After the 2019 drought and the black summer fires, several farmers in the Canberra region decided to do things differently. But in their attempts to improve their own properties, they ended up forming a new community focused on sustainability.
Key points:
- The Gundaroo Regenerative Land Management group was formed by like-minded farmers to learn each other’s sustainable farming techniques.
- Many of the owners were inspired to adopt regenerative farming after the 2019 drought
- The group has about 80 members, all based in the surrounding areas of Canberra
Inspired by prominent regenerative farmers like Charlie Massy, many of the landowners, who regularly meet and visit each other’s farms to learn new practices, hope to improve sustainability and protect their properties from future natural disasters.
Regenerative agriculture involves the use of techniques that are not commonly used in the agricultural sector to help improve the health of the land.
These techniques may include installing leaky dams on the properties, which control water flows, growing native plants in the paddocks, and taking steps to improve the health of the soil so that it retains more moisture, such as leaving cattle in smaller paddocks for a smaller period of time.
“Everyone has their own understanding of what regenerative farming is, but my understanding is basically to leave your land in a better state than when you arrived,” said Cate Thomas, who lives on a property in Gundaroo.
“This goes a step beyond sustainability,” he added.
Different farmers find that different techniques work best with their properties. (ABC News: Antoinette Radford)
Murray Prior also owns a property in Gundaroo. He moved to land in 2018 and said he had noticed improvements since he started using regenerative techniques.
“We have noticed differences in how nature can be recovered if you give it the right conditions and if you deviate effectively,” he said.
Drought, a catalyst for change
Cristian Gordon believes that the field will take care of itself, if given the opportunity. (ABC News: Antoinette Radford)
Many of those involved in the Gundaroo Regenerative Land Management group were inspired to change the way things are done on their properties after the 2019 drought.
Farmer Cristian Gordon moved to Gundaroo at the height of the drought.
“That dam was getting lower and lower as the drought progressed, and we decided that something more needed to be done to make things better,” he said.
“When the drought broke out, we decided we had to do something, that we could do better to help our land protect itself from the next one.”
Cristian Gordon decided to do things differently after the 2019 drought. (ABC News: Antoinette Radford)
Others, such as Prior, also believe that improving the health of properties can ensure that the land is in the best possible position to deal with future droughts.
“That makes us better positioned when the inevitable weather heats up,” he said.
The community learning from each other
He went to find other landowners with similar ideas, such as Mr. Gordan and Mr. Prior, which inspired Ms. Thomas to form the Gundaroo Regenerative Land Management Group in the first place, with the goal of learning new practices from homeowners in the same region.
But the group has become a larger community than initially thought possible.
“We just started by visiting your property [a neighbour’s] place in November last year, “Ms Thomas said.
“There were probably about 24 people, so we started a Facebook page.”
The group now has 87 members.
The regenerative farming group offers a community for people like Cate Thomas who recently moved to the area. (ABC News: Antoinette Radford)
“Looks like you’re really fed up here,” Mrs. Thomas said.
“I’ve read a lot of books, but there’s nothing like being on the ground and seeing what can be done and the difference.
“There is a responsibility to this land, given what we have done to it over the last 200 years.”
Ms Thomas said she had learned through the groups how to implement more sustainable techniques in managing her property to ensure the land could be “reclaimed” from previous years.
Mr. Gordon agreed and said it was great to be surrounded by other people with similar ideas.
“The Canberra region is fantastic. There is a very good community,” he said.
“Many of them are younger people starting out in agriculture and they are looking at this process, the process of regenerative farming, as a way that can help them and can help the land.”