Regenerative farming

Digging the dirt on regenerative farming Story by Nina Keath. Photography by Heidi Lewis.

Page left: There’s carbon in them there weeds. Above: Scott Binns of Green Slopes Farm at Pages Flat uses regenerative farming principles and says, ‘once you look after the environmental and personal bit, the profit takes care of itself.’

There’s a radical idea sweeping the Fleurieu. It’s called regenerative farming and it presents the startling proposition that agriculture is one of our best bets against climate change and a suite of other social and ecological challenges.

Scott Binns’ farming lineage goes back four generations and all he ever wanted was to follow in his family’s footsteps. But the reality didn’t initially live up to the dream. ‘I got sick of dipping into my pocket to degrade the land. The animals were causing damage and I couldn’t cope with it. Every time it rained, the creek would run brown from erosion. Last year, I completely changed my ways and now when it rains, the creek’s running clear,’ Scott grins. ‘I’m not losing my topsoil anymore.’

I’ve been taught that our ancient soils and low rainfall make hardhoofed animals unsuited to the fragile Australian environment. So, how did Scott manage to retain his stock and eliminate erosion in less than two years?

First, he decided to change his perspective: ‘I went from feeling stressed and seeing profit as my primary motivator to thinking more about the long-term sustainability of my land and business and my personal wellbeing.’ Ironically, he says, ‘once you look after the environmental and personal bit, the profit takes care of itself.’

Secondly, he changed his practices. ‘Keeping grass cover is key,’ says Scott. ‘It’s only October and they’re already talking about dust storms in the mid-north!’ Scott facilitated groundcover by adopting a practice known as ‘cell-grazing’ whereby stock are placed in tightly bunched herds and moved frequently between smaller paddocks, mimicking the grazing patterns found in nature. The result is a big influx of dung and urine in a condensed area followed by long rest periods, which optimise plant growth and soil health. In addition to fixing erosion, Scott says he’s also eliminated the need for synthetic fertilisers, and no longer requires drenches because his stock aren’t exposed to worms from overgrazed paddocks.

The changes Scott describes might sound revolutionary, but he insists ‘we’re not reinventing the wheel. It’s just that we’ve gone too far down a particular path.’ That ‘path’ is industrial agriculture and it’s one that a growing number of farmers believe is leading in the wrong direction. Like Scott, farmers across the Fleurieu are taking an alternative route - regenerative agriculture.

Top left and right: Ben Ryan works his family’s cattle and sheep farm, Tent Rock at Deep Creek, using regenerative farming principles. Bottom left and right: This old Land Rover at the Leask family vineyard will also one day be regenerated.

purposeful stride. Richard says, ‘I first started being unhappy with our chemical use in 2005. We were bombarding the system and I thought, this can’t be good for us, the environment or the fruit. From there, it’s been a gradual journey and in the last six or seven years I’ve been very focused on making significant change.’ He continues, ‘modern farming is efficient, but degrades the system over time. As farmers, we’ve been taking from the system and we need to start giving back.’

As a recent recipient of the coveted Nuffield Scholarship, Richard has spent the past year learning from regenerative farmers across the globe. However, after an hour of conversation over a very drinkable malbec, I can see that defining the philosophy and practice of regenerative farming is no easy task. Richard swirls his wine and grimaces, ‘the challenging thing about regenerative farming is there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Each system is unique to its environment and business. There are a number of common principles that you then apply in the way that works best in your context, but I’m faced with writing a report for the scholarship and it’ll be outdated in a year!’

Let’s have a crack at a definition though. In contrast to the reductionist approach of industrial agriculture, a foundational principle of regenerative agriculture is that everything is intrinsically linked, and the ‘culture’ part is just as essential as the ‘agri’ part. Another important principle is that healthy soils are our bedrock and getting carbon, water and beneficial critters into them is key. Rather than being an inert substrate, soil is a living system that grows and evolves over time. This means it can also die. Richard says, ‘people have real trouble understanding the role of soils. If you’ve got a bare paddock that you’re constantly tilling, overgrazing, over-irrigating and putting

chemicals into, you’re not going to have the biodiversity required to get it to grow.’

Healthy, living soils are supported by enabling constant groundcover with diverse plant species that draw carbon into the soil via photosynthesis. This turns the soil into a giant sponge, and as Scott says, ‘water is the new gold.’ Water in the landscape also means stable micro-climates and lower temperatures, something of increasing importance as our climate warms. Richard says he’s achieved ground surface temperature reductions of more than thirty degrees Celsius in his vineyards by following these simple practices.

Judiciously grazed livestock help break down green matter, fertilise soils and promote healthy plant growth. Instead of using sprays and slashers, Richard will borrow Scott’s cows next winter to help cycle carbon into the soil in his vineyard. Replacing poisons and synthetic fertilisers with microbiology brews allows beneficial bugs above and below ground to thrive, providing essential ecosystem services. For example, microbes and fungi help carbon cycling processes and support plants to access a far greater diversity of nutrients.

The combined result of all these things is rich, biodiverse, waterholding soils producing nutrient-dense food, healthy animals and productive farms. Farmers are happier, communities and ecosystems are healthier and farming economies are productive and stable for the long term. Scott says, ‘I want people to see that farmers aren’t enemies of the environment. Animals aren’t the problem either. The way we manage them is the problem.’

Top left and right: Ben Pridham runs his vineyards at McLaren Vale using regenerative farming principles and says, ‘Once you’re sensitive to your surroundings and let your mind open it’s amazing what you can observe and achieve.’ Bottom left: Talking regeneration. Right: Celebrating the humble weed.

As he told Dumbo Feather, ‘We’re a species made for stories. We don’t want a serious textbook. Let’s have wonderful stories of these extraordinary farmers regenerating different components of how the landscape functioned.’ A second book could be written about people regenerating Fleurieu farms, but let’s start with just a few.

Ben Pridham, of Pridham Viticulture, supports his customers to embrace nature’s services. He says, ‘it takes time to help them see that the grass and weeds they want sprayed are actually delivering a service and that nature is an ally.’ To illustrate his point, Ben suggests looking at the soil along established fence lines in conventionally farmed paddocks. Where grass has been able to grow without interruption along the fence lines, you’ll see a higher mound where the grass has created soil over time. In contrast, the soil being farmed on either side of the fence line with chemicals and fertilisers is ‘growing downwards.’ ‘It’s basically being mined,’ he explains. This holistic way of seeing the land is central to Ben’s regenerative approach: ‘you’re moving away from looking at the farm as the sum of its parts, towards seeing it as a whole system and treating yourself as part of that whole. Once you’re sensitive to your surroundings and let your mind open it’s amazing what you can observe and achieve.’

Lawyer Tom Bradman once provided legal and policy advice to the Federal Department of Agriculture in Canberra but says, ‘I wanted to do something rather than talk and write about it.’ So, he returned home and established Nomad Farms in the Finnis Valley, producing prime beef and poultry. Tom says, ‘I tell our customers, ‘you’re not just buying a lump of meat, you’re buying a set of outcomes. In a very real way, you’re spending your money on either landscape degradation or landscape regeneration’.’ He continues, ‘we can’t escape the fact that we’re part of ecology and depend on its functions. Traditionally, we’ve looked at conservation over here and production agriculture over there with a fence in between. Regenerative agriculture is about their integration. The flaw is in treating a complex biological system as though it’s an industrial factory. I view my entire farm as an ecosystem.’

Pastured egg producer Kat Snoswell from Falkai Farms couldn’t agree more. Mimicking natural multi-species grazing practices, her hens are integrated into Tom’s cattle property and protected by friendly Maremma dogs. For my part, I’ve never seen such happy chooks. Kat takes me to the top of a grassy rise to show me an endless patchwork of lush emerald squares where the chooks have been before. Shielding her eyes from the spring sunshine, she says, ‘regenerative farming takes sustainability to the next level and adds repair. You can be a sustainable farmer but sustaining what we’ve got isn’t enough. There’s a lot that needs to be done in terms of increasing diversity, building up the species that have been lost and putting carbon back in the soil.’

To this end, the first soil carbon credits were claimed by farmers in Victoria earlier this year and the Australian Government has just committed a further $2 billion for purchasing carbon credits through the Climate Solutions Fund. Platfarm’s Oli Madgett wants to help farmers make the most of this opportunity via clever software. He says, ‘if we mainstream this as an approach to agriculture, we’re talking up to hundreds of millions of tonnes of emissions reductions in Australia alone.’ But in his view, carbon credits are just the icing on the cake and it’s all the other benefits of soil carbon that farmers really need. Oli says, ‘I’ve been travelling the country and meeting farmers in crisis everywhere I go. Their current practices of monoculture, chemical weed control and high levels of inorganic >

Top left and right: Kat Snoswell works hard with her partner Luke Falkai at Falkai Farms to not simply sustain but repair the land in partnership with Nomad Farms. Bottom left and right: Richard Leask of Leask Agriculture and Hither & Yon Wines has learned much from his travels and over a decade switching his approach he’s also found that the regenerative farming approach is what’s making the difference to his family’s farming practise.

inputs are seeing farm productivity stagnate and sometimes fail. They’re looking for new answers.’

Ben Ryan, of Tent Rock farm in Deep Creek believes he’s found at least a few of those answers. ‘With industrial agriculture, weeds, bugs and soil nutrition are all treated at the symptom level rather than the underlying cause. And I bought right into that. But, twenty years ago, I woke up. My job for the day was to spray thistles and I thought, ‘bugger it, if I’m still doing this in twenty years, I’m failing’,’ he says. ‘My goal ever since has been to solve the problem and not treat the symptom.’ Today, Tent Rock farm is a thriving beacon for what can be achieved by long-term regenerative practices. Ben admits that he still sometimes struggles with the self-care aspect of the equation and muses, ‘I know farmers across Australia who’ve got into regenerative farming because they have no other option, but imagine if we started from a place of abundance rather than physical, mental or emotional desperation?’

It seems to me that many farmers on the Fleurieu are indeed starting from a place of abundance. Certainly, they’re dissatisfied with the status quo but they’re not desperate like their counterparts in other states. We’re a small, connected community in a relatively prosperous region that has so far been protected from the worst impacts of climate change. The farmers I met are, by and large, curious and energised. They’re also generous with their knowledge and ideas. They’re reaping benefits and they want to share these with their peers. And there are lots of them – many more than I could do justice to in this article.

Perhaps we should take Ben up on his challenge and start imagining what we could achieve if we made the Fleurieu a regenerative farming epicentre. Beyond the benefits to our own environment and community, we could stand against the malaise threatening to swallow many farmers in rural Australia and offer hope instead. As Scott puts it: ‘regenerative farming shows there’s a way that people don’t have to walk off the land. Suicide and mental health are massive challenges for rural communities, and I want to show that we can do it a better way. We can improve our stress, we can regenerate our land and at the end of the day, we can be profitable.’

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