Tulla Natives Nursery Tour Workshop
A walking/talking tour of a local native nursery showcasing business diversification and adaption to climatic and economic challenges
Capacity to Deliver - LP021- 006
The issue
The Wakool Agri Innovation Program is designed to help farmers and businesses explore opportunities to innovate, diversify and value add in their businesses. The purpose of this capacity building workshop was to highlight one business journey from its initial beginning stages, through to where it is now and discuss innovation and adaption and inspire attendees to look at their own operations and explore their own possibilities.
The solution
Local Landcare Coordinators partnering with the Wakool Agri Innovation Program, under funding from the Murray Darling Basin Economic Development Program, organised a nursery tour workshop to highlight a local horticulture operation that has been built from the ground up, leveraging spare capacity to create a dynamic business producing over 300,000 seedlings per year.
The nursery tour showcased a local business with goals and producer outcomes that align with the Murray River Council Adverse Event Plan, by producing hardy endemic species that can be circulated locally that are drought tolerant and do not require irrigation or much rainfall. This assists with adaptation of the area to drier and hotter conditions without the certainty of irrigation. Reinforcing this kind of message for producers and businesses and highlighting positive environmental outcomes is a priority of Western Murray Land Improvement Group.
12 people attended the workshop to hear the story of how the business began, and the journey up until this point - with some demonstrations of plant and equipment that has enabled business expansion and efficiencies. The tour also highlighted the challenges and opportunities along the way that allowed further expansion and increases in production.
The workshop was held Monday May 3rd, 2021 at ‘Tulla Natives’ in Wakool, NSW. It was fully funded by Landcare NSW in partnership with the Wakool Agri Innovation Program, and was free for participants to attend.
The impact
The workshop was a successful evening, with post event feedback reflecting this: ‘We are looking at a different business to the nursery but loved their honesty and inspiring story’ one attendee stated. Inspiring diversification and utilising spare capacity is a major aim of the Wakool Agri Innovation Program, and this tour captured the value of this and demonstrated it to participants in an effective manner.
Key facts
- 12 attendees from 4 different postcodes participated
- Positive feedback indicates the workshop was a success
- Social networking provided a chance for friendly and informal chat and further discussion of business adaptation and opportunity