Farmers right across the country will gain valuable insights into healthy soil processes and regenerative agriculture at a two-day event in Lismore next month.
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North Coast pecan nut farmer, Geoff Budgen, said attending the Australian Biological Farming Conference and Expo was like being a "kid in a candy shop".
"This conference kept me awake at night, just thinking about everything we've been told and everything that I'm going to implement on my little patch of Australia," he said after attending a previous conference.
"You've got to get the knowledge, and this is where you come to get it."
Organised by Soilcare, a not-for-profit organisation, the 2022 event is specifically designed to provide relevant and practical information for farmers.
Soilcare board member Bonnie Walker said it is more important than ever to take care of our soils and adopt regenerative and biological farming practices, with the impacts of climate change hitting hard across the country.
"We want to give farmers an event that will inspire, teach, allow them to network, gather with likeminded people, share knowledge, learn new skills and go home recharged and ready to take on new practices," she said.
"We have excellent speakers who have first-hand experience - they have developed their own biological farming processes and can talk about what they have learned along the way."
This year's theme is: "Soil is the answer. What's the question?". Some of the speakers will include:
- Bob Shaffer: A world-leading practitioner and speaker on biological farming. He is a horticultural agronomist and viticulturist and has developed cover crop systems for farms, orchards and vineyards as well as specialising in compost development and use. Bob owns and operates a coffee and tropical crops farm in Hawaii.
- Gary Zimmer (live-streaming from Wisconsin): A world-renowned farmer, author, speaker and biological farming consultant with decades of experience in agriculture. He has helped thousands of farmers improve their operations, starting with the soil and building to a profitable, successful farming operation. Gary runs Otter Creek Organic Farm together with his family.
- Peter Hazell: With 30 years' experience in natural resource management and in the delivery of landscape rehydration projects throughout Australia, Peter provides on-ground advice and prepares Landscape Rehydration Plans. He navigates the social, legal and technical complexities of natural resource management to achieve significant on-ground outcomes.
SoilCare has joined with Southern Cross University and The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance to hold the conference due to increasing demand for knowledge about biological farming. It will be held at the university's Lismore campus from December 2 to 5.
Those who are not able to attend in-person can register as virtual delegates and gain access to live and recorded sessions.
For more information or to register for the conference, visit australianbiologicalfarmingconference.org.
