International education growing roots rurally

About 70 farmers from around the area convened at Emerald Hill Hall for the Namoi Soil Symposium earlier this month.

The work of Landcare groups brought internationally renowned soil scientist Joel Williams back to rural NSW to discuss soil management, plant nutrition and integrated approaches of sustainable food production.

Among the speakers were farmers Scott McCalman and Amy Perfrement along with soil scientist Dr Rob Banks and regional soil coordinator Cameron Leckie.

Wayne Chaffey, chair of the Tamworth Regional Landcare Association and board member of Landcare NSW, was the facilitator of the day.

Wayne sang the praises of Gunnible Landcare and its chair Tony Bernays and Ian Pine along with Liverpool Plains and Gunnedah Landcare Coordinator Nicky Chirlian, who made the event possible. Those organisations along with Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group, Tamworth Regional Landcare Association, NSW Government and NSW Landcare were involved.

He also thanked the Emerald Hill community for its involvement and the CWA for its assistance with catering.

“It is a fairly small community but they all come together and work really well,” Wayne said.

The aim of the day was for education on soil, which Wayne said had a “real run-on effect”.

“[It is] all about supporting people to produce healthy soils, to produce healthy plants, healthy animals and ultimately healthy people,” he said.

Wayne said participants were interested in learning how to put the science into practice.

In agreement was independent plant and soil health educator Joel Williams, who further elaborated by stating there was a lot of discussion but the bigger message was how farming systems can transition into more sustainable practices.

While the soil expert has lived a “nomadic” life, he is now based in Canada.

One of the strategies raised was how to use less fertilisers and pesticides without impacting negatively on production and efficiency.

He firstly highlighted seed treatment, which involves adding nutrients and stimulants to the seed.

“That’s very advantageous because it’s a very low dose, but very targeted application,” Joel said.

“Another strategy is called liquid inject and it’s similar to the seed treatment.

“It just means having a liquid tank on the planter or the drill that then dribbles some of these liquids and stimulants and things into the furrow.

“The third strategy we discussed was foliar applications of nutrients where you can spray a liquid solution straight onto the leaf.

Joel said education was key, as farmers only needed to take one good idea and properly apply it to make a difference.

“It is about rethinking, relearning,” he said.

Joel’s research is assisting farm practice evolution, but these networking events are also an opportunity for him to learn. “There’s a whole host of fantastic innovation happening all around the world – which is being primarily driven from farmers,” he said.

“Farmers getting up and sharing their stories is hugely valuable because it brings this other piece of the puzzle.

“I’m here as an external speaker parachuting in but … really the work happens when farmers then network with each other and learn from each other.”

Social media has also allowed for innovation in the farming field as people connect globally.

“There’s enough overlap that you see this huge cross pollination now of ideas of things happening in North America, Europe, or here in Australia,” Joel said.

Farmers also had their say. One was Scott McCalman, who is based north of Mullaley.

He said the cost of production has become more expensive. He has chosen to experiment with cover cropping which he discussed at the symposium.

“It maintains permanent ground cover on your soil, which is so vitally important for soil health and for capturing our highly variable rainfall,” Scott said.

It has been a big learning curve for him and admitted to making mistakes in the process but has reiterated how effective cover cropping can be.

“We’re coming up with unique ways to grow a really good quality product, build some resilience into our business and try to reduce our production costs to a degree,” Scott said.

“That’s very hard in ag at the moment because our commodity prices are so incredibly low, but our production prices are just through the roof.

“Just generally in Australia, the cost of living is so high and the cost of running a business is so high.”

He was happy to see Joel return to Emerald Hill so he could be reminded of the climate realities of rural Australia.

“We’re unique because we have 12 months of sunshine and highly sporadic rainfall … Australia’s a very fairly hostile environment,” Scott said.

David Ward was one of the participants at the symposium. He believed one of the best aspects of the day was learning the trails, errors and successes of other farmers.

“[Scott is] kicking goals and he has his productivity and profitability … and when you unpack what he’s done, it’s not very complicated,” David said.

“He’s just added some natural processes.

“I suppose that is what it’s about, isn’t it? 

“It’s being willing to learn and put things into practice and not being afraid to make mistakes and evolve from it really.”

David has been attending landcare events for almost 30 years, but he said this one stood out.

“This is probably the best landcare event I’ve ever been to,” he said.

“I sat on a church pew for 6 hours. Normally I can’t sit on a church pew for 15 minutes.

“I was so connected with the speakers and listening.”