Agriculture heavyweights to present seminar on profitable biodiversity
THE term biodiversity has been used so frequently it can be seen as a throwaway line, but it’s importance in the scheme of things is absolute.
If we have only money in the world, or gas, or oil, all humans will first die of thirst, then we’ll starve.
A biodiverse earth is necessary to survive and there’s a local seminar coming to Dubbo where a host of expert speakers will explain how to establish more biodiversity, and profit from it economically, environmentally and socially.
Central West Local Land Services (CWLLS) is hosting the event to educate landholders on how they can improve and profit from effective natural resource management (NRM) on their farming enterprise.
Keynote presentations will be delivered by industry professionals, supported by scientific research and complemented by Central West farmers demonstrating the capacity of biodiversity services to improve farm profitability, including:
- Improving soil structure, fertility and production capacity
- Farm resilience against climatic changes and weather events
- Opportunities to profit from conservation agreements.
Emcee for the day will be agricultural scientist Chris Russell who is well known as a former judge on the popular ABC television series “The New Inventors” and has spent the past 30 years working in various technical and commercial roles in more than 30 countries.
Chris was recently appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to agricultural science, research, innovation and agricultural development. He says he’s an “invention tragic” and sees innovation as being critical to Australia’s agricultural future and very much part of the Australian psyche.
There’s a variety of keynote speakers including Dr Kate Andrews who’s Executive Officer for NRM Regions Australia, the collective body for Australia’s 56 regional NRM organisations, and is also a consultant, a visiting lecturer at ANU’S Fenner school for Environment and Society, and a Director on the board of Agrifutures Australia, an organisation that proudly focuses on the future of Australian agriculture.
Some local flavour will be added by Anne Williams who, with husband Ray and son Ben, runs a 2500-hectare no-till dryland operation near Coonamble in northern NSW.
The Williams have been replacing chemical fertilisers with organic amendments designed to help improve soil biodiversity, structure and water holding capacity since 2007.
Dr Neal Hughes is Manager of the Climate and Water Economics section at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and
Resource Economics and
Sciences (ABARES) The new Leven Smash Repairs building in Blueridge Business Park looks more like a Los Angeles showroom marketing limited edition Italian sports cars than a panel-beating shop. The grand opening is tonight (Thursday, June 7) and while 20 staff are already at work, the business is desperate to find at least five more workers as it opens its doors. Simon Leven is pictured outside the new premises. and since joining that organisation in 2006 he’s researched a range of water, climate and agricultural issues including the design of water property rights and markets, water policy in the Murray-darling Basin and the effects of climate variability and change on Australian farms.
Col Seis (pictured) doesn’t live far away but the techniques he’s used to restore his degraded soils at Gulgong’s “Winona” may as well be from another universe. The property is managed using methods that continually regenerate its grassland, soil, and farm ecosystem. Crops are sown annually using the ‘pasture cropping’ technique that Colin developed over 20 years ago. During the development of ‘pasture cropping’ and regenerative land management techniques, Colin has been awarded many times for his achievements including Australian Green Agriculture and Innovation Award 2012 (GAIA) and the National Bob Hawke Landcare Award (2014).
In January 2015, Victoria’s ag bible, the “Weekly Times”, labelled Col a visionary and potentially one of the top six most influential farmers of the world.
Peter-john Layton (Local Land Services) and Stacey Avard (Biodiversity Conservation Trust) will co-present a session on the roles that both agencies can play in the management of natural resources.
Stacey will also be expanding on the capacity for landholders to profit from conservation agreements under Biodiversity Conservation Trust agreements.
The event will be held at Dubbo’s Lazy River Estate on Tuesday, June 19, from 9am to 3.30pm.
Contact Central West LLS to attend. Tickets are $50.
* John Ryan is employed part-time by Mid Macquarie Landcare as a Local Landcare Co-ordinator.