HOW regenerative farming methods are helping growers build and store more carbon on their farms will be the focus of one of Australia’s leading farmer conferences, to be held in Moama next week.
The VicNoTill Carbon Power conference will present the latest innovations in broadacre cropping and grazing from Tuesday to Thursday at Rich River Golf Club.
The conference highlight will be the presentations by keynote speaker and Nutrition Rules author Graeme Sait, who will describe the links between soil, plant, animal and human health.
Mr Sait, the co-founder and chief executive of Nutri-Tech Solutions, has also written more than 300 articles and is recognised for his TED Talk Humus Saves the World.
More recently he has expanded on his initial work to include planetary health, in recognition of the link between humus and carbon sequestration.
Mr Sait has had a major impact on agriculture, influencing farmers, consultants, medicos, governments and key decision-makers worldwide.
In South Africa, he and his NTS agronomy team trained all of the growers supplying Woolworths, the country’s largest supermarket chain and the NTS Farming for the Future initiative proving a resounding success.
NTS has since been approached by two more supermarket chains in South Africa seeking similar training as well as in other countries.
More than 250 cropping and livestock farmers from across Australia are expected to attend for the visit to a cutting-edge sixth-generation mixed farming enterprise as well as two days of speakers and panel discussions at an event also marking the farmer-led group’s 20th anniversary.
VicNoTill president Dan Fox said farmers had been excited about the return of one of Australian agriculture’s leading events for broadacre farmers.
“VicNoTill has a reputation for challenging the way we have all grown to understand good farming and our conference always opens people’s minds and creates collective enthusiasm for rethinking our farming systems,” Mr Fox said.
“And there will be plenty of lively discussions with some of Australia’s leading scientists, researchers and farmers.”
The conference starts on Tuesday with a visit to the property of Grant Sims for a rainfall simulator and soil pit demonstration by Mr Sait, plus a tour of his on-farm biofertiliser set up.
Mr Sims, the sixth generation on his family’s mixed farming property, is a former VicNoTill president and The Weekly Times Farmer of the Year.
A dinner on Tuesday night will include a discussion on how the season is looking and how regenerative farming techniques are helping broadacre cropping and grazing farmers manage seasonal challenges.
Conference presentastions and panel discussions start on Wednesday with Mr Sait and feature presenters Dr Terry McCosker, who will release his latest carbon data from his Australia-wide sampling of sequestration rates, and Michael Eyres and Edward Scott, of Field Systems Australia, who will focus on soil performance in managed agricultural landscapes.
Other speakers are producer Harry Youngman, who combines soil science, plant biology and animal breeding to store and sell carbon; Riverina mixed farming couple David and Jenny Thompson, who are changing the way they farm to produce healthy plants and animals; and VicNoTill board member Brendan Pattison, who is building carbon in his strip-and-disc cropping system.
Mr Fox said it was an exciting time to be involved in agriculture, but the biggest challenge of the past couple of years had been the lack of face-to-face contact with like-minded people.
“VicNoTill has always been about learning together and sharing what we learn. Although we’ve tried to do this online as much as possible over the past couple of years, it’s still not the same as getting together in person,” he said.
“We are proud to continue our genuine approach to farmers helping farmers and can’t wait to see some new faces as well as old at the conference.”
For more information and tickets, go to www.vicnotill.com.au/events/event/carbon-power-conference-august-16-18.
