Big ideas were planted with more than 100 students from five schools across the region when they combined to discuss regenerative agriculture on Tuesday 10th April 2018.  Image - Armidale High School's Bec Smith (L), Dr Maarten Stapper and Sara Schmude pictured at the event. Photo courtesy of Meg Francis. Check out the full story here. 

More than 100 baby Bell’s Turtles will provide a major boost to the wild population of this endangered species after being released into the Macdonald River at seven sites near Bendemeer, north of Tamworth in April 2018. The release of turtle hatchlings through the Turtles Forever program is the result of a unique partnership between a detection dog, local farmers, ecologists and researchers.

It is the responsibility of all land owners and managers to control weeds on their lands (Biosecurity Act 2015 – General Biosecurity Duty). With the recent enactment of the Biosecurity legislation in NSW it is also the responsibility of landholders to ensure they do not allow weeds to spread to neighboring properties. An example of unintentional weed spread is blackberries as seeds are largely spread by birds and animals that eat the fruit and excrete seed elsewhere. This highlights the need for all land managers to treat blackberry and other weeds on their land so as to minimise or prevent their spread.

A new Drought Transport Fund announced by the NSW Government will help farmers manage livestock through dry conditions. The NSW Drought Transport Fund will provide up to $20,000 in low interest loans, with a two-year interest and repayment free period.

Soil Land Food's David Hardwick will run 4 days of farm planning with an innovation twist starting on Thursday 26 - Friday 27 April and concluding on Thursday 17 - Friday 18 May. The RSVP date has been extended to Friday 20th April, so there is still time to register!

9am to 5pm 7th - 10 May 2018 at the Living Classroom, Bingara.

Transform your farming, your garden and yourself with Graeme Sait. 

Are you (or your livestock) thriving nutritionally? What are the signs & symptoms? Do you need to break through animal health and production barriers?

Join us to hear Peter Norwood relate human and animal health and nutrition to plant and soil health and nutrition to be held at Kentucky AND Guyra. Choose your venue!

Several new labels have been introduced in the US recently, which seek to move beyond USDA organic. Interestingly, the article at the following link provides some definitions for 'regenerative'. https://civileats.com/2018/03/12/what-does-the-new-regenerative-organic-certification-mean-for-the-future-of-good-food/.

The Science behind Holistic Management may prove an interesting resource, particularly for those who attended our farm tour on 12th April to the Emmery and McPhie properties east of Armidale where holistic management was mentioned a number of times!