Farmers Helping Farmers

VicNoTill
Farmers Helping Farmers

Farmers Helping Farmers: soil health, soil function and grassroots agriculture Celebrating the people at the grassroots of agriculture who are doing things differently. Hosted by fifth generation Australian farmer and VicNoTill president Dan Fox, ‘Farmers Helping Farmers’ asks the tough questions and, most importantly, give the honest answers. Subscribe, leave a review and listen now. You can also become a VicNoTill member or sponsor. Web: www.vicnotill.com.au Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VicNoTillFarmers Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicnotill Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/

  1. JAN 28

    KEIRAN KNIGHT - stepping outside the lines and away from chemical-based farming

    Fifth generation broadacre farmer and agronomist Keiran Knight grew up on an irrigation, cotton, sheep, cattle and cereal farm between Walgett and Narrabri in NSW. She married her next door neighbour John and they still farm the land their previous generations settled in 1891. While working as an agronomist and with a young family, Keiran became increasingly concerned about the amount of fertiliser conventional agriculture was asking farmers to use, both from an economic and environmental perspective. She and John started using bio-stimulants and she made a career change to become an agronomist for Best Farming Systems Australia. Keiran says farmers are getting agronomy advice they believe is evidence-based and scientifically based, but not enough people are talking about the damage synthetic inputs do to their most precious resource, soil. Keiran is well attuned to growing up in a rural area, and the culture of farming where it’s difficult to step outside the lines. She encourages more farmers to ask more questions about the products they’re using and what those products are doing to their soils as well as the quality of the food and fibre they are producing. Keiran was a guest speaker at VicNoTill's Food for Thought conference and says more questions also need to come from consumers around the nutritional integrity of their food such as who grew it, how did they grow it and what is their soil management plan.

    31 min
  2. JAN 20

    ROB HETHERINGTON - Calcium, the king of all elements

    In the FARMERS HELPING FARMERS PODCAST Episode 21, Dan Fox sits down with WA farmer Rob Hetherington who is seeing a lifetime of soil study come to fruition on the Lake King farm he runs with his wife Judi and son Daniel, Kate and family. This is a fascinating and indepth discussion with an experienced farmer and Wheatbelt NRM Soil Health Champion who was a guest speaker at VicNoTill's 2024 Food for Thought Conference. Rob discovered a long time ago that calcium was the limiting factor to his soil health on the cropping farm that has been in his family since 1946. Rob and Judi took over the management of ‘Walma’, named after Rob’s parents Wally and Mary, in 1983. They grow multi-species for a dairy as part of an ongoing arrangement, as well as winter grains and opportunistic summer crops. Using his scientifically-geared knowledge he identified calcium, along with some phosphate, as being the first step to bringing their whole system together. Calcium has stimulated their root, stem and foliage growth, helped build stem strength in crops and made them more resistant to attack by disease or insects and helped raise Brix levels which helps them withstand frost. Rob's most important lesson of all is understanding that knowledge is power. "In the regenerative space there’s a lot of talk out there that you’ve got to look after the soil biology, so put a crop in with minimal fertiliser or no fertiliser. This might work on some areas and you might get away with it one year. In the long term though, it’s a downward spiral. I know that because I’ve experienced it myself. It’s a matter of knowing the chemistry and the biology, finding that knowledge and moving forward from there. At the end of the day, farming is all about mineral energy and controlling conductivity and knowing what to apply and where to apply it to get those reactions happening.”

    54 min
  3. 12/11/2024

    NIC KENTISH - Soil and life lessons from the pioneers of the Kentish potato

    Australian families have grown up eating their fair share of Kentish potatoes, but have we ever considered the story behind the pioneering family who brought this staple ingredient to our tables? Michael Gooden sits down with third generation potato grower Nic Kentish, who shares the ups and downs, soil health and life lessons from growing the humble potato. From the drought which preceded Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 to discovering his love for sheep and cattle while jackarooing on the Hay plains and central Queensland in the 1980s to watching the Murrumbidgee River run dry. From being in $2million debt with 17% interest rates growing organic potatoes to restoring their soils, and bank balance, growing pastures for organic for sheep and cattle - the depth and breadth of Nic's experience in his life so far is a winding road with plenty of big lessons along the way. The biggest lesson of all goes far deeper than the soils he's so passionate about, and he's now one of the country's leading educators in Grazing for Profit. Settled on a farm in the Adelaide Hills near Hahndorf, with his wife Alexi and three children, Nic works full-time for RCS as a teacher, advisor, facilitator and coach.  Combining his passions for livestock and people, Nic approaches life with zest, humour, feeling and a genuine endeavour to see land, animals and humans together realise their true potential. Since the earth is the earth and animals are simply good at being animals, Nic takes up the human challenge to share what’s possible if people can change.

    1h 3m
  4. 10/24/2024

    MATTHEW EVANS - The reluctant celebrity farmer and chef using his fame to spread the word about healthy soils, healthy foods and healthy people

    VicNoTill farmers were rapt to welcome food writer, farmer, television broadcaster and chef Matthew Evans to the Food for Thought Conference in Wagga Wagga. After Matthew walked around the paddocks, stood in a soil pit and sampled the beef grown on the cattle stud of VicNoTill’s Michael Gooden, they sat down to talk about the links between healthy soils, food and people. Matthew shares how he went from a city boy who was always hungry to a reluctant celebrity who uses his fame to ‘bang on about healthy soils’. His purpose is to spread a deeper appreciation of the broader health impacts when people values farmers like those in VicNoTill who are changing their farming systems and improving their soils to grow more nutrient-rich foods. Based in Southern Tasmania, Matthew lives and works on Fat Pig Farm, a mixed holding where he tends a garden, makes cider, fattens the namesake pigs and tries to entice milk from two full cream dairy cows for his onsite restaurant. Matthew’s personal farming journey has been the focus of six series of Gourmet Farmer on SBS, and he’s presented two documentaries, For The Love of Meat, and What’s The Catch. Matthew is the author of 15 books on food, including the authoritative ethical meat manifesto On Eating Meat. He’s an advocate for open, fair, accountable food and farming systems, and has pushed for honest labelling so we can all enjoy sustainable seafood. His book SOIL is a hymn to the remarkable, and underappreciated bit of Earth that gifts us life. It’s a swashbuckling tale of soil that arms us all with the knowledge and respect to care about its health, the perfect complement to his latest completely revised cookbook The Real Food Companion. His most recent book, MILK, came out in July 2024 and unpacks the truth and lies behind the original superfood.

    53 min

About

Farmers Helping Farmers: soil health, soil function and grassroots agriculture Celebrating the people at the grassroots of agriculture who are doing things differently. Hosted by fifth generation Australian farmer and VicNoTill president Dan Fox, ‘Farmers Helping Farmers’ asks the tough questions and, most importantly, give the honest answers. Subscribe, leave a review and listen now. You can also become a VicNoTill member or sponsor. Web: www.vicnotill.com.au Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VicNoTillFarmers Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicnotill Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/

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