In late October our plane looped out over the ocean and then gained height above Sydney’s suburbia. Having cleared the Blue Mountains the forests turned to cropping and grazing land. Beyond Griffith, the rolling hills levelled out and the earth began turning red. The vegetation began to thin and the size of the farms grew. Further west the lakes turned dry and you could catch glimpses of solitary houses sitting alone in the vast landscape. All this change within just one Australian state, New South Whales.

The few visible roads on the ground begun to converge and a town appeared. The nose of the plane tilted downwards and the turbulence started a few uneasy murmurs. The hot, dry air slapped us in the face on the tarmac and it was clear we’d come to the wild west. So far west in fact that despite technically being in New South Whales, the time changed to align with South Australia because they were the closest form of civilisation. Another planet compared to the oceanside hustle and bustle of Sydney Airport just a few hours earlier.

Despite the remote location around 350 people rolled into town to attend the 2019 NSW Landcare Conference. Including five young people sponsored by Intrepid Landcare and BCT (Biodiversity Conservation Trust). I was one of those lucky five. For me, the conference was going to be a fascinating reintroduction to Australian agriculture. In 2017, along with two others, I did an honours project with the NSW Department of Primary Industries. We met farmers all throughout NSW and Victoria and started learning about the role of biodiversity within farming systems. Our supervisors were behind us, but the department overall wasn’t that interested in what we were doing. Probably, because we were three students talking with the farmers on the fringe, not always, but certainly sometimes seen as a bit crazy and ostracised by their communities. Yet, every farmer we met was so passionate about what would now be labelled as ‘regenerative agriculture’, we felt like we were onto something. One man even showed us his advanced copy of Charles Massey’s ‘Call of the Reed Warbler’ before it had been released, he promised this book would be a game-changer. We produced some videos and handbooks for anyone interested, but then our year and project was over. I hit the road. I spent two years travelling to some of the most remote parts of the world with my friends. I saw communities subsisting at 4000m above sea-level in the Peruvian Highlands, self-sufficient indigenous communities a 20-hour boat trip into the Amazon Jungle, and farmers in Afghanistan making the most of the 3 months they have to grow food every year when their fields aren’t buried in snow. I found it endlessly fascinating to see peoples lives in such different places. The theme of agriculture was also an amazing way to compare and contrast what I knew about food production. At home it’s something most of us are relatively removed from. But that’s not the case for many people, particularly in developing nations.

Having just arrived back in Australia I was excited to get into the agricultural space once again. The 2019 NSW Landcare Conference seemed like the perfect opportunity to get back into it and I feel very fortunate that I was one of the five young people sponsored by Intrepid Landcare and BCT to attend. In the two years I was away I kept getting hints that things were changing. That farmer was right, Call of the Reed Warbler had taken off, there were many books and podcasts happening about regenerative farming and the Australian media seemed to be reporting about it more, calling for change. I was excited to come home and before the event, I noticed another remarkable shift, the keynote speaker for this conference, Charlie Arnott, is a biodynamic, regenerative farmer. This set the tone for the conference and was a constant theme throughout the three days.

I wasn’t the only person to notice this change either. I heard people talking about how a few years ago regenerative agriculture wouldn’t have featured at an event like this. And rightly so. While a select few people have been farming like this for a long time, it has only been a very recent trend. Because of that, there is limited scientific data regarding the benefits of biodiversity on farmland and the effectiveness of regenerative agricultural practices. Nearly all the evidence is anecdotal. However, recognising that traditional agriculture isn’t working in every system, farmers have experimented with their practices where possible. Now, it appears the anecdotal evidence is so strong, coming from so many farmers in so many different ecosystems, that Landcare is happy to explore these topics and present them to the farmers, government/industry workers, and others attending the conference. From what I could tell, it was well-received. 

During our amazing time out west, we had some pretty cool opportunities thrown our way. We drove an hour north to visit the Fowlers Gap Research Station where the BCT is funding some conservation projects. By my standards, the station was huge, 40,000 hectares, but by outback standards, it was pretty small, definitely below average. The scale out there is hard to comprehend but with such sparse vegetation, the area you need to adequately feed just one animal is still quite big, up to 10 acres. Hence, the massive property sizes. But we learnt that it’s a difficult system to manage. The last three years have seen less than 8 inches of rain, not only that but the grazing pressure posed by wild goats and kangaroos alone already keeps the existing vegetation at minimal levels. That’s before you add the stock. A tough gig to have to manage.

Some of the projects on the station involved exclusionary fencing to assess the difference in areas grazed by animals compared to those left untouched. The differences were pretty stark. In the images below you can see the differences. The image on the left shows the land with animals excluded on the left of the fence and a holding paddock for the stock on the right. Admittedly the stocking rates of a holding paddock are exceptionally high for the paddock area as it is where the herd is lumped together before trucking them off or moving them somewhere else. Meaning what you see on the right is as bad as it gets, it’s not the average paddock you see out there. But still, the image on the right shows land only grazed by feral goats and kangaroos (left of the fence) versus the land excluded from animals (right of the fence). Given ground cover (i.e. plants) is an important factor in keeping water available, maintaining soil health, and preventing dust storms it shows how important good management is. But again how hard that good management is given the grazing pressure of the native and introduced animals already on the land.

Something that really stuck out from my time in Broken Hill was just how tough the people are out here. They farm in near impossible conditions yet they always looked on the bright side. They loved the land and knew that as tough as times were in this drought, they’ve done it before and it’ll get better again one day. Even if that day is a few years away. They’ll just do what they can to get through and make sure that once the rain comes again, they’re ready and prepared.

Back at the conference there were many interesting presentations, as well as field trips to visit places like the Broken Hill Arboretum, solar farm, and the famous Mad Max town of Silverton. Throughout our time at the conference, we were asked to think about how we can work with private landholders to increase biodiversity. An important question given that back in 1999, 60% of the Australian landmass was utilised for agricultural purposes (ABS, 2002). A stat that is unlikely to have decreased by 2019.

How can we work together to conserve biodiversity on private land?

One of the biggest themes I have drawn from both this conference and my research in 2017 is that community is one of the biggest factors in promoting change. The change will come by farmers getting off-farm, coming together and sharing, creating a community of positive and supportive change. For example, Andy Myers from Ocean Watch spoke at the conference about the oyster industry. He told stories of how oyster farmers are incredibly innovative and good at engineering solutions to fix their problems. But these industry innovations never left the farm gate. Since creating video series and hosting field days to show other farmers these developments the industry has changed, adapted, and benefitted as a result. A collaborative approach to farming, as opposed to a competitive approach, ensures that people are working together to better their businesses, industry, and themselves. It can become very isolating if you are secretive and competitive in order to outdo your competitors. People need support, to be able to reach out to like-minded people and ask about their progress or for helpful ideas is a game-changer. This idea of better collaboration and hosting a positive, supportive community of people undertaking similar challenges came out in several talks at the conference and I believe is a key factor in holding rural communities together, as well as creating greater agricultural and environmental outcomes.

For leaders, whether they be government agencies, industry bodies, local farmers or extension officers, trust came across as one of the biggest assets you can have. Talk is talk, what works is demonstrating competency, merit and value. This develops trust. Once trust has been developed with the community or individual you are engaging with then you can work together, to share knowledge and drive change. Because knowledge is one thing but behaviour change is the ultimate goal and only real, long-lasting way to influence real change.

Another way I think we could create change is to broaden our perspectives. It is easy to get trapped within the paradigms that we know and be unaware of opportunities that exist because they lie outside of the bubble that each of us lives in. I think agriculture can move in this progressive direction by adopting two practices. The first of which being diversity. Fortunately, I think gender roles and diversity are changing for the better within agriculture, in some small way represented by the five of us young people sponsored to attend the conference. Four of which were intelligent, inspiring and capable young women, joined by me, the co-author of a blog called Dumb Things, go figure. Another form of diversity that I believe is severely lacking is cultural and ethnic diversity. Potentially it is better in coastal regions but from what I have seen and if the conference is anything to go by, this industry is very homogenous, it is heavily dominated by white people (myself included). An interesting thought to ponder given the strong First Nations and multicultural populations of Australia. “Healthy Country, Healthy People” is a sentiment associated with many aboriginal people (Burgess et. al, 2009). A brilliant sentiment and one rephrased to be ‘Healthy Landcare, Healthy Landscapes’ for the theme and motto of the conference. Despite this acknowledgement of First Nations People, it was interesting to note the apparent lack of Aboriginal people present and the conference, both among presenters and the audience. Particularly in light of the recent boom in popularity surrounding Bruce Pascoe’s book ‘Dark Emu’ which provides strong evidence of sophisticated land management practices and agricultural prowess of Aboriginal peoples. I believe that there would be much to gain by Landcare through stronger linkages and collaboration with each constituent’s local Aboriginal group and their knowledge. These partnerships could help harness that knowledge for greater production outcomes, but importantly, also restore biodiversity and ecosystem processes into a healthier balance. All whilst engaging the traditional owners of this land, paying respect to their culture, and asking them to work with us, to guide the protection of the precious lands that surround us all. Likewise, engaging people from other cultural backgrounds could revolutionise Landcare in different ways. Firstly these people could bring new perspectives on the current practices. Secondly, cultural hotspots are dotted all through our cities and towns and growing produce that is used in each of the different cuisines could lead to new industries and commodities, serving both existing cultural communities and diversifying the range available to everyone. Not only is this economically beneficial but if the new commodity is suitable to our environmental conditions, we can generate greater Landcare outcomes. A marine-based example would be seaweed. A crop that is highly efficient at sequestering carbon, taking up excess nutrients from our waterways, and providing habitat to many marine species. All whilst being incredibly tasty and healthy for humans when consumed. I imagine there must be land-based equivalents too if we trialled them. As I said at the beginning, I have only recently returned to the Australian agricultural scene but from the conference, these opinions were generated from my observations.

The final major takeaway I left with was something I noticed throughout my travels and summed up beautifully by the panel discussion with those involved in the EMU program. This program was centred around using blueprints of high-level concepts and practices but overlaying their implementation and priority according to local knowledge. The examples they talked through each involved skilled facilitators coming into a new region and letting the local landowners and traditional owners come together to lead the conversation. They know their area and the problems within it better than any outsider. For example, local properties around Broken Hill recognised sediment runoff associated with rainfall stripping away unprotected soil as one of their biggest challenges. Subsequently, a project around slowing water flows through the landscape was developed by overlaying local knowledge of landscape processes to implement them however that particular landscape required. In this case, it was using earthworks to build small mounded rows that would pool the water and send it in particular directions to move through the floodplain properly and slowly. The results were astounding when subsequent rain ensued and really demonstrated how experts working with locals and building their knowledge into a region-specific solution can be so effective. The earthworks can be blueprinted as a technique that other areas with similar challenges can take and tailor to their region using their local knowledge. Again this comes full circle to enhancing collaboration being key to greater outcomes. 

All in all, it was an incredible experience and I am very appreciative of this opportunity granted by Intrepid Landcare and the BCT.

Until next time,

Lachie.

References:

• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 2002. Year Book Australia, ‘Australia’s Land Resources’. [Online] Available at https://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs%40.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/c4f37e4488d32591ca256b35007ace07!OpenDocument

• Burgess, C et.al. 2009. The Medical Journal of Australia. ‘Healthy country, healthy people: the relationship between Indigenous health status and “caring for country”’