Farmers Helping Farmers

• STACEY CURCIO - We are what we eat eats, food starts in the soil

  When farmers speak about diversity being one of the hallmarks of a resilient farming system, Stacey Curcio asks them to consider the diversity within their diets and the way they move to keep their body’s cells and microbes thriving. Stacey is a Naturopath at Cultivating Wellness with a Masters of Human Nutrition and was guest speaker at VicNoTill's Food for Thought conference in 2024. She links human health and soil health, regenerative practices and systems thinking. In this Farmers Helping Farmers The Podcast episode with Michael Gooden, Stacey delves into more detail about the way people respond to the environment, the food they eat and the emotions they experience. Palates reflect the intricate relationship between the land, the plants, and the animals we consume. This connection reminds us that healthy, diverse ecosystems are essential not only for sustaining the Earth but for nurturing human health, as the foods we eat carry the imprint of the land and its vitality. Nutrition starts in the soil, not in the packet or on the plate. "We are what we eat eats."

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• 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.

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• 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.”

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• 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. 

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• FARMERS HELPING FARMERS PODCAST - Dan Fox & Michael Gooden, VicNoTill President handover

  VicNoTill is at the forefront of change in Australian agriculture, and for the past three years fifth generation Marrar farmer Dan Fox has been president of this farmers helping farmers organisation. Dan sits down with new president Michael Gooden to share how leading change in Australian agriculture has helped him from both a practical and personal perspective. Soil health has been a progressive journey for Dan. His non-negotiables are 100% groundcover and no soil disturbance, which come about through his strip and disc system. But once he understood what else he could achieve, he opened Pandora's box. Stepping into the president’s role enabled Dan to further understand soil systems and how soils function, through the opportunity to form stronger relationships with other farmers, agronomists, soil health specialists and scientists that are passionate about ‘good farming’. During the past three years he travelled extensively to farms across southern Australia and learnt a ‘hell of a lot’ about soils in different contexts and soils in general. Meeting people from around the world who are as passionate as he is about a positive, progressive future for agriculture that is focussed on growing nutrient-rich food has helped Dan take what he and his family are doing in their own paddocks to the next level.

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