Valentines day move over - this Feb 14 we are celebrating our love for the land with National Regenerative Agriculture Day. Check out what some of our awesome members are doing in the Regenerative Agriculture space, and learn a bit too!
National Regenerative Agriculture Day is a united national movement to raise awareness about Regenerative Agriculture and the benefits to helping heal the land and our communities.
Regenerative Agriculture is a set of farming principles that focus on the entire ecosystem of the farm, with the idea that activity will 'regenerate' resources rather than deplete them. Regenerative practices include Holistic Grazing, no-till farming, maintaining groundcover, multi-species cover crops, crimp rolling, pasture cropping and many other innovations.
Our Members doing Regen Ag!
Many of Landcare Tasmania members are leading the way for Regenerative Agriculture in Tasmania. Find out more about who's doing the sweet stuff for regen ag in Tas!
Regenerative Agriculture Network Tasmania (RANT)
Regenerative Agriculture Network Tasmania (RANT) supports the broad scale regeneration of perennial grasslands, cropping land and functioning forests to address climate change and restore food and water.
Read:
Evie and Celia went to the National Farming Matters Conference: this is what they learnt Read Evie and Celia's highlights and learnings from a 3-day gathering of regenerative agriculture and holistic management farmers. What are the 5 key principles of regenerative agriculture? How do we mimic nature through holistic management? And what do wolves have to do with anything?
Watch:
Celia Leverton of RANT talks about the passion of regenerative agriculture practices on her farm Whistlers Ridge, in Franklin Tasmania.
For more, check out RANTs website which has a host of videos, resources and more on What is Regenerative Agriculture.
Richmond Ripple Farm
Image: Gathering at the hub to share regen ag knowledge © Evie Drinnan
Richmond Ripple Farm aims to team with existing organisations like Regenerative Agricultural Networks of Tasmania to deliver techniques, concepts and practices in regenerative/ holistic land and water management in a farm setting. Ripple Farm has become a hub for farmer gatherings to showcase how ecological health can exist alongside economically functioning farm that deliver nutrient dense foods from living soils.
Check out some of the Regen Ag events recently hosted at the hub!
Dung Beetles and Regenerative Agriculture - Mini Workshops One event packed to the brim with three highly informative workshops from experts on dung beetles, holistic grazing and regenerative agriculture.
National Regen Ag Day Gallery Tour! On Ripple Farm the soil is coming alive through regenerative stewardship.
Watch:
Rachael Treasure, mother, author, regenerative agriculturist of Richmond Ripple Farm, speaking at the Regenerative Ag conf.
Tim Reed at Wenlock Enterprises
Tim and his family live on their beef farm is Rosevale, Tasmania. Tim has been working on regenerating the property that was previously managed under conventional farming practices, through a mixture of holistic, sustainable and regenerative farming. Tim is an innovative and enthusiastic farmer, thinking outside the square and working towards building a healthier and more sustainable farming structure.
Tim has been researching and talking to others, attending workshops, to find what works best for the local area, trialing many different pasture combinations and weed management strategies while building an Angus breeding herd, re-designing the layout of the entire farm and running a small agricultural contracting business.
Tim has been dedicated to rehabilitating large areas of land and has been doing so for a considerable period of time, and is seeing amazing results.
Tim was also awarded the Australian Government Landcare Farming Award and ran a field trip stop at our Conference last October! Check out what Tim has been up to by following Wenlock Enterprises.
Soil First Tasmania
Image: Serious about soils. Soil First Tas celebrating with Michael Nichols at the National Landcare Awards 2021. © Amy Brown
Soil First Tasmania (SFT) is a volunteer organisation led by farmers, with a strong focus on soil-focused farming and regenerative agricultural practices. SFT use the powerful tool of peer-to-peer learning to increase the uptake of sustainable land management practices such as cover cropping.
Tasmania's most valuable soils are the most intensively utilised for food production which inevitably causes a decline in quality of the soil, through erosion, compaction, organic matter depletion and acidification. The principles and practice of regenerative agriculture aim to prevent and reverse these patterns. By getting growers together where they can ask practical questions of each other and the guests that SFT bring, the path to practice change becomes achievable on-farm.
Listen:
More
🔍The Regen Report Podcast Episode #2: Tas Ag Co transitions and a new soil carbon method in 2021