Landchat showcases the wonderful achievements of our members and groups, and Landchat 122 is no exception.
Members - you will receive your full colour hard-copy of Landchat 122 in your letter box in the coming days. Enjoy it at your leisure over the summer. If you are not a member, download copy by clicking on the image.
Southern New England Landcare held its Annual General Meeting at Uralla Community Centre from 6pm on Wednesday 15th November.
Special guest speaker on the night was local Landcarer, Ray South. Ray is a past recipient of the John Winter Irving Bequest, which he used to study and implement Syntropic Agriculture, the topic of his talk.
The composition of the Southern New England Landcare board of directors changed this year, with the retirement of two board members.
Bill Perrottet volunteered his time on the board for an outstanding 12 years, culminating in his final year as President. The board and membership thanked Bill for his significant contribution over many years, noting that he will be missed. Bill reassured everyone that he is still the group respresentative for the Guyra Landcare Network and intends to support biannual member musters.
As part of her work, Kruthika Nagananda, Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinator with Walcha Council, has been interviewing community members to understand their experience and learnings from recent disasters.
Kruthika says that personally, the stories have given her greater understanding, and helped give a positive boost to her work.
The stories coming out of Kruthika's interviews really do have a powerful influence, and Southern New England Landcare would like to share these stories in a series over the coming weeks...
Southern New England Landcare acknowledges Kruthika Nagananda as the recorder of the following story.
Story # 1 - Rob Blomfield
Dear oh dear, when does it all end? From going through the storm, to drought, to bushfires, to COVID, and unbelievable rain for the last three years; I realised that it all ends! It made me realise that I can survive and be resilient.
The Annual General Meeting of Southern New England Landcare will be held at 6pm on 15th November 2023 at the Uralla Community Centre.
Our guest speaker will be Ray South with an introduction to Syntropic Agriculture!
All members and friends are welcome. Group Representatives (Company Members) will receive their business paper pack in the mail in the coming days.
A light supper will be provided during the meeting.
Download the meeting notice and agenda here.
Please RSVP for catering purposes by Wednesday 8th November 2023 by emailing our office or calling 02 6772 9123.
More information on our events page here.
Southern New England is excited to welcome Janeen Robb to the team in the role of Landholder Management Agreement Project Officer.
"I've been involved in a wide range of projects such as Office of Environments & Heritage’s Dryland Salinity Project, monitoring the importance of remnant vegetation to native birds, Armidale TreeGroup’s early dieback tree planting projects, and a vegetation mapping project form the Murray-darling Basin Commission," said Janeen.
In October this year Southern New England Landcare welcomed Matt Elsley to the team as the Koala Conservation Officer for the Northern Tablelands Regional Koala Partnership.
Matt is excited about his Koala Conservation Officer role with Landcare.
"This role provides an opportunity to actively develop and collaborate on threatened species conservation and strategies using my scientific knowledge and ecologically focussed background," said Matt.
A University of New England (UNE) project is teaching farmers how to avoid overestimating feed availability this summer.
With a hot summer on the horizon, UNE is helping farmers across the Northern Tablelands to drought-proof their properties and minimise impacts of the next big dry.
Pasture coach and project officer for the Drought Resilient Pasture and Landscapes (DRPL) project, Jaimi-lee Edwards, is mentoring local graziers to effectively assess pastures, create feed budgets, and use cutting edge tools to predict weather conditions.
On 12th September, Michael Taylor, landholder at Kentucky and member of Southern New England Landcare, was awarded one of 24 Nuffield Scholarships – a well-deserved Award to a hard-working knowledgeable local farmer.
Michael received his scholarship for drought resilience – to undertake research that will help develop and support new ideas to manage dry conditions for longer periods.
Board Members Bev Stubberfield and David Steller represented Southern New England Landcare at the recent Community Partnership Program Awards held by Regional Australia Bank.
They were presented a cheque to the value of more than $9,000 which will help Southern New England Landcare support local landcare projects even more!
Regional Australia Bank account holders can get involved by nominating Southern New England Landcare Ltd as their recipient group to support. It doesn't cost the account holder anything, as Regional Australia Bank contributes!
To get involved take a look at the flyer or click here to see link which explains what the program is and how it works!
The team of Frog Researchers from the Australian Museum is on the hunt for the Yellow-Spotted Bell frog, once common around Guyra.
The frog has not been seen in the area for over 40 years and has a very loud, distinctive call like a motorbike.
About the Institute
The Mulloon Institute is a leading research, education and advocacy organisation committed to building resilient rural and regional communities by supporting the long-term, sustainable growth of Australian agriculture.
The Mulloon Institute work brings about transformational change and actively contributes towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of clean water and sanitation, improved life below water and improved life on the land through landscape rehydration and restoration.
Landholders in the Armidale region who want to understand the water cycle and improve resilience of their rural landscape are encouraged to attend a three-day Rehydrating Your Farm Landscape bootcamp on 17-19 October 2023.
Armidale Regional Council is funding the bootcamp to assist the region to address water quality issues and retain more water in the landscape, an objective of Council’s Catchment Water Quality Strategic Plan 2022-2032.
Facilitated by Southern New England Landcare and presented by the Mulloon Institute the bootcamp will introduce landholders to a range of landscape hydration strategies through activities that blend scientific principles and practical skills.
Take a look at how much Southern New England Landcare achieved towards its strategic objectives in the 12 months to 30 June 2023!
Our mission is to lead, connect and enable our communities to reach their sustainability goals in a changing environment.
Southern New England Landcare congratulates all its members and friends for the great work you've been doing in our region.
Kristy Youman from Soil Land Food delivered a dynamic workshop on Soils to farmers and graziers from across the New England at recent workshops held in Guyra and Walcha.
The first in a series of workshops entitled ‘Reboot Your Grazing Landscapes’, day one explored the essentials of soils - understanding your topsoil, soil types, soil health and soil fertility and the 4 steps to soil success.
90% of participants said that their soil knowledge had increased, and they came away from the day with different strategies to implement at home.
We all understand that healthy soils are fundamentally linked to strong regional communities through their connections to agriculture and the environment.
We have the opportunity to improve soil health, by strengthening soil knowledge and capability. This is one of the main goals of the National Soil Strategy.
Tell us about soil extension/advisory needs in your area by completing the National Soil Survey at
How accurate are our visual estimates of herbage mass? Are you worried about how much feed you have available, as conditions dry?
“Uncertainty about estimating herbage mass (pasture availability) can undermine confidence in the feed budgeting process, and that’s not warranted”, says University of New England pasture coach Jaimi-lee Edwards.
A grant has been awarded so that landholders that in areas surrounding the Armidale Area of Regional Koala Significance (ARKS) can restore habitat connectivity for threatened fauna and flora.
Southern New England Landcare is pleased to announce it has obtained funding from Northern Tablelands Local Land Services under the Northern Tablelands Koala Habitat Restoration and Protection Project to assist landholders to increase koala habitat.
The project will run from July 2023 to April 2024.
Join us for an exclusive screening of "Rachel's Farm," a powerful film directed by renowned actor Rachel Ward.
Southern New England Landcare welcomes our new Receptionist, Janet Hodge. Janet grew up in Cootamundra, NSW and has a rural background.
Her career has taken many turns from health and electoral office positions to a 10-year office position within the NSW Public Works Regional Office in Cootamundra until the Regional Office was relocated to Bathurst. After a stint at Harden Shire Council, Janet embarked on a 3-month adventure travelling on horseback from a Harden property in NSW to Licola in Victoria and then settling with job at a Horse-Riding Tour Business. For the next 12 months, she enjoyed the company of tourists and their horses taking them across the ranges of the Bennison Plains in the Victorian High Country.
Due to an injury, Janet moved to Sale also in Victoria, where she mended and then set off again to employment on Legune Cattle Station in the Northern Territory for the 9 month season enjoying the station life, work and barramundi fishing.
In the following year, Janet gained employment at Walla Downs Cattle Station above Port Kembla for a short mustering season of 5 months which then lead to employment at Landsdowne Cattle Station, in the Kimberley WA where she met her now partner of 23 years. They returned to his hometown of Girgarre, Vic and settling down to raise a family and run a small dairy farm for 20 years.
The decision came to finish up their dairy life and start afresh seeking a northern NSW property where they purchased a farm in 2021 on the Moredun Creek at New Valley northwest of Guyra and now run a small mob of Australian Whites and Wagyu Cattle.
SNEL is delighted that Janet has joined our office team.
Southern New England Landcare is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Rosser to the team as the new Project Officer - Sustainable Agriculture.
Elizabeth grew up in South Western Queensland, having spent her early childhood in Quilpie and then primary school years at Goodooga before moving to Brisbane to complete her schooling.
After finishing school, Elizabeth studied a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Southern Queensland before the call to go west took her to Cunnamulla as a Governess. From there, she returned to her studies but to a dual degree in Agribusiness and Applied Science (Production Animals) at the University of Queensland.
Since then, Elizabeth has worked across Southern Australia in a variety of industries from rural consultancy, feedlots, beef cattle, free range egg production and a very short stint in a dairy. Her favourite role to date has been as a Project Officer for Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania on King Island. This is where she discovered a love of project management and facilitation while working closely alongside community.
In 2021, Elizabeth moved to the New England, with her husband and young family, to manage a beef cattle trading enterprise near Ben Lomond. Elizabeth and her husband run the property using regenerative principals and have a deep love of learning, people and community. Elizabeth is enthusiastic about her new role as the Sustainable Agriculture- Project Officer with SNEL as this allows her to stretch her wings and apply learning from on farm to work and back again.
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