KCLG Road to Regenerative Agriculture Project

From July 2020 to August 2022 Kiewa Catchment Landcare Groups delivered a project on Regenerative Agriculture, funded through the Australian Government National Landcare Program, Smart Farms Small Grants Program.

The project focussed improving understanding of regenerative agriculture, with a focus on contemporary grazing practices, benefits of biodiversity to agriculture, improving soil carbon and soil health in the Kiewa Valley, North-East Victoria. 

Landscape Function Grazing Management

The project worked in partnership with Graeme Hand from Hand for the Land the project to increase awareness of planned grazing design based on landscape function.  It included mentoring with six demonstration farmers in the Kiewa Valley through 12-month, safe to fail trials.   The results of this program and mentoring were shared with the wider community through a final field day at one of the demonstration farms and case studies.


Road To Regenerative Agriculture Field Day - Yackandandah March 24th 2022.
Photo by KCLG.


Project Participants - Chontelle and William at their property Cloudwood Farm Osbornes Flat. Photo by Catie Payne

For more information, learning outcomes and key resources from this project please click here:

  1. Demonstration farm case studies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Webinar recording with Graeme Hand

For more information on the concepts of the regenerative agriculture methodology taught by Hand for the Land including leaf vs root driven recovery, how to assess landscape function and safe to fail trials please click here for a webinar recording with Graeme Hand. 

 

  1. Demonstration farm interview with Graeme Hand

KCLG also captured an interview with Graeme at the end of the program sharing his experiences through involvement in the six demonstration farms mentored under this project.  Click here for a copy of the interview with Catie Payne.

 

  1. Hand for the Land resources

For more information on planned grazing management practices being taught by Graeme Hand please see Neringla YouTube video 

 

 

and a case study comparison in Tasmania. (pdf document)

Or visit Graemes website at www.handfortheland.com

Benefits of biodiversity to your farm

The project also covered the importance of increasing biodiversity on your farm for both agricultural and environmental reasons.  A workshop was held with Agriculture Victoria on a property near Tawonga where the benefits in increasing vegetation were discussed with participants. For more information on the benefits of increasing shade and shelter on your property watch our case study video here.



Michael Bonhote and Brad Costin (AgVic) (centre two) at our Shade, Shelter and Biodiversity Workshop - Tawonga June 23 2022. Photo by KCLG.


Aerial photo of Michael Bonhote’s property showing shelterbelts & paddock trees.
Photo by Darren Grigg (Grigg Media)

For more information on how to undertake revegetation, including site preparation and planting techniques see the North East CMA Bush for Birds Revegetation series – click here.

For links to guides on native vegetation suitable for planting in the Kiewa Valley see here. 

For further information

For more information on this project, including how to arrange a site visit with one of the demonstration farmers please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For more information on Graeme Hand please see www.handfortheland.com