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- So in this series of videos,
we've talked about the principles of regenerative agriculture.
Now we want to go from principles to practise
and we want to talk about how do farmers transition
to a more regenerative footing?
Now it's difficult to be prescriptive.
There isn't a rule book about regenerative agriculture,
so I can't tell you exactly
what you need to do on your farm,
but if I give you some ideas to take away,
and I think a fundamental idea is
that whatever we're growing,
whether we're growing cabbages or beef or wool or wheat,
what we're trying to do, is we're trying to grow deep roots,
big roots because the more we grow big roots,
the more we're paying attention to the soil,
the more we're paying attention to extracting maximum value
out of the full depth of soil,
and in that way we're trying to increase
the capture of water, we're increasing organic matter,
we're increasing the resilience of the system
which is really a key adaptation to climate change.
So when we're talking about transitioning
from our normal business as usual approach
to a regenerative approach, we've got to figure out
what that might look like for our particular system.
So in the context of dairying for example,
I've worked with dairy farmers in the south-west of Victoria
who have chosen to transition away from the high reliance
on expensive external inputs.
Principally their reliance on nitrogen
to drive the productivity of their rye grass pastures.
So the change there was not saying,
"I'm not going to use nitrogen anymore"
but rather changing the way that the nitrogen was used.
So that involved a shift from urea application
to the use of foliar applications, liquid nitrogen,
in conjunction with compost that was made on the farm,
from effluent and other waste products on the farm
such as hay and silage.
The kind of changes then that were observed
by the farmers were, more clover
coming back into the system.
The soils were softer and animal grazing behaviour changed.
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And the key to this is observation.
Looking at how the system is responding
to the different changes and taking cues from stock,
how is the grazing management changing?
How are the stock performing?
Are they showing any preference
to graze paddock over another?
And in a horticultural situation,
we're looking for changes in plant health,
in pest and disease pressure, in product quality.
So it's really important to take these concepts
and apply them to a small part of the farm to a paddock
to a number of paddocks
and start trialling something different here,
and that might be, longer rest periods for grazing,
leaving longer residuals in a paddock
when we take the stock off
and seeing how the system responds to that.
Over sowing with a range of different pastures species,
reducing fertiliser application rates and ideally,
supplementing with organic input, spreading manures,
bringing in composts et cetera.
So how do we manage success?
Increasing organic matter is gonna be a corner stone
of improving their health of our systems.
Profitability through reducing input costs
is a key measure of success.
Increasing yield ideally,
as part of that profitability increase
is a measure of success.
Animal health, growth rates, reduced inputs,
reduced herbicides, reduced pesticide,
reduced fertiliser use, and the farm functioning
as an ecosystem.
Are we seeing more biodiversity coming into our system?
Are we seeing less pest and disease pressure?
Are we seeing more bio-control happening in our systems?
And finally, let's talk about farmer wellbeing.
So if we have increased profitability,
if our farm is looking better,
if animals are looking better,
we're gonna start feeling better about ourselves.
But wellbeing is a difficult thing to quantify.
So when we're talking about farmer wellbeing,
and talking about leaving the farm in as good
or better condition, part and parcel of that is,
changing our thinking about how to achieve that.
So conventional thinking about growing pasture,
or growing annual crops, or perennial crops,
is about making the grass grow.
Making the grapevine grow.
Making the wheat grow.
Nature knows, how to make these things grow.
It's been doing it for thousands of years
before we came along.
So the change in thinking that's required,
is saying "okay nature is doing this,
"it doesn't particularly need me to do it,
"but I can maybe do it a little bit better.
"I can maybe increase productivity a little bit
"by applying fertilisers"
But I think we have started to over-rely on these inputs,
thinking that this is the only way,
we're going to make the grass grow.
Regenerative agriculture is not about,
not using these powerful tools.
Regenerative agriculture is about sympathetic
and strategic use of these tools.
So it's about, yes use nitrogen
but maybe not quite as much, or in a different form
that we've been traditionally been using it.
Maybe using it, in conjunction with organic inputs
and when we start doing this and start seeing
how the system is responding to this,
perhaps with biodiversity, with more clover coming back
into the system, with other plants
coming back into the system, we're allowing nature,
to develop the system in the way that nature intends.
When we can start working with natural systems,
in this way, that's when real wellbeing,
when real feelings of satisfaction start to arrive,
we realise we're working with nature,
and not against nature.
And I'm encouraged by one farmer saying,
that he doesn't live on a farm anymore,
he lives in an ecosystem.
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