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| Harvesting a pasture crop at Colin Seis' farm Winona, NSW. (Source: Winona) |
When pioneering Australian farmers started to work the land, they got very good returns in the average to good years because of the richer soils under grassland that was managed by Aboriginals. However over time, agriculture has intensified without returning all the essential nutrients and organic material to the soil and has killed off some beneficial soil bacteria and fungi through the use of chemicals. The carbon levels of the soil have declined from those measurements taken in the early years of European settlement (Colin Seis personal communication).
“Regenerative agriculture is a system of land management principles and practices that increase biodiversity, enrich soils, improve watersheds and enhance ecosystem services.” (Soils for Life). Regenerative agriculture includes such methods as carbon farming, pasture cropping, organic farming, rotational grazing, planting windbreaks and other sustainable farming methods.
Some of their techniques include the rotational grazing of large herds of sheep or cattle, where the animals are moved on from a field before the grass is damaged and the soil is exposed, rather than grazing until the soil is near bare. It leads to better plant recovery, perpetual soil cover and good nutrient cycling with grass mulch and manure added to the soil. Very little carbon and nutrients are lost when the animals go to market, that is, it creates an on farm cycle of soil essentials. This may require farmers to have lower stocking rates and to de-stock dramatically during drought, so the soils are protected.
Another technique is to have forageable native plants in windbreaks, either fenced off or as spirals in the paddock (cropping occurs between the spirals). Such plants include certain wattles, saltbushes and a number of other edible native shrubs. These act as backup feed during drought and provide wind shelter and shade for the animals. Other farmers plant windbreaks of local native plants to improve farm biodiversity with the usual advantages of shade and shelter from the wind. Windbreaks also help prevent top soil loss.
Other regenerative farmers are pasture croppers where they sow crops into well grazed native and/or exotic pastures. The native grasses (and some exotics) are perennial, summer growing and dormant in winter. This means they do not interfere with winter growing crops such as wheat or oats and provide pasture in summer after the crop harvest. The ground is perpetually covered (reducing top soil loss) and fields can be grazed soon after harvest. The system works best with stock that are rotationally grazed. There is less need for fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides and these farmers can gradually move to organic or spray free farming. This helps reduce their operating costs.
These, and similar methods, do help provide resilience to drought; improve soil carbon (making a richer soil); higher crop yields; better water retention; increasing beneficial microorganisms numbers; reduced soil loss; and can lead to organic farming and better farm biodiversity.
Further reading:
- Colin Seis - Pasture Cropping: http://www.pasturecropping.com/pasture-cropping
- Soils for life: adopting regenerative practices: http://www.soilsforlife.org.au/home/index.html
- Australian farmers driving up profits through regenerative agriculture: https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/news/australian-farmers-driving-up-profits-through-regenerative-agriculture/
- Regenerative agriculture finds solid backing as decades of success show renewal. ABC Rural News, March 10, 2019.
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