Taking “Farming into the Future” into the future
Taking “Farming into the Future” into the future
Reaching Out -
LLCI033-017
The issue
To engage more farmers, share information on Regenerative Agriculture and to raise funds.
The solution
The beginning of the “Farming into the Future” project started when Brunswick Valley Landcare held a seminar with key speakers on Regenerative Agriculture. The event was held at The Farm Byron Bay and was a full day interactive seminar focusing on regenerative agriculture, drought resilience and emerging trends. We also covered what management and marketing decisions are producers adopting to meet current and emerging social, climatic, market and environmental trends. The speakers and panel consisted of: Charles Massy, "Call of the Reed Warbler"; Rob Pekin, Food Connect Foundation; Glenn Morris, Figtrees Organic Farms; David Trevor-Jones, Hayters Hill Farm; Martin and Pam Brook, Brookfarm; Rob Randall, Norco; Hamish Mackay, Biodynamic Educator and Farmer; Joel Orchard, Future Feeders and MC - Charlie Arnott, Biodynamic Producer, Grass Fed Beef.
The event was a great success with 120 attendees and all feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
“It felt relaxed, friendly and not so judgy. I am a complete novice in this area and sometimes in those types events you feel like you are being preached to rather than being encouraged to be part of the solution”
“Loved the energy in the room and the opportunity to network with like minded people.”
“BVL did the most amazing job. Great venue, amazing line up of speaker, great food. Such an inspiring day - 100 out of 100”
Participants were also keen to learn more and keep the momentum rolling - keep sharing knowledge and making new connections. So Brunswick Valley Landcare decided to run more events under the “Farming into the Future” name and have set up a website. These will be ticketed paid events to help cover costs. A move away from always doing free Landcare events. http://www.farmingintothefuture.org.au/
The impact
BVL was able to engage with a new section of the community from farmers on generational family farms to young people wanting to get into the farming community. We have had lots of meetings and site visits since the first seminar with many new connections and projects.
Due to the generosity from partner organisations and businesses we were able to make a profit from this event which will be used for further events.
An added benefit to the day was that we have made partnerships with a number of other organisations working with regenerative farmers including The National Regenerative Farming Day, Heart your Farmer, Food Connect, Venture Organics, and the Northern Rivers Community Foundation.
Key facts
- An Interactive seminar on regenerative agriculture with 120 attendees has started a whole project to connect with more farmers
- We have 2 follow up events booked for this year with more in the planning stage.
- New partnerships established to work towards a shared vision