is a mixed cropping farmer from Moree and a former agricultural policy consultant with the NFF and other farming organisations. He says the Carbon + Biodiversity component of the Stewardship Package is a step in the right direction because this is the first time that farmers will be able to benefit from both biodiversity initiatives and carbon abatement on the same land. 

“In the past, we effectively had to give away the hay when we sold the wheat. Farmers could essentially only choose between being paid for biodiversity outcomes or carbon, but never both,” he explains. “However, despite this positive precedent, farmers who are already good land managers will still struggle to benefit from the Stewardship Package because everything that’s been done in the past is not credited. This sends the wrong signal because it rewards the worst farm managers.”

NFF’s Warwick Ragg offers some context. “The carbon market was constructed on the principle of doing something additional to standard practice. However, this shouldn’t mean that every natural capital indicator, in this case biodiversity, must also be additional. Past quality management practices should legitimately have a value and be recognised.

“Of course, biodiversity must be identifiable and measurable. However, the government could focus on reimbursing new biodiversity plantings and let the markets decide on the value of existing biodiversity projects that have taken land out of production, if they so choose.”

Warwick Ragg, General Manager Natural Resource Management at the NFF and the key NFF negotiator on this legislation. 

“Different biodiversity buyers, such as banks, corporations, developers and philanthropic organisations, have varying needs/goals and different biodiversity projects could be valued accordingly. To that effect, the NFF is lobbying the government to ensure the legislation does not require additional or only ‘new’ biodiversity as this could be determined by the market.”

Pearse has several other concerns with the current state of affairs. Firstly, he says, “Farmers, not the carbon aggregators, carry all the risks involved. They still have to comply with the make-good clause in most ERF contracts if trees they’ve planted don’t survive because of bushfires, drought or some other reason.

He also believes that the government has missed a valuable opportunity to facilitate the potential and benefits of carbon stacking, whereby multiple emissions reduction projects, such as plantings for biodiversity and carbon abatement, soil carbon sequestration, and methane reduction, are undertaken on the same property with a single, aggregated offsets report incorporating all the individual components.

Tools to help farmers in this new world

While the National Stewardship Trading Platform provides on-line planning tools to evaluate biodiversity and carbon projects, NFF’s Warwick Ragg believes many farmers will need a range of trusted sources to navigate this new commodity market.

“Farmers need to be able to cost effectively establish baseline measurements and have access to an array of decision support tools to make informed choices about their best options to reduce emissions and make money in the process. Carbon brokers do not necessarily operate in the best interest of farmers,” says Ragg. 

“The NFF is working on a few things to move this along. We’re talking to Agricultural Innovation Australia about an investment proposal to resource farmers with decision support tools and we’re talking to various levels of government about the best ways to develop trusted advisors. Independent sources of truth and/or advisors for these ‘new commodities’ will be critical to gaining farmer confidence.”

One new player in this space is the recently launched Regen Farmers Mutual created by a group of farmers, conservationists and land carers who have designed a farmer-owned brokerage to help farmers cost-effectively access environmental markets. Each member has one vote so that smaller farms are as powerful as large farms while all members benefit from the collective power of the mutual group. 

The brainchild of Andrew Ward, a cotton-grower’s son from Moree, Regen Farmers Mutual started in the cooperative farming community with farmers receiving fee support from the Co-operative Farming Program to attend co-design sessions. It has since spread to Land Care groups and regional farming groups, such as wine growers in the Riverland, and Ward is confident that the model will also appeal to mainstream farmers.

Their first product, the Environmental Farm Assessment, which costs $1,000 for members, will enable farmers to create their farm’s digital twin to get an indicative assessment of the value of all their environmental assets.

“We aim to align our on-farm environmental services (such as carbon abatement, biodiversity outcomes, species, habitat or water restoration) with what each buyer wants and, when they buy, 80 per cent of the revenue will go to the farmer, 10 per cent to the relevant farm group and just 10 per cent will go to Regen Farmers Mutual to cover overheads. This will ensure that farmers get a fair deal for their land stewardship,” says Ward.

“One of our key insights in co-designing the mutual with farmers was that they most wanted to hear from other farmers and least wanted to hear from the government and corporate brokers,” says Ward. “Eventually, every farmer will need to reduce their emissions. Our goal is for farmers to work together to design environmental solutions and not get shafted in the process.

“There’s still a real mismatch between the level of carbon abatement that can be produced on a typical family farm and the market appetite for large-scale offsets,” explains Ward. 

“Regen Farmers Mutual can partner with existing farmer and member organisations to supply a range of offsets at scale, which is much more extensive than what individual farms can do. In this way, the Mutual can maximise returns for its farmer members while leveraging the networks they belong to. This is where things get really exciting.”

If you enjoyed this story on the importance of biodiversity initiatives, you might like our feature on the pathway to a $30 billion ag sector by 2030.

The post Rewarding farmers for biodiversity initiatives appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

Michael’s grandfather – T.A. Field – took over the family business in 1900 and in 1906 expanded into grazing with the purchase of the family’s first property, Tooloom, followed by Gordon Brook, near Grafton. 

In a partnership with the Vickery family (which was amicably dissolved in 1934), the Fields bought the Willandra merino stud near Hillston in Western NSW in 1912 – its first entry into the wool business.

Pastoral acquisitions continued and by 1931, T.A. Field Limited had become a meat and pastoral empire, headquartered in Sydney. By 1948 the Field family had interests in abattoirs which expanded into retail butcher shops trading under the name Springfield Meats. The family held 60 per cent of the shares when T.A. Field Holdings was listed on the stock exchange in the year of 1962. 

They were also pioneers in airfreighting chilled beef and lamb to Europe in the mid 1960s. Coca-Cola Amatil acquired T.A. Field Holdings in 1977 with the family retaining T.A. Field Estates Pty Ltd and continued to purchase properties, including Benangaroo at Jugiong, which has been the family home since 1997. Michael’s uncle Tom Field ran the business until he died in 1984 – when his father Ross Alan Field took over as Chairman – until he passed away in 2007.

After buying out other family members in 1995, Michael is now the Managing Director and Chairman of T.A. Field Estates, which has total land holdings spanning 75,647 hectares. The company is one of Australia’s largest fine wool producers as well as owning large herds of Hereford/Angus cross cattle and diversifying into dryland cropping. They also hold and trade substantial water rights in the Riverina and produce prime lambs.

“Somewhere it’s been said that we’re the fiftieth largest landholder in Australia but I don’t really care about that.”

Michael Field

“I’m much more focused on having a sustainable and successful sheep, beef and cropping enterprise. Our order of priority is staff, country, stock. Staff are our most important asset and we place great importance on their training and safety. 

“We also must take care of our land, our soil and our water, otherwise we lose our capital base. A lot of larger corporations are run by committees, but being family-owned, we can move quickly in and out before others have a chance to think about what to do.”

A thriving business on the land

Michael and his wife Angela (also a director of the company) now run six properties with a permanent staff of 35-40, including head office staff in Sydney. 

The couple live at Benangaroo, which has 3,000 hectares of Murrumbidgee river frontage. It has an annual production of 420 bales of 17.5-micron wool, 3,000 prime lambs which are sold to local finishers, and 400 hectares of pasture rotated with wheat, barley and canola.

Over at Aberfeldy, with its 1,770 hectares near Holbrook, there is a composite ewe flock of 10,000 breeders producing prime lambs and trading cattle when economic and grazing conditions are suitable.

At Congi, which consists of 10,000 hectares in the Walcha district, is the largest superfine wool flock in the world, with an annual production of over 700 bales with a flock average of  15.5-micron. The property also hosts a 1,400-strong breeding herd of Hereford/Angus cross.

At Doughboy Mountain northeast of Armidale, the 1,900 hectares is home to 450 breeding Hereford/Angus cross cattle, as well as being a finishing block for weaned calves, and 350 hectares of fodder crops.

At Mobinbry at North Star in the heart of the Golden Triangle is a dryland cropping property where 4,750 out of 6,200 hectares are annually cropped with wheat, barley, chickpeas and sorghum. 

And last but certainly not least, at Wyvern – southwest of Griffith in the Riverina – Michael runs a 50,000-hectare property that’s been in the family since 1946. It has 550 breeding cows, produces 1,100 bales of medium wool in its new woolshed and yards, and is host to an annual on-property sheep sale held every October. 

The new generation

Michael and Angela’s eldest daughter Stephanie (26) is a model who has worked in New York, Milan and Paris. She even did a photo shoot for Jeanswest at Benangaroo. 

Daughter Laura (24) has recently taken on the role of the company’s Environmental Sustainability Manager, based in Sydney, while son Tom (22) is part way through his agribusiness degree at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong, after working as a jackaroo in Queensland , the Northern Territory and Warren.

“I’m happy that Angela and I have been able to hold the family together. The kids are happy and healthy and I love seeing them take an interest in the business but it’s completely their choice about whether they want to get involved long term,” says Michael.

All the kids reminisce fondly about growing up on Benangaroo, where they enjoyed the freedoms and diversity of rural life, such as swimming and kayaking in the Murrumbidgee River. They talk about helping with station work on the weekends and unique memories such as their dissection of a week-old dead ewe using Angela’s kitchen knives. 

“It smelt so bad we ended up using laundry pegs for our noses,” says Laura. Safe to say they received a hands-on education at a young age.

“We’ve had poddy lambs to look after over the years, too,” says Laura. “I’m pretty sure Mum ended up doing most of the heavy lifting but even so, we tried to help with feeding before school.”

Tom recalls helping out on the family’s other properties during the holidays – mustering, fencing, lamb marking, drafting, and trough cleaning. “Dad was always keen to get us outside to help from a young age. I learned to drive at five years of age sitting in his lap,” he says.

Now Tom is keen to get as broad an experience as possible. “But I am one hundred per cent sure that I want to end up back in the family business,” he says. “I just want to make my own tracks in the meantime.” 

Michael is proud of how he’s grown the business with the help of some very good mentors.

“I’m the custodian for the moment and I do as I see best,” he explains. “I want to pass everything along to the future generation but I have no intention of running the company from the grave. That’s often when breakups occur. It would be nice to see the business continue, of course, but maybe they’ll choose a different direction for it.”

Changing the narrative 

Laura studied Liberal Arts and Science at Sydney University, majoring in the environment, so it seemed only natural for her to take what she learned at university and bring it back to the family business.

“It’s pretty exciting to be able to start working in the family business and take on this new role,” she says. “There is so much innovation happening in the agricultural industry, so I have plenty of projects to look forward to. 

“I’m trying to absorb as much information as I possibly can, with so much going on I really don’t want to miss anything. I know Michael is passionate about the sheep and wool industry and I want my role to advance his vision, so I plan on presenting him with projects which will do this. I really want him to be proud of me.”

Three of the properties (Congi, Aberfeldy and Benangaroo) have attained Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) accreditation. “It’s a voluntary programme recognised globally, whereby we implement best practise management, ensuring wool comes from locations with progressive approaches to land management and animal welfare,” Laura explains. 

“We’ve also been approached by a range of renewable energy developers and I’m evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of various proposals. We need to ensure that the community and neighbours benefit so that no one loses out.”

On Mobinbry the family is looking at areas of land which could be used for biodiversity credits. “This could potentially off-set land clearing which has already occurred, as well as what is planned for the Inland Rail line,” Laura says.

Laura is attempting to begin her own project, which involves establishing a benchmark for greenhouse gas emissions across the business. “This could allow us to pursue new initiatives such as carbon sequestration schemes,” she says. 

“The Australian agricultural system has a negative reputation as being large contributors to the climate crisis. However, we want to change that narrative by being proactive as opposed to reactive when it comes to environmental concerns. I’d like to think that my role will promote T.A. Field Estates as good corporate citizens across environmental, governance and social agendas.”

For the love of sheep

After finishing school in Sydney 40 years ago, Michael worked as a jackaroo for a number of years before joining the family company at 26.

And, while he has successfully diversified the farming operations to ensure long-term sustainability, sheep are his real passion.

Australia can be a wild and rough place but I have an absolute admiration for sheep. They produce wonderful fibre and meat no matter what atrocious conditions nature throws at them.

She cuts you her fleece, produces lambs, gives milk, and at the end of her life, you can eat her and wear her skin. So many people don’t realise all the natural properties of wool. It’s the ultimate carbon neutral product.

Michael Field

Michael has also developed distinctive wool production objectives for each sheep station, with Congi and Benangaroo producing different versions of ultrafine ‘slo wool’ – much of which is supplied directly to the well-known Italian mill Botto Giuseppe. Wool from Wyvern is forward sold and the balance is sold on the open market. 

With a keen interest in encouraging the adoption of the latest genomics and genetics and other scientific breakthroughs, Michael sought a nomination to stand for the Australian Wool Innovation board elections in November 2021, however this time around, he was not successful. 

“I’m so enthused to see young people keen to enter the industry and I get great pleasure passing on my knowledge to the next generation,” he says. “And while new technology is transforming agriculture, we still have to work with nature because she’s been around a lot longer than us.

If you enjoyed this feature on the Field family, you might like to read about the Ottons from the Bega Valley.

The post The Field family – farming since 1885 appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

Founded in 2017 by Australian investment experts Jonathon Quigley and Malcolm Nutt in association with SparkLabs Global Ventures co-founders Seoul-based Jimmy Kim and Frank Meehan, SparkLabs Cultiv8 offers its chosen founders access to more than 65 global mentors as well as 13,000 hectares of experimental farmland in four different climatic zones across NSW. 

To date, its portfolio of diverse companies has raised $200 million in capital made up of 38 direct investments that will help them to enter the next phase of commercial growth. 

It has a 50-50 portfolio of Australian to international start-ups, and according to AgFunder, the company was voted the third most active Ag and Food Tech Accelerator on the planet in 2021.

“We can offer global reach for Australian start-ups through our international networks. In addition, given Australia’s time zone and proximity to Asia, we can be an effective portal to that market as well,” explains Jonathon Quigley.  

‘The Australian market is also reflective of the US, UK, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Australia is a large producer of grains, pulses, oilseed and wine, so we can offer additional crop trial work (due to the Northern Hemisphere seasonal differences) to double the pace of product development.”

Cultiv8 traces its roots back to 2010 when Malcolm Nutt met engineer Jimmy Kim in Singapore, and helped raise some capital for one of SparkLab’s funds. 

It has since partnered with the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) on the Agricultural Institute site in Orange, which is a 500-acre farm with 120 researchers. 

“When they wanted to expand in Australia we suggested focusing on the agricultural and food area,” says Jonathon. “Half of our funding comes from Korea and half is domestic.”

Korea is emerging globally against its Asian peers as a key startup hub. Kim realised that early-stage entrepreneurs there had trouble scaling up so he founded SparkLabs to help them go global. There are now seven interconnected SparkLabs around the world.

Jonathon explains that the base in Orange is ideal because it is close to a wide range of large-scale broad-acre agriculture, viticulture, fruit, vegetable and livestock properties. 

“The base makes it perfect for trialling pilot projects and which will certainly benefit from any agricultural innovation,” says Jonathon.

“We formed an association with DPI’s Global Ag-Tech Ecosystem so we could work together as an innovation hub to fast-track adoption of agricultural research and development to increase productivity and, as such, we have access to their 25 agricultural research stations across NSW.” 

Australia’s Cultiv8 is the only SparkLabs accelerator focusing on the agricultural space and it’s helping the founders access the same global opportunities.

Cultiv8’s five-member committee regularly reviews its portfolio and strategic objectives to ensure the company has a diversity of technologies spanning agricultural and food industries as well as apps in the consumer space. 

The committee selects companies at different stages: some may be just ideas on a page but have a particularly strong founder while others are already down the path of developing a business model.

“We evaluate about 350 start-ups a year before selecting 10 to support annually,” explains Jonathon. “The decision must be unanimous.” 

The selected start-ups are given a cash investment of $100,000, the opportunity to work with scientists and engineers in a wide array of research labs and agricultural trial sites as well as access to expert mentors, top-tier venture capitalists, angel investors and partner entrepreneurs across the globe.

“We focus on helping our start-ups build something so enticing that adoption is a fait accompli. We push founders to focus on offering solutions to real problems facing farmers, for instance,” says Jonathon. 

“Our model varies depending on what companies are doing and what stage they’re at. We’ll do workshops on branding, product market fit, sales and marketing and investor readiness. We also regularly offer one-on-one guidance for each startup.”

To that end, Cultiv8 has worked with a diverse range of Australian founders developing innovative solutions for Australian agriculture and food resources as well as start-ups in Israel, India, Singapore, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States that have come up with novel farming and food solutions.

Here are some examples of the ones that made the cut:

Check out FutureFeed 

Canadian scientist Dr Rob Kinley in conjunction with the CSIRO, MLA and James Cook University has discovered that tiny amounts of two types of asparagopsis red seaweed can reduce methane emissions of ruminant animals by over 80 per cent. 

This has been scientifically proven for the feedlot market and research is currently underway with open grazing animals. CSIRO recognised the potential for the technology and spun off FutureFeed as a commercial entity last year and is in the process of developing a certified trademark and licensing seaweed growers to sell into the livestock market worldwide. 

“The mentors we accessed through Cultiv8 helped us during critical early growth stages,” says Eve Faulkner, head of marketing and communications. “The networking and access to industry experts has been phenomenal as we start building an entirely new industry. We anticipate early supply from our seaweed growers to hit the market in early 2022.”

Introducing Zetifi and its ag innovations

Wagga Wagga-based network engineer, Dan Winson – the CEO and founder of Zetifi – had a light-bulb moment when he envisioned how Wi-Fi might go into low-power receiver mode that could wake up when needed. He filed a patent and built a team of 15 engineers who are now developing reliable, affordable, off-grid wireless networks that are specifically designed for people in rural and remote areas. 

The team proudly uses the term “ruggedized” to describe the unique mix of farm-tough hardware and resilient networks with backup data connections that have become the hallmark of the company’s solutions. The company have a federal grant to move into mass manufacture in Wagga Wagga over the next 12 months.

“Cultiv8’s introductions to the biggest and best farming operations enabled me to access industry-specific insights to solve the right problems, which are critical for a start-up. Early on I realised that the reality of deploying networks to remote areas is that you can’t rely on having a network engineer to finish the job, so designing the hardware and software to enable installation by local electricians has been key to our success,” says Dan. 

“The support of the Cultiv8 team gave me the confidence to aim higher and consider solving rural and remote connectivity issues worldwide, not just around Wagga Wagga. Jonathon put us forward when Cornell University approached him regarding the Grow-NY business competition and we came in second, winning $500,000. We’re about to set up a team now in Rochester, New York, which I couldn’t possibly have envisioned when I began this journey.”

Here comes BioScout

Under the company name of BioScout, Sydney University engineering PhD candidate and one of the Australian Department of Agriculture’s 2019 Young Scientists of the Year, Lewis Collins, and colleagues have developed fully autonomous sensors that provide world-first airborne disease tracking capacities two weeks before symptoms show in crops. 

Initially working with drones, they’ve now created fixed sensors that operate year-round and have active pilots with farmers in wheat (to detect stripe rust and Septoria Tritici blotch), barley (net form net blotch and powdery mildew) and wine grapes (powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis) and are currently starting commercial deployments.

“After going through other start-up incubators and learning the ropes of running a start-up, we were still looking for mentorship in the agriculture space. So, when Jonathon approached us about joining Cultiv8 we jumped at the opportunity,” say Lewis. “They brought us much more into the agricultural fold and made some great introductions. It’s helped us do a much better job of solving farmers’ real-world problems.”

Salicrop is growing

Israeli-based Salicrop has developed sustainable, non-GM seed treatments, based on proprietary know-how, which induce crops to grow well in stress conditions like heat, drought and highly saline soils or when irrigated with brackish water, all of which have been exacerbated by climate change.

“We’re working with rice in India, corn in South America, and tomatoes in Spain and Morocco,” says CEO Carmit Oron. 

“SparkLabs Cultiv8 is a great partner for us working with wheat in Australia. They’ve given us some wonderful strategic connections, most notably with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), and we plan to be in Western Australia in April 2022 to conduct large field trials with our treated wheat seeds for the next sowing season. I’m sure the team will continue to support us with our next funding round.”

If you enjoyed this feature on ag innovations, you might like our story on the bright future of ag.

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