Today, Tess is at work with her husband Andrew at Gundamain Pastoral just outside Eugowra with her trusty (and temperamental) Jack Russell, Mick, at her feet.

“The season is looking good so far, we had good early rain, but things are starting to dry out now,” said Tess.

In contrast, only 10 short months ago, a flood hit the nearby town and the surrounding district with such force that lives were lost, homes were destroyed and businesses were obliterated.

The Herbert family has raised six generations on the property over the last 150 years and have seen catastrophic weather events over that time. However, according to Tess, the 2022 flood was extraordinary.

“In the months following the flood you’re left wondering; how do you cope during and after such an extreme event. And how do you prepare for the next one?” she said.

“When you’re smack bang in the middle of recovery and trying to get things done, you figure out how resilient your business is, how resilient your people are and you learn a lot about yourself. We nominated for the Kondinin Group and ABC Rural 2023 Farmer of the Year Award during this time because we were asking ourselves big questions, which is what the award does too. We also wanted to keep this area in people’s minds; we wanted to remind the public of what an extraordinary event had occurred.”

Tess Herbert

After receiving the award at Parliament House in Canberra and experiencing the ensuing fanfare, the Herberts are back at work, doing what they know and love – and that’s running a feedlot and farming business.

Growing fast, going strong

In the 1990s, when the couple assumed control of the operation, the business was a small, mixed farming enterprise with a piggery and a small cattle feedlot.

Tess kept a teaching job as a kind of ‘Plan B’ drought-proofing strategy for the farm. Due to a shortage of childcare, though, she decided to change lanes and work with Andrew as he began to build the feedlot.

It felt like it made sense then and, judging by her long and impressive list of industry roles, it makes even more sense now that Tess and Andrew run Gundamain together.

In 2000, the family constructed a new feedlot and, like the three children they were raising, it grew rapidly.

Gundamain now operates a 6,000-head cattle feedlot, 6,500 to 7,000 ewes for lamb and wool production, 5500ha of cropping, hay silage and pasture, and 400ha of remnant vegetation.

Tess’s off-farm pursuits include becoming the first female President of the Australian Lot Feeders Association, a director of the Red Meat Advisory Council (RMAC), and Chair of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework Steering Group. She was also a board member for Central Tablelands Local Land Services and Chaired the Red Meat Panel.

In 2022 Tess became a non-executive director of the Board of Meat and Livestock Australia, Integrity Systems Company and a member of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee.

Ready for anything

According to Tess, Andrew would be far less likely to make a career change, as he grew up knowing full well that he would stay working on the farm.

“He has always been absolutely sure of where he’s meant to be,” said Tess.

“The farm today looks completely different to when his parents ran it. We’ve made it our own. And no doubt, the next generation will make their mark on it too,” said Tess.

The family are the 13^th winners of the Kondinin Group and ABC Rural Farmer of the Year Award, which celebrates excellence and innovation in agriculture across Australia – something the Herberts have demonstrated in spades.

Gundamain fully embraces technology and data analysis within the feedlot, farm and office and prioritises strategic planning and efficient operations. As they say, if you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.

“You don’t react and respond; you plan ahead, then you’re ready for anything,” said Tess.

Having endured a drought, a global pandemic and a flood within a handful of years and come out the other side, certainly demonstrates that Tess and Andrew are walking the walk.

“Running a feedlot means you are heavily audited,” says Tess. “Quality assurance forces your business to think about things, you assess the internal and external risks and maintain a risk register. We must have contingency plans for when the power is out, or there’s extreme weather events. We need to know if the feed or water fails. Running a feedlot forces you to be agile and to have processes and procedures in place to drive the business.”

Gundamain works with an agronomist and feedlot consultant and uses software programs to monitor and improve their cropping and feedlot operation.

“We make data-driven decisions, which means we use a number of measurement points that then integrate. We use AgWorld for the crops, AgriWebb for the livestock, Farm Bot to remotely monitor water tank levels, Gallagher fencing to track electric fences and Cibo Labs to measure pasture growth via remote sensors.”

Tess Herbert

By having their data ducks in a row, the Herberts can put a finger on any information required at any time.

“When it comes to being audited, we can prove what we do. It’s not enough to say what you’re doing,” she says. “You must prove it, and good data and software allow this to happen.”

This self-awareness extends to benchmarking, which the Herberts believe is a valuable tool in assessing how their business is tracking.

“We will know if something doesn’t look or feel right, we will pick up on it because of our extensive use of systems and processes. Then you can do an internal audit and dive into the incident. You can make corrective actions and make sure it doesn’t happen again. You analyse, benchmark and measure what we are achieving in comparison to other people. This adds value to your business,” said Tess.

The length and breadth of the operation

The business of farming has undergone a few upgrades since the Herbert family first arrived in the district back in 1873, but some things still stand.

“This is a good grain-growing and cattle-growing area,” said Tess.

With a staff of 20, Gundamain produces its own hay and silage and sources grain and cattle locally. In recent years, they sold off feedlots at Coonamble and Wagga Wagga to focus on expanding their cropping operation.

“More farms mean more grain which equals more cattle,” she points out.

Years ago, the couple could see a real opportunity for feedlots in the supply chain for price risk management, and that opportunity is being realised today with Andrew managing the cattle-trading side of the business. 

“Working directly with the processors means they know when the animal is coming in, so they can fill their customers’ demands at certain times. The capacity of the feedlot industry is growing,” said Tess.

Feedlotting cattle takes a lot of work, which means a strong reliance on a workforce. Based on her experience as Chair of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework Steering Group, Tess can see the flow-on effects of her business on their people and the community – one of the pillars in the beef framework.

“When we measure the impact red meat has on people and the community, it’s not just in the place of diet,” she says. “It’s how it influences local and regional communities. The production of red meat creates a workforce, indirect employment and services. We buy cattle and grain and that has an economic impact on regional towns in a sustainable way. It means continuity for communities.”

Admitting she is definitely ‘on her soapbox’ when discussing the red meat sustainability framework, Tess is looking toward the future as an exciting time for farmers to understand their natural capital assets.

“We are right in the middle of something big. If you can change your mindset to think of your natural capital as an asset, you’ll benefit from it. Think of it as your biodiversity, your soil, your animals and your vegetation.”

Tess Herbert

Tess admits it is getting more complicated, but sees opportunity in measuring your carbon in the future, particularly around forage budgeting.

“If you’re looking at management of pasture and soils and you’re across your carbon and your soil condition, then you’re going to make a decision to graze and move your stock for that purpose,” she says.

Every generation will revolutionise farming in its own unique way, and Andrew and Tess are thrilled to have their eldest daughter Caitlin on board the Gundamain ‘train’.

Alongside her, comes the Herberts’ previous woolbroker turned son-in-law, Ed Thomas, bringing with him a skillset to complement the fibre side of things.

Gone are the days when the Herbert kids would catch the school bus from the feedlot weighbridge, but the family have taken an open and flexible approach to what lies ahead for the sixth generation.

“We made it clear to our kids that if they were interested in the farm, then they could come back whenever it suited them. Caitlin did dentistry and has come home, Siobhan is an economist in Sydney, and Lachlan works for Farmbuy,” says Tess.

Given the family’s long history of resilience and adaptability, it’s likely these traits are genetic and the future of Gundamain is bright.

If you enjoyed reading about the Herberts, check out the Suttor family, with a history that has been shared with the whole of Australia.

The post From resilience comes reward for the Herberts appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

However, the public and private agricultural sector are now combining forces and doing some heavy lifting in the regenerative research and development (R&D) space. 

This means farmers are looking down the barrel of a triple bottom line bullseye: improved production, healthier soil, and greater social license in the eyes of the ever-curious consumer (think food and carbon). 

Traditionally, regenerative farming techniques have been side-stepped in favour of more short-term, economically motivated approaches. Could you be green manuring a perfectly good crop for the sake of your microbes or cashing that crop and
making repayments? 

Thanks to a renewed focus and significant investments into the R&D space, the old adage, ‘it’s hard to be green when you’re in the red’ has been put to shame. Advances in biological nutrition, microbial science, and drought resilience strategies are painting a new picture. There’s profit in being green.

From microbe to market

Tegan Nock from Loam Bio hails from Bogan Gate. She is a farmer by trade and now an entrepreneur out of necessity. Prior to 2019, Tegan felt like she was ‘spinning her wheels’ when it came to the hard slog of sequestering stable organic carbon matter in soils. 

“We were keenly watching as researchers at the University of Sydney were identifying which microbes play the critical role in carbon sequestration and were hooked,” said Tegan. 

“They were looking at how microbes play a role in bridging the physical soil matrix with the atmosphere via plant processes.” 

Alongside four leading farmers, agronomists and climate specialists, Tegan founded Loam Bio and got busy working at the intersection of microbial science, agriculture and climate science. 

The Loam Bio team has developed new technology to increase stable soil carbon based around fungi colonising the root system of the plant. In a nutshell, it’s a seed treatment that employs microbial technology to support enhanced soil carbon sequestration, plant and soil health. It’s a win-win. 

Loam’s Orange-based outfit has now expanded to a global network of 135 soil scientists, microbiologists, data scientists, carbon market specialists, agronomists, sales and extension folk. Within the Loam Bio team sits over 20 PhD researchers who have what Tegan describes as strong skillsets in deep sciences. 

Loam Bio is marrying carbon agronomy with farmer-first soil carbon projects by integrating CarbonBuilder seed treatment into the SecondCrop soil carbon program.

“Farmers can increase their soil productivity, participate in sustainable supply chains and enter carbon markets on their terms.”

Tegan Nock, Loam Bio founder

Tilling it like it is

Farmers and their trusty sidekick soil have been wheeled into the climate change arena as the world’s croplands have been identified as potential carbon sinks. Regardless of your political persuasion or belief system, your land has gone and established itself a side hustle. 

Peter Calkin from Switch Ag is far more invested in the main game of building soil structure, increasing water-holding capacity and nutrient cycling in the name of agricultural production, and the turf industry. 

“If you focus on the soil and plant health, you’re not as reliant on the synthetic fertilisers or pesticides. We aim to cut back on that reliance by using beneficial biology, carbohydrates, plant stimulants and organic acids to get the plant off to a great start. 

Peter Calkin, Switch Ag founder

“Switch Ag manufactures all our biological nutrition products at our facility at Cowra and we’re experiencing rapid growth,” said Peter. 

With a background in construction and engineering, Peter changed lanes into agriculture 15 years ago and has been talking soil ever since. 

Peter, unlike most farmers, must perform for an audience. Switch Ag products have been put to the test on the turf at Australia’s leading sports stadiums, racetracks and golf courses with their products reaching all the way to Middle Eastern golf courses.

“Golf courses and stadiums are just small farms! They have fungal disease and compaction issues from buggies and game play, as well as pH problems,” he said.  

Farmers and the turf industry are taking steps down a regenerative path looking to restore microbial life essential to soil health. 

“We work with croppers, vegetable and citrus growers, viticulturists, and graziers. Maximising soil health and nutrient availability is a priority for everyone,” said Peter. 

Cultivating change

This sentiment is being echoed by the government with the Southern NSW Innovation Hub identifying ‘Landscape Management’ as one of its top five priorities. 

According to the Hub, which is funded by the Future Drought Fund, improving soil management practices to balance production with ecosystem services and avoid degradation during drought is of great importance. 

A report produced by the Hub in conjunction with Local Land Services titled, ‘Saving our Soils: Groundcover trigger points for pasture resilience during drought’, explains the use of stock management areas as a drought resilience strategy. 

The report emphasises the need to maintain groundcover across paddocks to ensure a quicker recovery from drought. 

The report identified that “overgrazed lands have an increased risk of soil erosion during drought with the loss of soil nutrients impacting on future productivity. Overgrazing may also cause pasture decline and weed invasion, further
reducing productivity”.

It is recommended that a groundcover threshold of 70 per cent is maintained in temperate regions, with a 50 per cent threshold for rangelands. Maintaining vegetation cover is singing from the regenerative farming hymn book, one that is being relied upon more regularly as drought frequency and intensity are predicted to increase. 

According to the NSW DPI, regenerative agriculture is defined as restoring and enhancing ecosystem function on farms and in landscapes through practices designed to work with the landscape, climate, livestock and people.

This system-based approach acknowledges and articulates what custodians of the land have known for some time: there is no separation of farm and environment. They are one and the same relying wholeheartedly on healthy soils. Thanks to those working hard with innumerable bugs in jugs or managing endless trial plots, the future of Australian agriculture will inherit a regenerative streak.

If you enjoyed this piece on soil health, you might like to read about how the tide is turning on regenerative agriculture.

The post Saving our soil health through regenerative farming appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.