Industry-leading organic farm set to swing open gate for exclusive tour

The Southern Downs family is set to showcase how their farm survived years of drought by producing organic grains and designing innovative machinery for all-year round farming operations.

David Curtis will highlight Bellevue Grazing Company's innovative machinery during the Organic Grain Farming Systems Field Day. Photo: Contributed

A previously drought-affected Southern Downs farm will host producers from across the country to showcase their innovative machinery, which has been custom-built to grow organic crops more productively.

Bellevue Grazing Company is a certified organic farm located just outside of Millmerran, specialising in mixed organic crop production.

Lifelong farmers David and Robbie Curtis began transitioning their farm to organic in 2015, with hopes of producing summer and winter crops.

Soon after switching to organic, the couple’s farm was hit by drought, which continued for five years until 2020.

Despite the harsh conditions brought on by the drought, their organic crops survived.

The couple’s Bellevue farm achieves its organic status by being synthetic chemical-free and practicing regenerative farming techniques like the replanting of multi-species of pastures and fodder crops such as oats, vetch, field peas and faba beans into the soil.

“We wanted to trial a system where there is little to no cultivation needed in order to preserve the already living plant species,” Mr Curtis said.

The techniques involve the maintaining of healthy ground cover, which helps to create a small water cycle so that green plants and vegetation can grow all year round.

To grow the organic crops and manage the weeds, Mr Curtis designed a cultivation and discing machine in 2018.

“With this special piece of equipment we can quite swiftly switch from planting, to cultivating, to discing. Its versatility means we are using it all year round,” Mr Curtis said.

Bellevue Grazing Company will open its farm to producers from across the country next week and showcase the innovative organic production practices.

It’s hoped the tour will empower other farmers by teaching them about organic farming options, supply-chain systems and emerging industry opportunities.

Mr Curtis said he was excited about the opportunity for producers to explore his farm and its operations.

“By no means am I interested in telling people how to farm, I am just eager to show people our ideas and a few trials we are running, and hear their thoughts on the methods we are using,” he said.

“There are also a few misconceptions around organic farming we are hoping to alleviate, and we will clearly explain the range of certified organic products that producers have access to.”

The tour is part of the Australian Organic Limited’s Organic Grain Farming Systems Field Day on August 4.

For more information click here.