Farmers Helping Farmers VicNoTill

Young farmer Jake Chandler has always had a deep connection with all things agricultural, and has experienced the landscape from many perspectives. The son of an Ag teacher, he worked as a jackaroo in the Northern Territory before studying environmental science at university then moved into a corporate career in the mining industry.

After falling in love with and marrying Gemma Wilkinson from Young, he left the mining industry to return to the Wilkinson's family farm. Adjusting to the farming lifestyle after intense corporate life was a challenge so he worked in retail ag where he developed a strong local network before getting his hands dirty on the farm. Jake works with Gemma's parents to run their mixed enterprise farm of sheep, cattle and cropping.

After completing a Grazing for Profit course, he was inspired to break his paradigm and show that farming environmentally can be profitable as well. Jake is passionate about making changes that maximise environmental value, keeps their business profitable and puts family first.

VicNoTill board member Michael Gooden stands in for podcast host Dan Fox to find out more from this young Australian farmer, who will leave you feeling energised about the future of agriculture.

The road to regeneration with NSW farm manager and Sober in the Country Bush Tribe Member Matt Tonkin looks at how important it is for farmers to be profitable, not only in the financial sense but also from personal and landscape perspectives.

When Matt's life on the land hit rock bottom he realised he needed to make big changes. Instead of a farming system that relied on chemicals and synthetic inputs he chose to start thinking about one that promoted life, took a more natural approach and had the long-term health of the ecosystem at its heart.

His decision to explore regenerative farming systems also provided a life-altering jolt on how he was managing his own health and wellbeing.

Farmers Helping Farmers guest host Michael Gooden walked around the paddocks of the farm Matt manages in the NSW Riverina district before catching up for this deeply personal conversation. They cover a lot of different topics, including how easy it is for farmers to get so wrapped up their financial health that they lose their own health along the way.

Matt was a special guest speaker at VicNoTill's 2023 annual conference, Tran$ition23.

If this episode raises any concerns for you, please reach out to your mates, family or:


Sober in the Country: https://www.soberinthecountry.org/
Lifeline: phone 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Join our host Dan Fox in Part 2 of an indepth conversation with Phil Peterson about rebuilding soil carbon on farms.

Dan has talked numerous times with Phil in the paddock, and wanted to capture some of these conversations in a podcast. He spoke to him earlier in the year but still had so many questions that he has recorded a follow up.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1, we suggest you go back to Episode 6 of Farmers Helping Farmers first.  In Part 2 Phil discusses the importance of sap tests for identifying your risk to plant disease, how to rebuild your soil structure, the importance of context when you’re making farming system changes, and what some of Loam Bio’s paddock trials of simplifying the seed dressing process are finding.

Phil has been at the grassroots of agriculture for many years, asking questions about the environment and how farmers can improve both the yield and quality of the crops and pastures they grow.

This has led to a role with Loam Bio, which researches how farmers can build more carbon in their soils and improve their bottom line.

The worms at NutriSoil are treated like royalty, because they are the key to sustainability, healthy soils, plant, human and planet health.

Nakala Maddock is the chief executive officer of the Baranduda-based business and is helping Nutrisoil take worm farming to all new heights. Nakala, also the host of the Biological Farming Roundtable Podcast, stepped out from behind the hosting microphone for this interview with Dan Fox during VicNoTill's annual conference in July 2023.

A farm chemical accident for Graham Maddock in the mid-1980s triggered a rethink of chemical and fertiliser applications and set in motion the establishment of Nutrisoil.

In this Farmers Helping Farmers podcast episode, Nakala gives a wonderful insight into the Maddock family's lifelong journey to learn how plants and soil function naturally, and how they're developing their biological stimulant products.

This episode is proudly brought to you by Nutrisoil.

Our host Dan Fox catches up with Col Bowey from CB Farming Systems, who was one of the guest speakers at VicNoTill's 2023 conference. Col also led a soil pit discussion and spent the week visiting NSW farms.

Col says success in farming always comes down to having a good ‘farming system’ in place. In 2008 he founded CB Farming Systems and dedicated himself to learning as much as he could from soil scientists and other farmers. He helps farmers build systems that understand healthy soils are at the heart of farm and ecosystem health, while also understanding they need to be productive and profitable.

Col’s interest and drive to know more and understand more about the links between soil health, landscape and personal health has introduced him to some of the most successful farmers in the country.

This episode is proudly brought to you by VicNoTill sponsors:


YLAD Living Soils
Carbon Link
Excel and Gyral

UK arable farmer of the year and Green Farm Collective founding member Tim Parton spent a week in Australia as part of VicNoTill's annual conference TRAN$ITION23. As well as inspiring over 100 farmers in the conference room, Tim hung out in soil pits and dug into soils with a shovel to gain a deeper understanding of regenerative farming systems in the Australian context. Dan Fox sat down in the podcast studio with Tim to discover what new ideas his visit had sparked. VicNoTill was also keen to find out how Tim is changing the narrative about farmers being the heroes when it comes to sequestering carbon and feeding the world.


This episode is proudly brought you by Loam.