Soils For Life: Recent Episodes
Soils For Life
Join the conversation that bridges the gap between farmers, researchers and policy makers to breathe life back into our soils. @soilsforlife We believe that by enabling and empowering farmers to rebuild and restore soils, Australia can mitigate and adapt to climate change and other challenges while producing healthy, plentiful food and fibre in ways that are good for farmers, consumers and the planet. Head over to www.soilsforlife.org.au to check out our farmer case studies. Produced by www.growloveproject.com The information contained in this publication is not intended as farm advice
This episode of the Soils for Life podcast is part of our series of mini-episodes with farmers profiled in our series of cropping practice guides.
In this short episode, Eli Court chats with Victorian farmer Grant Sims about how multispecies cover cropping has transformed his mixed farming system at Pine Grove near Lockington. After moving away from synthetic fertilisers, fungicides and insecticides, Grant began experimenting with diverse seed mixes to bring more life back into his soils.
He explains how integrating livestock with multispecies crops built soil structure, reduced weed pressure and improved resilience during tough seasons. Grant also shares what he’s learned about designing mixes for different paddocks, fixing nitrogen through cover crops, and cutting input costs without sacrificing productivity.
Along the way, he’s learnt through trial and error from experiences like underestimating the importance of weed control before sowing and trying to “add biology” to soils that weren’t yet ready for it. He talks openly about these lessons, as well as his current experiment sowing his whole farm with zero nitrogen for the first time.
Highlights
- How Grant “stumbled into” multispecies crop mixes and scaled them over time
- The role of livestock grazing in improving performance and reducing risk
- How cover crops can build fertility, especially nitrogen fixation and phosphorus unlock
- Lessons he’s learned, e.g. weed control, applying biology to soils not ready for it
- Taking the leap: sowing with zero nitrogen and watching the system work
- What he wishes he’d known earlier
Resources & links
- Read the full Practice Guide on Multispecies Cover Cropping: https://soilsforlife.org.au/practice-guide-multispecies-cropping/
- Down Under Covers: https://www.downundercovers.com/
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate & review it on your podcast app and share it with others. Email us with feedback or suggestions for future episodes at info@soilsforlife.org.au and subscribe to the Soils for Life newsletter to find out the latest.
We recently attended Grounded in WA, and heard ecologist Dr David Watson's fascinating talk on the important role that mistletoe can play in farm ecosystem. It made us think of one of our favourite podcast episodes - this one. It's a dive into the role that so-called weeds can play in ecosystems. Well worth another run! Enjoy.
A little about this episode:
The industrialisation of agriculture has created large paddocks of monoculture crops and increased the chemical burden on farmers and their environments. Global herbicide use has continued to increase as farmers have shifted to no till practices and adopted herbicide-tolerant crop cultivars over the last 30 years. One result of this is that the list of herbicide resistant weeds is growing.
Some farmers spend huge amounts of money on herbicide and scarce time removing weeds; Meanwhile, exactly how much damage is being done to native plant species and soils is not yet fully known. Either way, the current model is not sustainable
In this episode we are exploring a paradigm shift to an ecological systems approach to weeds with Soils for Life agroecologist Sarah Fea. We visit four farmers to understand their changing relationship to plants. Including a grazier, seed producer, a farmer who has enlisted the help of goats and another who has developed no kill cropping.
We take a fresh look at weeds and how we can benefit from seeing them through a different lens. We hear how specific weeds germinate to heal damaged soils, showing us what the soil needs and how we can help them heal it.
This episode of the Soils for Life podcast is part of our series of mini-episodes with farmers profiled in our series of cropping practice guides.
In this episode we talk with Steven Ford. Steven and his wife Kelly have been farming near Williams, Western Australia, for 16 years. After 10 years working as a livestock agent, Steven returned to the family farm in 2008. Being advised to use a new expensive chemical seed treatment prompted Steven to rethink and do some research. In 2016, he decided to transition their cropping system away from treated seed, synthetic fertilisers, insecticides and fungicides, and he also began to look at ways to reduce the need for herbicide.
Steven’s story shows that reducing herbicides is just one outcome of his holistic approach to building soil health and reducing reliance on inputs. We discuss encouraging roots to go exploring deeper in the soil profile, using livestock as the ultimate insurance for transitioning to a lower input, lower risk system, making strategic decisions about when to intervene to address pests or disease, getting off the ‘spending more to make more’ treadmill, and keeping true to the course when the confidence takes a knock.
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Read the full Practice Guide on Reducing Herbicides : https://soilsforlife.org.au/practice-guide-reducing-herbicides/
Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au
Subscribe to our newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter
Jake Robinson is a microbial ecologist and researcher whose career spans parasitology, symbiosis, and the study of invisible communities of life that shape the health of humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. He is the author of Invisible Friends: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us, and his work explores the connections between soil health, gut health and mental health.
We spoke with Jake about the brutal world of microbe warfare that’s going on every day inside our bodies, what it means to see humans and plants as “walking ecosystems”, how microbes underpin communication between the gut and the brain, the importance of exposure to microbes for training our immune system, how farming practices can influence the nutritional value of our food, and just how much of this invisible world remains unknown to science.
Jake is the brains behind Soil Yourself September, a series of talks from speakers around the world on the connections between soil health, gut health and mental health. Find out more at https://www.jakemrobinson.com/sys
Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au
Subscribe to our newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter
More about Jake Robinson - https://www.jakemrobinson.com/
This episode is part of a series of short conversations with the farmers profiled in our cropping practice guides.
For Tom Robinson, foliar sprays aren’t a magic fix, but they’ve become a game-changer. Guided by sap testing and years of trialling, they’re helping him hit crop nutrition targets and lift grain performance while fitting into a broader soil health strategy.
In this episode, Tom shares how he’s shifted from the odd zinc spray to a targeted program guided by regular sap testing, hitting critical growth stages in wheat, lentils, and canola. We talk through the practicalities – from making his own trace element mixes on-farm to jar testing, timing sprays for maximum uptake, and deciding when to include extras like seaweed or compost extracts.
Tom also explains how foliar nutrition fits with other practices like zero-till, controlled traffic, and tactical livestock grazing, and the results he’s seen in grain quality, germination, and reduced pesticide use.
Whether you’re already using foliars or just curious about where they might fit in your system, you’ll get practical tips and lessons learned from years of trial, observation, and adjustment – all aimed at building plant health and farm resilience.
Read the full practice guide on using foliars at soilsforlife.org.au/practice-guide-foliar-applications/
Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au
Subscribe to our newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter
Nicole Masters is an agroecologist, educator and author with decades of experience working alongside farmers and land managers across Australia, New Zealand, North America and beyond. She is formally trained in soil science, organisational learning and adult education, and is known for taking a practical, systems-based approach to regenerating land and building resilient farm businesses. Nicole is the founder of Integrity Soils and author of For the Love of Soil.
We caught up with Nicole ahead of her forthcoming visit to Australia in September to talk about navigating the overwhelm of managing complex and uncertain agroecological systems, implementing new practices safely, the toolkit for diagnosing and dealing with limitations in your system, the value of coaching and peer support, and ultimately, strategies for building healthy, resilient farming systems.
Book for Nicole’s Soil Health Masterclass, on 1-3 September at Tresavale Farm, Gympie, Qld - https://integritysoils.com/products/masterclass-aus
Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au
Subscribe to our newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter
Mentioned in this episode:
- Integrity Soils - integritysoils.co.nz
- CREATE (Coaching Regenerative Experts in Agriculture for Tomorrow) - https://www.integritysoils.co.nz/create
- A chat with Sam Vincent, author of ‘My Father and Other Animals’ - soilsforlife.org.au/my-father-and-other-animals-a-chat-with-sam-vincent/
- Jonathan Lundgren’s 1,000 Farms initiative - www.ecdysis.bio/featured-project
Soils for Life work with Nicole Masters:
- Masterclass recap: Rethinking what healthy soil looks like: A blog reflection on Nicole Masters’ intensive masterclass in Orange, exploring how we’ve normalised degraded landscapes and how to start seeing soil health differently. soilsforlife.org.au/nicole-masters-masterclass
- Webinar: Tracking soil health with Nicole Masters: Nicole works with three Australian grain growers to explore soil health using the Soilmentor app — demonstrating practical, visual soil tests like rhizosheath assessment, infiltration and rooting depth. soilsforlife.org.au/tracking-soil-health-with-nicole-masters
- Webinar replay: Soil health in practice: Watch the full July 2024 webinar with Nicole Masters and see how soil indicators are used to guide decision-making on-farm. soilsforlife.org.au/tracking-soil-health-with-nicole-masters-webinar
This is the first in a series of short episodes we’ll be releasing over the coming months featuring farmers profiled in our series of regenerative cropping Practice Guides. Check out the full suite of guides at www.soilsforlife.org.au.
Michael Waring is a North Queensland sugarcane grower with decades of experience improving nitrogen cycling and soil health. Michael walks us through his journey from adopting controlled traffic, multispecies cover cropping, reduced tillage, and biological inputs.
Michael shares the nitty-gritty of how he trialled, and eventually achieved, a multispecies cover crop mix that can survive the tropics’ brutal wet season. He explains how he’s cut nitrogen rates dramatically without sacrificing yield, and how new biological tools are helping him unlock phosphorus sitting in the soil. For sugarcane growers, and any farmer wanting to cut costs, reduce runoff and build a healthier farming system, this episode is for you.
We talk about what worked on-farm: the tweaks, the failures, and the long game of testing ideas until they stick. Michael’s message is simple - there’s no silver bullet, but there are simple steps you can take to get started.
Read the full Practice Guide on Improving Nitrogen Cycling and Efficiencies at soilsforlife.org.au
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, leave us a comment or a like! It helps us to reach others.
Dr Mary Cole has spent more than 40 years working with the microbial life that underpins healthy soil. In this episode, she shares what she's learned from a career in plant pathology and soil microbiology, and from farming using compost products, aeration and no synthetic inputs on her own property in Gippsland Victoria.
Mary explains how simple practices like aeration, compost, and soil and plant observation can make a big difference to soil function. She talks through what happens when we disturb soil biology, how to get started on improving microbial life, and why she believes we should all be working with, not against, the life beneath our feet.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- What mycorrhizal fungi actually do, and why they matter
- How biology-first farming reduces the need for inputs
- Monitoring tips for farmers who want to learn more about what’s going on underground
- Why Mary suggests starting with your worst paddock, not their best
- Reflections on 50 years of biological farming, and what she wishes more people knew
Links and resources:
- AgPath (Mary’s consulting and training organisation)
- Our video on brewing biofertiliser: Watch now
- Our podcast episode on compost: Listen
- Other episodes on soil biology: Planting with purpose, Diversity is king
Australia has often been described as a land of droughts and flooding rains. But what we don’t often hear is that, for millennia, the land had a remarkable ability to regulate itself — through healthy ecology and the natural water cycle.
Since European settlement, however, we've seen a steady decline in soil health and water-holding capacity across much of the country. The rivers don’t flow like they used to, and the land struggles to bounce back from the extremes of flood and drought. The solution is to help restore nature's ecological systems of water and nutrient cycling.
In this episode, we hear from two farmers who are restoring these natural water regulating systems, rehydrating their landscapes — transforming degraded paddocks into thriving ecosystems. They’ve embraced techniques that slow, spread, and sink water back into the ground — reviving their soils, crops, and communities.
And they’re not alone.
Across Australia, groups of farmers are coming together to restore entire catchments. Programs like the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative are proving that when we work with nature — not against it — we can regenerate not just one farm, but the broader ecosystems they’re part of.
This podcast was produced by the Grow Love Project in collaboration with Soils for Life. The Communities of Practice Project is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Mulloon Institute and Soils for Life.
Sign up to the Soils for Life newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter/
Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au
Mentioned in this episode:
- Mulloon Rehydration Initiative - mullooninstitute.org/projects/mulloon-rehydration-initiative/
- Danthonia Bruderhof Community - bruderhof.com/danthonia
- Mulloon Institute - mullooninstitute.org/
- Laura Norman, US Geological Survey - www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/laura-m-norman
- Mulloon Institute Community of Practice Project - mullooninstitute.org/learning-events/communities-of-practice/
- Soils for Life case study on Danthonia Bruderhof and Community of Practice project - soilsforlife.org.au/landscape-rehydration/
Thanks for listening!
Mick Gooden runs Old Man Creek Bull Farm near Wagga Wagga in NSW and is President of farmer group Vic No Till.
In this episode, Eli and Mick chat about the value of having a supportive group of peers around you, the links between soil health and human health, the importance of pulling up and taking the time for observation and reflection, transitioning cropping systems profitably, leveraging the power of working with nature, and how to communicate the opportunity in agriculture as a solution to many of our biggest challenges. And we discover how a NSW cattleman ended up President of a Victorian cropping group.
Sign up to the Soils for Life newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter/
Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au
Find out more about Mick and Vic No Till:
- Soils for Life Willowlee case study - soilsforlife.org.au/willowlee
- Soils for Life 8 Families Case study - soilsforlife.org.au/the-8-families-group
- Vic No Till - vicnotill.com.au
Other Soils for Life resources mentioned in this episode:
- Integrating livestock guide - coming soon...
- All practice guides - soilsforlife.org.au/cropping-resilience/#resources
Also mentioned
- Brian Wehlburg, Holistic Management educator - insideoutsidemgt.com.au
- Stacey Curcio, Nutritionist - cultivatingwellness.com.au
- Alejandro Carillo, Mexican rancher - instagram.com/p/DLGMlCnRFcg
- John Kempf podcast - advancingecoag.com/podcasts
- Groundswell UK - groundswellag.com
- Drawdown, by Paul Hawken - drawdown.org/the-book
Thanks for listening!
Phil Lavers is passionate about good food. He runs Moonacres, a 140 acre fruit and vegetable farm in the NSW Southern Highlands, and sells his award-winning certified organic produce direct to some of Sydney’s best restaurants.
Phil is not a guy to beat around the bush. He sees big problems with typical practices in fruit and vegetable farming and the impacts those practices have on the soil, the environment and our health. A relentless experimenter, Phil is determined to find ways to do things better.
In this episode we talk about weaning off the rotary hoe, managing weeds, keeping bare soil to an absolute minimum with annual vegetable crops, how to grow the best tasting silverbeet, valuing good food, being a ‘sugar daddy’ for soil microbes, cover cropping and stealing the microbiome from cover crops to grow cash crops.
Head to soilsforlife.org.au to find out more about our work.
If you’re finding value in the Soils for Life podcast, please consider donating to help us continue sharing stories and knowledge from farmers. As a non-profit organisation, we rely on support from generous donors, so please consider making a donation via soilsforlife.org.au/donate. Of course, we understand that not everyone has the means to support us financially - you can also help by rating and reviewing us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
If you have feedback, or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at info@soilsforlife.org.au, we love hearing from you. Thanks for listening.
Links and resources
About Phil and Moonacres
- Moonacres website - Moonacres Kitchen - for more information about whole of operation, farm tours, training opportunities and markets where you can find their produce.
- Moonacres - Heart and Soil Episode #1 youtube channel link
- Organically certified - can’t see by whom he is certified
Other references from the episode:
- https://www.facebook.com/RailwayStMarketMossVale/
- Roller Crimper Roller Crimper Blueprints - Rodale Institute
- Austrian weeding plough
- Southern Highlands on the Grow Inc GROW – Southern Highlands
Further learning:
To gain some deeper understanding about multispecies crops Phil is using in his soil health building rotations refer to our Soils for Life Multispecies practice guide Practice Guide: Multispecies Cropping - Soils For Life
With record dry conditions across eastern Australia and many of you facing difficult decisions, we wanted to have a chat with Braidwood farmer Martin Royds to share his thoughts and experiences with making decisions in the dry, and coping with the emotional toll of seeing the landscape go backwards.
Read more about Martin Royds’ approach to building landscape resilience - https://soilsforlife.org.au/observing-resilience-at-jillamatong/
Martin speaks in the episode about his approach to managing grazing livestock during drought, which is informed by Holistic Management techniques. You can learn more about Holistic Management via:
- Workshops and other events run by the Australian Holistic Management Cooperative - https://holisticmanagement.au/events.php
- The Savory Institute - https://savory.global/holistic-management/
- Online courses run by The Savory Institute - https://savory.shop/en-au/collections/online-courses
Other links and resources that may be useful include:
- Resource Consulting Services (RC) events and courses - https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/
- Inside Outside Management, Brian Wehlburg, Holistic Management educator - https://www.facebook.com/insideoutsidemanagement/
- Decision Design Hub, Helen Lewis, Holistic Management educator - https://decisiondesignhub.com.au/
- AIMS (Agricultural Information & Monitoring Services), Dr Judy Earl - https://aimsag.com.au/
- Southern Blue Regenerative, Glen Chapman, Holistic Management educator - https://www.southernblue.com.au/
If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out. Rural Aid support line (1300 175 594), Lifeline (13 11 14), and Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) offer free, confidential support. The National Centre for Farmer Health also provides a wide range of resources - https://farmerhealth.org.au/support-hub#mental-health-support-farmers.
Get in touch with us a info@soilsforlife.org.au.
- Note, in this episode when Martin refers to the “1983 drought” he was referring to the drought that ended in 1983.
Can dairy systems support soil health, productivity and profitability at the same time?
In this episode we meet four dairy farmers who are exploring that question. Kate Mirams, Simon Schulz, Sandra Jefford and Chris Eggert share their experiences with introducing diversity into their pastures and farming systems—what motivated them, what they tried, and what they’ve learned so far.
We also hear from pasture scientist Anna Thompson with her insights from current research into multispecies pastures, including how they’re performing under real-world conditions and what that might mean for animal health, climate resilience and farm inputs.
You’ll hear about:
- The trial that gave Kate confidence to rethink her approach to nitrogen and massively reduce synthetic nitrogen applications while increasing production
- How Simon is combining pasture diversity with new tillage methods and enterprise stacking
- What Sandra is learning from sap tests, shelterbelt plantings and mixed perennial pastures
- Why Chris first turned to organics, and what he’s observed about soil and plant health since
- Anna’s research into growth, resilience and methane in multispecies swards
- What farmers are finding when they start measuring BRIX
Whether you’re already experimenting or just interested in what others are finding, this episode offers a window into paths being explored in the Australian dairy industry.
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
Farmers
Simon Schulz - https://schulzorganicdairy.com.au/
Chris Eggert - https://oxhillorganics.com.au/
Sandra Jefford - https://www.wilandrafarms.com.au/
Soil and regenerative agriculture resources
- Kate’s presentation to the Dairy Australia Grounds for Growth Conference in March 2025 on the results of her trial
- Nicole Masters – Cited by Simon Schultz as an influential voice on soil biology. Check out her book For the Love of Soil or Integrity Soils for more resources.
- Jade Killoran from Healthy Farming Systems – Mentioned by Kate in relation to soil repair trials post-laser grading.
- Shelterbelt planning with productive and medicinal trees – Sandra’s system of mixed-species planting for shade, fodder and natural worming. Agroforestry or shelterbelt design resources:
- Agroforestry in Australia: https://www.agroforestry.org.au
- EverGraze shelterbelt info: https://www.evergraze.com.au/library-content/shelterbelt-design-and-benefits/
Trials and benchmarking tools
- Victorian Dairy Farm Monitor Project – Kate Mirams mentions using this to compare pasture consumption and input efficiency.
- Soil moisture probes – Used to track root depth and water uptake under different pasture mixes.
- Sap analysis and BRIX meters – Sandra Jefford and Kate Mirams both use these to monitor plant sugars and infer animal nutrition and productivity.
This episode was hosted and produced by Susannah Kable from the Grow Love Project, in collaboration with Soils for Life.
Head to the Soils for Life website (soilsforlife.org.au) to find out more about our work, and if you like what you hear don’t forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find.
If you have feedback, or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at info@soilsforlife.org.au, we love hearing from you. Thanks for listening.
In this episode we talk with Gabe Brown, a farmer and educator from North Dakota. Gabe and his family run Brown's Ranch, a 6, 000 acre operation that's become a model for regenerating land.
After years of tough seasons and crop failures, Gabe recognized a need to build a farming system that works with nature instead of against it. Through no till, cover crops, diverse rotations and integrating multi species livestock, he restored soil health, boosted resilience and almost eliminated the need for synthetic inputs. Gabe advocates for ‘profit over yield’ and says that farming with nature is the way to get there.
Beyond his own farm, Gabe's helped thousands of farmers transition to regenerative practices through his work with Understanding Ag, the Soil Health Academy, and his book Dirt to Soil. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Gabe Brown.
This episode was hosted by Eli Court and produced by the Grow Love Project.
Head to soilsforlife.org.au to find out more about our work, and if you like what you hear don’t forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find.
If you have feedback, or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at info@soilsforlife.org.au, we love hearing from you. Thanks for listening.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Gabe’s book ‘Dirt to Soil’
- Understanding Ag
- Regenified
- The Soil Health Academy
- Research by Stefan van Vliet. Listen to our podcast episode with Dr van Vliet.
Over the years we’ve heard from many farmers about creeks and rivers that are severely eroded, and landscapes that have lost their ability to absorb and store water. In big rain events water runs off and is gone in a matter of days or even hours. We’ve become accustomed to this, but what did those landscapes look and function like 100 years ago, or 200 years ago? Can farmers restore creeks and landscapes to their full potential, holding on to water for longer and utilising better?
This episode is a collaborative effort with our friends at Mulloon Institute as part of their Communities of Practice Project. In it, we chat with Charlie Maslin, an amazing land steward raising cattle and sheep on the Monaro in New South Wales.
Charlie took us on his journey of landscape repair, which began with a change in grazing practices to improve ground cover, and then moved on to focus on repairing his degraded waterways to rehydrate the landscape and support a thriving and productive agro-ecosystem.
We first visited Charlie’s farm in 2021 and the land was alive with water, grass, frogs, birds, insects and platypuses playing in the waterways. The effects of his steady, thoughtful changes to his management approach were crystal clear, and we’re delighted to share his story in this episode. Enjoy.
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This episode was hosted by Eli Court and produced by the Grow Love Project. The Communities of Practice Project is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Mulloon Institute and Soils for Life.
Head to the Soils for Life website to find out more about our work, and if you like what you hear don’t forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find.
If you have feedback, or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at info@soilsforlife.org.au, we love hearing from you. Thanks for listening.
You can read our case study about Charlie Maslin’s farm soilsforlife.org.au/gunningrah-shifting-mindset-from-animals-to-the-land/
Find out more about the ‘Communities of Practice Project soilsforlife.org.au/landscape-rehydration/
Jill Clapperton is a farmer and applied rhizosphere ecologist. She grows crops with integrated livestock in Kansas in the U.S. and advises farmers the world over. Talking with Jill was eye opening and fun. We go big talking about gaia theory and the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. But we mostly dive deep into the fascinating ecological communities that plants create above and below the ground.
As Jill explains, plants are not passive. They are purposeful masters of their own fates, wielding chemical arsenals and mustering armies of microbes to secure their survival. And if we plant with purpose, we can harness the incredible power of plants to create farming systems that are productive, resilient and great for the soil and our health.
This episode was hosted by Eli Court, and produced by Soils for Life and the GrowLove project. Head to the Soils for Life website (www.soilsforlife.org.au) to find out more about our work.
If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find. If you have feedback or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at info@soilsforlife.org.au. We love hearing from you. Thanks for listening!
Find out more about Jill Clapperton at www.rhizoterra.com/
Check out the Grounded Festival in Cygnet Tasmania on 4-5 December 2024 - details and tickets via groundedaustralia.com.au/.
Other people mentioned in this podcast:
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Felice Jacka OAM (foodandmoodcentre.com.au/team/felice-jacka/).
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Dan Kittredge (www.bionutrientinstitute.org/meetdan).
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An article on Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock, and their development of gaia theory (www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-08-06/james-lovelock-legacy-gaia-climate-science-lynn-margulis/101297574).
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Anna Krzywoszynska, the Finnish researcher at the University of Oulu whose name Jill didn’t dare try to pronounce (www.oulu.fi/en/researchers/anna-krzywoszynska).
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Grant Sims, Soils for Life case study farmer (www.downundercovers.com/about), who was recently featured in our Multispecies Cover Cropping Practice Guide (soilsforlife.org.au/practice-guide-multispecies-cropping/).
Taking the first steps into regenerative agriculture can be intimidating. In this episode of the Soils for Life podcast, Eli Court has a chat with Penny Goodwin from Goodies Farm in Kendenup, WA
Goodies Farm grows an incredible variety of crops, with minimal inputs, and is an integral part of the south west WA food system.
While things can look nice and shiny on the outside, Penny very generously shares the ups and downs of their journey to become better stewards of the land and the soil.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
Ever wondered about regenerative agriculture and the impacts it can have on farmers? Join us as we learn about real life experiences shared by seasoned farmers at the recent Soil Stewardship Summit near Yass, NSW. Over two enlightening days, participants explored the concept of regenerative agriculture, discussing key topics such as tapping into indigenous wisdom, enhancing drought resilience, transitioning from high production to natural methods, and prioritizing soil health for improved yields and healthier societies. The stories embody values of patience, gratitude, and deep respect for nature, offering valuable inspiration for those considering or embarking on the journey towards sustainable farming practices. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion that encapsulates the transformative power of regenerative agriculture and a return to natural processes.
Thank you to our guests featured in this episode:
- Eli Court (Soils for Life)
- Paul Girrawah House
- Rhonda Daly
- Colin Seis
- Garry Kadwell
- David Marsh
For more information:
- Soils for Life - https://soilsforlife.org.au/
- Paul Girrawah House - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-house-57055860/?originalSubdomain=au
Produced by Grow Love Project and originally aired on The Big Shift Podcast hosted by NSW Greater Sydney Local Land Services
The United Nations General Assembly recently voted 2026 as the International Year of the Rangelands and Pastoralists. An incredible 81 percent of Australia is considered rangelands, and despite the sometimes challenging conditions, the opportunities for landscape repair through agriculture are immense.In this episode, we hear from three farmers who all grew up in the semi-arid rangelands with a deep connection to the environment and a desire to heal the land.Jody Brown is a fourth generation farmer from Longreach in central west Queensland. The family farm Latrobe station is certified organic running cattle, goats, and a couple of horses on around 45,000 acres. Alejandro Carillo owns Las Damas ranch in Chihuahua Mexico, and has become well known around the world for using livestock to restore soils and landscapes in semi-arid environments.And Glenn Landsberg owns a small farm in Southwest Queensland, and works as a natural resource management consultant with a focus on landscape rehydration.Thank you to all of our guests for sharing their stories and wisdom.You can follow Jody Brown on linkedin.com/in/jody-brown-93648932/ and find out more about Latrobe Station on facebook.com/people/Latrobe-Station/100063555377640/Alejandro Carillo can be found online on instagram.com/lasdamascattleranch/ and linkedin.com/in/alejandro-carrillo-b3a7a7/ and you can read more about Las Damas ranch desertgrasslands.comGlenn Landsberg can be found on linkedin.com/in/glenn-landsberg-758a02198/Soils for Life CEO Eli Court recently attended the Regenerative Rangelands Conference at Jody’s station, and wrote about the experience and what he learned from Alejandro and the other speakers soilsforlife.org.au/inspiration-from-the-chihuahuan-desert/A film has also been released about this conference and rangelands regeneration, which can be viewed youtube.com/watch?v=G5IuR4YAIJYIn the episode, Glenn mentions maps of what used to be the ‘native grain belt’. A representation of this map can be found on page 3 of https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/faculty-of-science/research/potential-native-grass-production.pdf from the University of Sydney.Episode produced by growloveproject.com
In this episode we talk with Joel Williams about how growers can start weaning off costly chemical inputs, rules of thumb for seed treatments and foliar sprays, why he likes tweaks and incremental improvements, the growing scientific evidence behind regenerative farming practices and more!
Joel Williams is an independent plant and soil health educator based in Canada, working on soil management, plant nutrition and integrated approaches of sustainable food production. Joel is interested in designing farming systems that focus on managing soil biology along with crop and soil nutrition to optimise plant immunity and soil function.
At Soils for Life we’ve recently launched a major project focused on cropping systems, and we thought Joel would be the perfect person to talk about why and how growers are transitioning to a more regenerative, resilient approach to cropping.
Find out more about the project via soilsforlife.org.au/cropping-resilience/.
If you have any feedback or questions about this podcast, or suggestions of topics or people you’d like us to include in future episodes, please reach out on social media or via info@soilsforlife.org.au.
We’ve all heard the saying “You are what you eat”. But, as we'll hear in this episode, it really should go “You are what you eat, and the soil it grows in.”
Over half of our adult population are considered to be malnourished, and this is in part due to a decline in the nutrient density of our food. As the world's population grows and remaining arable land decreases, growing healthier, nutrient dense food might just be a part of the answer to improving human health outcomes.
In this episode we talk with two farmers and two researchers about the question: ‘Is soil the key to better human health?’.
What we find is a complex tangle of connections between soil, plants, animals, and humans that science is only just beginning to understand.
Thank to our wonderful guests
Matthew Evans - Farmer, chef and food writer and the author of ‘Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy”
Courtney Young - Co-owner at Woodstock Flour and project manager at Soils for Life
Robyn Alders - Honorary professor with the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University.
Dr Stephan van Vliet - Assistant professor of nutrition at the Center for Human Nutrition Studies at Utah State University He holds a PhD in Kinesiology and Community Health. Dr. van Vliet also holds a Masters in Nutrition Science.
Additional research links
- A database of chemical compounds found in foods by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Matthew Evans book 'Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy.'
- Dr Stephan van Vliet's presentation on their research
Hosted by Susannah Kable from the @GrowLoveProject and James Diack from Soils for Life. This Podcast has been produced by Grow Love Project in collaboration with @SoilsforLife.
For more episodes of our podcast, head to soilsforlife.org.au/podcast
If you’re a long-time listener to this podcast, you’ll be used to our in-depth episodes co-hosted by Grow Love Project’s Susie Kable and Soils for Life’s James Diack. We’re continuing to make these episodes, but from time-to-time we’ll be bringing you shorter interviews with farmers doing interesting things to regenerate soils and landscapes. This is the first of these interviews, with actress-turned-farmer Rachel Ward and farm manager Mick Green.
Mick and Rachel jointly manage a farm in the Nambucca Valley on the NSW mid-north coast. As newbies to regenerative farming, they decided to make the most of Rachel’s lifetime of experience with film making to produce a documentary about their journey. That documentary - called Rachel’s Farm - is out now on limited release.
This is a broad ranging conversation about getting started in a new approach to farming, working as a team, learning from friends and neighbours, and dealing with pests and extreme weather. Most of all, I enjoyed hearing about Mick and Rachel’s incredibly humble and curious mindset - always questioning, never afraid to admit to a mistake and learn from it. I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation. And just a note, you’ll hear some references to ‘Normy’ in this podcast - Normy worked with Mick and Rachel during the early days of their journey, and was the ideas man and inspiration behind many of their shifts.
If you have any feedback or questions about this podcast, or suggestions of topics or people you’d like us to include in future episodes, please reach out on social media or via info@soilsforlife.org.au.
Thank you to Rachel Ward and Mick Green for sharing their story and their wisdom.
Hosted by Eli Court from Soils for Life. This podcast has been produced by Soils for Life, and edited by Michelle Watts.
regenerativeagriculture #biodiversity #soilsforlife #podcast #farmingpodcast #samvincent
Building cropping resilience through diversity
In this episode we hear from croppers who are growing multispecies crops as a way of building soil health and improving diversity. We discover why and how these farmers are moving from growing monocultures to establishing polycultures.
Find out more about how croppers around Australia are regenerating soil and landscape health by reading Soils for Life’s new cropping case studies: soilsforlife.org.au/case-studies
Thank you to all our guests:
Rob and Judi Hetherington - Walma
Martin Williams - Nyngan Seed Graders
Grant Simms - Down Under Covers
Hosted by Susannah Kable from the Grow Love Project and James Diack from Soils for Life
This Podcast has been produced by Grow Love Project in collaboration with Soils for Life. This project is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s Smart Farms Program.
The industrialisation of agriculture has created large paddocks of monoculture crops and increased the chemical burden on farmers and their environments. Global herbicide use has continued to increase as farmers have shifted to no till practices and adopted herbicide-tolerant crop cultivars over the last 30 years. One result of this is that the list of herbicide resistant #weeds is growing.
Some farmers spend huge amounts of money on herbicide and scarce time removing weeds; Meanwhile, exactly how much damage is being done to native plant species and soils is not yet fully known. Either way, the current model is not sustainable
In this episode we are exploring a paradigm shift to an ecological systems approach to weeds with Soils for Life agroecologist Sarah Fea. We visit four farmers to understand their changing relationship to plants. Including a grazier, seed producer, a farmer who has enlisted the help of goats and another who has developed no kill cropping.
We take a fresh look at weeds and how we can benefit from seeing them through a different lens. We hear how specific weeds germinate to heal damaged soils, showing us what the soil needs and how we can help them heal it.
James Diack from Soils for Life visits grazier Martin Royds at his farm Jillamatong in Braidwood. They sit down to have a yarn over Martin's fascinating story of change and repair. James also talks to farmer and soil microbiologist Bruce Davidson, who has a great story about how he approaches Blackberries and African Lovegrass. And Agroecologist Sarah Fea talks to seed producer Russel Young who talks about the challenges he’s facing as someone who is earlier on in his journey of transition to a more biological approach to farming. She also visits Bruce Maynard to hear more about his approach to weeds. Bruce is a farmer and educator who has developed methods such as No Kill Cropping and Self-Herding.
Thanks to all the our guests
Martin Royds - Jillamatong
Bruce Maynard - Willydah
https://soilsforlife.org.au/willydah/
Bruce Davidson - Soil Smith
https://www.soilsmith.ag/about/
Russell Young - Young Seeds
Hosted by Susannah Kable from Grow Love Project and James Diack and Sarah Fea from Soils for Life
This Podcast has been produced by Grow Love Project in collaboration with Soils for Life. This project is supported Australian Government’s Smart Farms Program.
Agricultural scientific research is really good at honing in on specific issues in the sector to investigate targeted solutions. But nature doesn’t always work that way. A fundamental principle of regenerative agriculture is to observe landscapes as a whole system and to build resilience by embracing ecological complexity.
The importance of farmer and researcher collaboration is highlighted in this episode with the need for research models and questions to meet with the complexity of farming with a whole systems and holistic approach.
In this episode we ask how the experience of regenerative farmers can contribute to research and build a strong evidence base for regenerating agricultural soils and landscapes. We will hear from two farmers that have transitioned to regenerative farming practices and two researchers working in the space.
Hosted by Susannah Kable, Grow Love Project and James Diack, Soils for Life
Thank you to all our guests:
David Marsh: https://soilsforlife.org.au/david-marsh-the-regenerative-farmer
Colin Seis: https://soilsforlife.org.au/winona-pasture-cropping-the-way-to-health/
Kirsty Yates: https://soilsforlife.org.au/about-soils-for-life/our-people/
Liz Clarke: Senior Executive Designer and Consultant https://www.thinkplace.com.au/
The book David Marsh refers to is Andre Voisin the French farmer scientist who wrote Grass Productivity
Australian agriculture currently has a labour shortage of over 100,000 people. It’s not an easy gig for someone to start from scratch on a farm and many younger generation farmers are moving from farms to urban areas.
We rely on farmers to sustain our way of life as they produce our food and fibre. It’s critical that young and new farmers are encouraged and supported to supply for our needs in a way that regenerates soils and landscapes.
Some major barriers and challenges that young and new farmers are faced with include access to land and capital, climate change issues and access to learning, particularly learning about regenerative practices.
In this episode, learn from a researcher, writer and farmer who has walked the walk, and started her own regenerative farming practice. Be inspired by an additional six young and new farmers who embraced a regenerative mindset to overcome these challenges.
Thank you to all our guests:
Tanya Massy https://sustainabletable.org.au/advisors/
Josh Gilbert https://www.joshuagilbert.co/
Harriet Finlayson https://soilsforlife.org.au/womens-day-regenerative-agriculture-chicken-egg-farmer/
Adam Lilleyman https://soilsforlife.org.au/chickens-for-a-change/
Trish Smith https://www.youngfarmersconnect.com/
Luke Winder https://www.tathraplacefreerange.com/
Thank you to https://www.farmerincubator.org/regenerationreport for producing the much needed report: Regeneration which you can download from the website. And thank you for the audio featured in this episode from the launch of the report.
Hosted by Susannah Kable, Grow Love Project and James Diack, Soils for Life
The 8 families farmer group formed more than a decade ago after a holistic management course. Since then, the group has evolved and experienced transitions in all the businesses and families.
In this episode we explore environmental markets through the lens of two members of the 8 Families group. The 8 families explain how their motivation to build natural capital was not primarily to gain market outcomes, but rather a desire to fulfill their Holistic Context.
This includes building the productivity and profitability of their farming systems, as well as an intrinsic desire to rebuild the function and health of their landscapes in their roles as soil and landscape stewards.
In this episode we’ll hear from some of the group about how and why they came together, their consideration of environmental markets and the benefits of working through those together.
Thank you to all our guests:
Michael Gooden and Rebecca Gorman - 8 families Soils for Life Case Study: https://soilsforlife.org.au/8-families-land-stewarship/
Kim Deans - https://www.reinventingagriculture.com.au
Rowan Foley - https://www.abcfoundation.org.au
Ian Loane - https://www.carbonlink.com.au/
Andrew Ward - https://regenfarmersmutual.com/
Dieuwer Reynders - https://www.bct.nsw.gov.au/
Hosted by Susannah Kable, Grow Love Project and James Diack, Soils for Life
Farmer,forester or conservationist. It might seem like you need to choose one but more and more landholders are challenging this. With the right management, trees on farms can provide better farm productivity andforest products andincrease biodiversity. But in many ways forests are still treated as either conservation reserves or plantations, making it difficult for farmers to take this path.
In less than 100 years as a nation we have gone from removing trees to wanting to plant them back. Tree planting programs are not achieving the scale of restoration required to repair Australia's landscapes. We need to rethink how we support landholders to invest in trees.
In this episode we hear from two farm foresters who have approached farming trees very differently, as well as a scientist and a forest policy professor. They discuss why more farmers have not adopted forestry, how trees can be managed for multiple outcomes and what mindset and policy shifts are required to move to a whole-of-landscape approach.
Thank you to our guests:
Farm forester and grazier - James Henderson https://soilsforlife.org.au/colodan/
Forest scientist and grazier - Rowan Reid https://www.agroforestry.net.au/
Professor Peter Kanowski - https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/kanowski-pj
Associate Professor Cris Brack - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cris-brack-233a117a/
Your hosts Eli Court @soilsforlife and Susannah Kable @growloveproject produced by Edgars Greste
There are millions of hectares of degraded soils in Australia's agricultural landscapes. But there are a billion reasons why compost offers a solution to this problem, teeming with micro-organisms and organic matter that can help regenerate soils. But not all composts are the same and there is still a lot that we're learning about this precious, carbon rich resource. How can governments, farmers and industry work together to return organic matter to the soil and close the loop from paddock to paddock?
Thanks to all our guests for their time and insights.
Soils for life case study with Milgadara, Rhonda and Bill Daly - soilsforlife.org.au/case-study-catch-up-milgadara
Rhonda and Bill Daly, Milgadara and YLAD Living Soils - yladlivingsoils.com.au
Eric Love - Centre for Organic Research and Education - core.asn.au
Amanda Kane, organics manager, NSW EPA - epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/waste/waste-facilities/organics-processing-facilities
Virginia Brunton, environmental scientist - MRA consulting - mraconsulting.com.au
Gerry Gillespie, compost industry consultant - gerrygillespie.net/about.html
Phil Lavers, Moonacres Farm - moonacres.com.au/farm
This Podcast has been produced by Grow Love Project in collaboration with Soils for Life.
This project is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program
How could the emerging market for soil carbon support farmers to regenerate soils?
Soil carbon offers so many benefits both above and below the soil surface, from improving farm productivity to revenue raising in carbon trading. But while the case for building soil carbon is clear, the carbon market is still evolving. So what’s the potential, what are the risks and what can be done to unlock the potential of soil carbon as an enabler of better farm management and soil stewardship? In this episode we talk to farmers, scientists and policy makers to explore the soil carbon opportunity.
Thanks to all our guests for their time and insights.
Stuart Austin, Wilmot Cattle Co. - soilsforlife.org.au/wilmot
Craig Carter, Tallawang - soilsforlife.org.au/tallawang-greener-pastures-through-restoring-landscape-hydrology
Dr. Susan Orgill - Soil Scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries
Skye Glenday, Co-CEO, Climate Friendly - climatefriendly.com
Dr Michael Crawford, CEO, Soil CRC - soilcrc.com.au
Konrad Muller, Assistant Manager, Land, Forest and Blue Carbon Methods, Clean Energy Regulator - cleanenergyregulator.gov.au
Anthony Bennie, Assistant Secretary, Natural Capital and Markets - Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/natural-resources/landcare/sustaining-future-australian-farming/carbon-biodiversity-pilot
Have your say about the new soil carbon methodology - submissions close by Monday 27th September
https://consult.industry.gov.au/soil-carbon-method-proposed-new-method
For the latest updates please subscribe to the Soils for Life newsletter
soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter
This Podcast has been produced by Grow Love Project in collaboration with Soils for Life.
This project is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program
This is Soils For Life. A podcast about connecting farmers, researchers and policy makers, to shed light on agricultural best practice and explore current policy barriers and mindsets that are getting in the way of adoption and how to overcome them. Each episode we’ll delve into a topical issue around soil health in agriculture. We’ll hear from farmers about what inspired them to change their practices and we’ll talk to industry experts about the challenges and opportunities to help improve soils for life.
Sign up to the newsletter by visiting soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter/