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It’s all in the soil? Improve your patch!

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Want to improve mineral cycles, soil fertility, drought resilience, pasture and crop health and productivity on your patch?

Soil and plant function is intrinsically linked to the chemical, physical and biological properties of soil. But did you know that by reintroducing and encouraging the life in your soil you can greatly influence soil chemistry and fertility?

Watershed Landcare have invited grazier, enquiring farmer and soil specialist, Bruce Davison to present a Sustainable Soil Management workshop in June.

Bruce has an advanced diploma of agriculture and advanced diploma of agribusiness management. Bruce has also trained in soil chemistry and plant nutrition, compost and compost tea making, Holistic management and certificate IV in training and assessment. Bruce is self employed as a farmer and soil consultant.

Bruce runs a cattle grazing enterprise on the far south coast of NSW where he has had success with utilising biological farming principles to build nutrients in his soils.

The full day workshop will cover soil basics, understanding soil biology, improving soil quality and growing nutrient dense food, constructing a high nutrient compost heap, building a farm scale worm farm and reading and interpreting your soil test.

The workshop will be held from 9am-5pm on Thursday 28 June at the Lecture Room, Australian Rural Education Centre (AREC). Attendance is $35 for Watershed Landcare members and $45 for non-members and includes morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea.

The course fee also includes the Soilsmith usb which contains a lot of reading and reference material, plus the soil nutrient spreadsheet which is the centrepiece of the workshop as it enables farmers to make their own decisions on soil management.

The Sustainable Soil Management workshop will include a session on reading and interpreting soil reports and calculating amendments using the soil nutrient spreadsheet. We encourage all interested participants to bring along any soil analysis results they have.

Workshop participants are also eligible to undertake a subsidised soil test prior to the event. Please contact us for more information.

To register for the workshop please contact Watershed Landcare Coordinator, Agness Knapik, on 0435 055 439 email: info@watershedlandcare.com.au.

This event is supported by Watershed Landcare and is a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

Dig deeper into erosion issues

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Want to find out more about soil erosion issues, their causes and solutions? Join us on a Field Trip to local properties to look at some common cases in our region.

Watershed Landcare will be hosting two days of soil workshops as part of the ‘Digging Deeper into Watershed Soils’ project, on 11 and 12 May.

The workshops will be held on properties across the region, looking at issues common to the area and exploring how to implement solutions and improve the soil health on your own place.

Due to popular demand, Watershed Landcare has invited Agricultural Ecologist, David Hardwick, back to our region. David has been very well received at previous workshops he has held for Watershed Landcare. An entertaining presenter, he will help land managers dig a little deeper and look below the surface at their soil issues.

Lue Station will host a workshop on Thursday 11 May looking at an incised gully in a 3rd order stream. This poses a landscape scale problem with the surrounding floodplains draining quickly and becoming drier. David will explore solutions to rehydrate the landscape with participants and suggest methods on how to reduce the speed and volume of water runoff.

Participants will also have an opportunity to meet members of Bingman Landcare, find out what they do and how to get involved.

Two differing scenarios will be addressed at the workshop on Friday 12 May.

Our morning session will visit Matt and Emma Kurtz’s property where historical contour banking has been compromised resulting in a concentration of water, with sheet and channel erosion and scalding occurring as the water moves down-slope.

Then follow us out to the lovely Karrabool Olives on Botobolar Road where David Sargeant and Judy Rogers hope to reduce the runoff which is causing sheet and rill erosion through their olive grove. Here participants can get their hands dirty and learn how to construct small rock structures to slow and spread waterflow.

These are catered events so just bring yourself and some protective clothing (hats, boots, rain jacket) and water.

For more information visit our website: www.watershedlandcare.com.au/events and go to the May events.

The field days are free to attend but places are strictly limited. To register please contact Beth Greenfield, Digging Deeper into Watershed Soils project Coordinator, on 0438 090 525 or by email: info@watershedlandcare.com.au.

These events are supported by Watershed Landcare through funding from the Jaramas Foundation and Landcare Australia and are a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

Digging deeper into soil care management

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Agro-ecologist, David Hardwick, will be working with local landholders to improve the soil health on their patch. Watershed Landcare have collaborated with Mr Hardwick on a number of soil health projects in the past and have invited him back for the Digging Deeper into Watershed Soils project.

The participating landholders will have their soil tested and work with Mr Hardwick to analyse the soil test results and determine management options.

The landholders will have the opportunity to increase their knowledge of the aspects which impact on soil health, such as soil chemistry, soil biology and ecology, and discuss their proposed on-ground works with Mr Hardwick to find solutions which are relevant to their operation, management approach and location.

Interested to see what they come up with? Watershed Landcare will be hosting a field trip to visit the participating properties in May.

David Hardwick will join us on the bus trip from Mudgee to visit the 3 farms and discuss the soil test results, work conducted and how the decisions were arrived at.

The discussion during the field day will also focus on soil biology, soil water, soil acidity and other soil health issues within our region more generally.

For more information on the Digging Deeper into Watershed Soils project or to register your interest for the field trip contact Bethany Greenfield, Project Coordinator, on 0438 090 525 by email: info@watershedlandcare.com.au.

This project is supported by Watershed Landcare through funding from Landcare Australia and the Jaramas Foundation and is a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

Want to improve the health of your soils?

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Healthy soils are the foundation for healthy pastures and, in turn, healthy livestock. But how can you improve the health of your soils?

Landholders in our region will have the opportunity to explore soil health through a series of workshops and hands-on projects.

As part of the ‘Digging Deeper into Watershed Soils’ project, Watershed Landcare are looking for 3 sites in our region to host workshops and conduct on-ground works on their properties focusing on soil health.

The project, which is made possible through funding from Landcare Australia and the Jaramas Foundation, aims to improve landholders knowledge of aspects that influence their soil; including soil chemistry, biology, hydrology, botany as well as local knowledge.

A series of workshops will be held across our region linking with the on-ground activity sites. The workshops will explore soil health further with a focus on:

  • soil health issues within our region;
  • soil biology, soil water and soil acidity;
  • adapting management decisions as a result of understanding the landscape; and
  • improving soil health.

The first workshop in the series, focusing on pasture establishment and management, will feature Robert Freebairn and will be held later this month.

The remaining workshops will be tailored to the individual project sites, giving the participating landholders an opportunity to work with the experts engaged to discuss their proposed on-ground works, determine the best management options and address the issues at the project site.

Participating landholders will also receive a free soil test.

Watershed Landcare is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from interested landholders to host workshops on their property and receive funding to assist with on-ground works to improve soil health on the land they manage.

On-ground works eligible for funding include erosion control work, works to improve hydrology, compost or compost tea applications, pasture cropping, increasing nitrogen-fixing plant composition of pasture or any other innovative and creative ideas that meet the project objectives.

Individual landholders will be able to apply for up to $750 in funding and will be required to provide a 25% in-kind contribution (labour or materials) to the project.

For further information contact our Coordinator, Claudia Wythes, during business hours on 0412 011 064 or email: claudia.wythes@watershedlandcare.com.au.

This project is supported by Watershed Landcare through funding from Landcare Australia and the Jaramas Foundation and is part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.