Soils for Life

Happy new year! In case you missed it, a recent piece from the ABC explains just how serious the issue of degraded soil is globally, and how important it is to support farmers to take care of the soil. We are looking forward to continuing our work in supporting farmers taking care of soils this year 🌱 Read the full article at: https://loom.ly/-VpgqCY #soilhealth

Is erosion a ‘given’? Or can farmers restore creeks and landscapes to their full potential, holding on to water for longer and utilising it better? Charlie Maslin, an amazing land steward raising cattle and sheep on the Monaro in New South Wales, took us on his journey of landscape repair. It began with a change in grazing practices to improve ground cover and then moved on to focus on repairing degraded waterways to rehydrate the landscape and support a thriving and productive agro-ecosystem. Listen at https://lnkd.in/geKYXWYX, or on your favourite platform. This episode is a collaborative effort with our friends at Mulloon Institute as part of their Communities of Practice Project. If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find. Produced by Grow Love Project

What a year! Full of connection, shared learning and supporting soil stewards. Thanks to all the farmers who shared their stories and knowledge with us. And thanks to everyone who supported Soils for Life this year, we’re excited for what next year brings 🌱

Can farmers restore creeks and landscapes to their full potential, holding on to water for longer and utilising it better? Charlie Maslin, an amazing land steward raising cattle and sheep on the Monaro in New South Wales, took us on his journey of landscape repair. It began with a change in grazing practices to improve ground cover and then moved on to focus on repairing degraded waterways to rehydrate the landscape and support a thriving and productive agro-ecosystem. Listen at https://lnkd.in/geKYXWYX or on your favourite platform. This episode is a collaborative effort with our friends at Mulloon Institute as part of their Communities of Practice Project. If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find. Produced by Grow Love Project This project is supported by Mulloon Institute, through funding from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund.

Your summer reading has arrived! Our summer newsletter is packed full of practical resources, farmer stories, events and new podcasts. Take a look at our Practice Guides on multispecies cover cropping and biological seed treatments. Read about our recent visit to original case study farmer Bryan Ward’s beautiful Illawong, where his tree plantings are providing habitat for endangered birds, resilience for his livestock operation, and beauty for his enjoyment. Listen to our latest podcasts with plant rhizosphere ecologist Jill Clapperton on ‘planting with purpose’ and rehydration pioneer Charlie Maslin. If you missed our recent webinars on brewing and using biofertilisers, or the one on farmers monitoring soil health, we’ve released recordings that you can watch in your own time. And as usual we’ve included a list of interesting upcoming events run by others. Find it in your inbox or at https://loom.ly/1FRH-kQ You can subscribe or read our newsletter at soilsforlife.org.au.

‘Let the soil help’ when designing your multispecies cropping mixes. There are a lot of options when it comes to selecting species for a multispecies cover cropping. With plenty of tips and tricks from other farmers, our recent Multispecies Cropping Practice Guide can be a handy place to start: https://loom.ly/fqqq-z0 Featuring videos with Grant Sims sharing tips for designing multispecies mixes: 🌱Get clear on your end goal and what you’re trying to address. 🌱For example, if you have soil compaction issues, you might consider including deep tap rooted plants. 🌱Or, if you’re trying to build organic matter and carbon, grasses and other leafy plants can help. 🌱Grant designs mixes to replace problem weed species with more desirable species from the same plant family. 🌱He recommends at least four plant species and between eight to nine species to really get the ‘magic happening’. Video produced by Grow Love Project

Happy World Soil Day! Farmers have such an important role in looking after soil and diversity above and below ground in our landscapes. This World Soil Day we’re at Grounded in Tasmania hearing from many inspiring farmers about how they are stewarding their land. We heard a lot about diversity and resilience. And we’re also hearing from researchers about the amazing links between healthy soil and human health and how microbes in the soil influence the nutrition in our food. Have a look at Eli Court’s post for some interesting takeaways from the event so far! https://loom.ly/OZAHMA4 #WorldSoilDay

Plants are not passive. They are purposeful masters of their own fates, wielding chemical arsenals and mustering armies of microbes to secure their survival. And as Jill Clapperton explains in this episode of the Soils for Life podcast, if we plant with purpose, we can harness the incredible power of plants to create farming systems that are productive, resilient and great for the soil and our health. Jill is a farmer and applied rhizosphere ecologist. She grows crops with integrated livestock in Kansas in the U.S. and advises farmers the world over. This conversation was eye opening and fun. We go big talking about gaia theory and the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. But we mostly dive deep into the fascinating ecological communities that plants create above and below the ground. Find this episode at https://lnkd.in/geKYXWYX or wherever you listen to your podcasts. We hope you enjoy this conversation! If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find. If you have feedback or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at info@soilsforlife.org.au. We love hearing from you. Find out more about Jill Clapperton at ⁠www.rhizoterra.com Jill Clapperton #cropfarming #cropping #farming #soil #allelopathy #soilscience #grazing

Campbell Mercer from Manna Hill Estate in Central Highlands of Victoria has been using simple soil tests to get to know his soil better. A simple test this October revealed that his soils had more moisture than he thought. Measuring and observing things like infiltration rate, ground cover, soil moisture and doing a count of macro-organisms in a shovel full of soil can all be great tools to help with decision making. Want to know more? Join our free webinar Wednesday 4 December. Farmers Campbell Mercer and Bert Matthews share why they monitor their soil health, and what the rewards have been for them. Soils for Life’s Agroecologist Sarah Fea will share how she uses field observations in her work supporting the decisions of crop growers. There will be plenty of time for discussion, so bring your questions! Register at the link: https://loom.ly/MZOIpZc Source of Image 1: Manna Hill Estate #soilhealth #soilsforlife #farmingwebinar

Our CEO Eli Court recently spoke at the annual Parliamentary Friends of Soil Breakfast, celebrating this year’s World Soil Day, coming up on 5 December. Eli spoke about the common ground between agriculture and nature and the importance of supporting and centering farmers in these conversations. He highlighted the many farmers who Soils for Life has worked with that have achieved soil stewardship and biodiversity outcomes on their land, alongside meeting their business and production goals. In particular David Marsh, an early Soils for Life case study who was in attendance on the day. Since the late 1980s David has prioritised soil health by grazing his livestock in ways that mimicked natural systems, giving the land the fertility and disturbance that the animals provided, and the rest and recovery that it required. And the results have been impressive, ecologically and economically. Ground cover is consistently 100%, native grasses are flourishing, old trees have begun to reproduce and birds are abundant. David’s system is low cost and he is debt free and less vulnerable to boom and bust cycles of weather and markets. The event, supported by co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Soil Michael McCormack MP and Meryl Swanson MP, was a collaboration between Soil Science Australia, the Soil CRC and Soils for Life, and brought together policymakers, soil scientists, farmers and industry groups to advocate for improved soil health nationwide.