Farmers find ‘new-found vigour’ in biology, chemistry and physics

About 150 farmers discovered new techniques and ideas at VicNoTill’s annual conference in Wagga Wagga. These are the key takeaways.

Food, health and farming experts can agree on one key message – farmers must have healthy soil to grow healthy food.

VicNoTill has hosted its annual event at Wagga Wagga, NSW, with more than 10 speakers contributing to the three-day Food for Thought event.

Northwest Victorian grower and attendee Carol Fitzpatrick, Waitchie, said they would experiment with putting out an amino acid when spraying, so plants could retain protein.

“A lot of the things I’ve heard have cemented some ideas we were thinking about trying or implementing,” she said.

They’re currently growing wheat, barley, lentils, peas and flax.

Joel Williams said he noticed farmers were “hungry” for improving efficiency and profitability, while Stacey Curcio said there was no language barrier between human health and farming.

VicNoTill president Dan Fox, Marrar, NSW, said the underlying message was achieving healthy food meant growing it in healthy soil.

“We’re learning new things every year about the role that we have in the food that we produce,” he said.

The event included a field day at fourth-generation farmer Michael Gooden’s Willowlee property.

VicNoTill board president Dan Fox with conference guest speaker Rob Hetherington. Picture: Supplied

Mr Gooden and his family manage 120 Angus cattle, and sell yearling bulls at this time each year through their Old Man Creek stud.

They fluctuate their herd numbers based on grass production, with a perennial pasture base and diversity grasses for cell grazing.

The field day included a temporary electric fencing demonstration and a soil pit.

“There’s no such thing as perfect soil and it’s not essentially economic to have it perfect the whole time,” Mr Gooden said.

The conference had more than 10 speakers, including educator Joel Williams, naturopath Stacey Curcio, agronomist Keiran Knight, Riverina farmer and agronomist David Bushell and Fat Pig Farm chef and farmer Matthew Evans.

Irrewillipe farmers Rob and Bernie Conron and Mallee farmer Carol Fitzpatrick at a recent VicNoTill conference. Picture: Supplied

Mr Evans manages a 28ha mixed farm with a small beef herd, pigs, dairy cows and one dairy goat. They also have a market garden, chickens, a heritage orchard, and fruit and nut trees.

They provided more than 10,000 meals annually, bought in flour and olive oil but used everything else from within the fence line.

“The more you look after the biology of the soil, the more you nourish the soil growing the plant, the better the food tastes,” he said.

They aimed to increase plant diversity, avoided leaving bare earth, prioritised mulching, regularly moved livestock, and used cover crops and compost.

Mr Evans said he had a “new-found vigour” and curiosity about the importance of calcium to break up clay, or its effectiveness as a top dressing.