<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>329966</docID> <postdate>2024-09-29 07:13:24</postdate> <headline>Digging it: regenerative farmers keen to spread word</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-329967" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240904169149630006-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Braidwood farmer Martin Royds is exploring chemical-free alternatives to allow the landscape to thrive. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Liv Casben</strong></span></p> <p><strong>NSW farmer Martin Royds reckons he's stumbled on to something big.</strong></p> <p>How to kill one of Australia's worst weeds – serrated tussock – with a chemical-free fertiliser known as urea, without killing the soil and surrounding plants.</p> <p>The weed is invading properties across southeast Australia and once dominated parts of the cattle producer's 2700 hectares east of Canberra.</p> <p>"You're promoting what you do want and you're killing what you don't want," Mr Royds told AAP from his Braidwood property.</p> <p>After previously "nuking" the weed with poison, Mr Royds has been spreading the common farming fertiliser to destroy the tussock, without the surrounding natural grasses dying off.</p> <p>But while some farmers have questioned the cost-effectiveness of the method and the time it takes, Mr Royds is determined to explore chemical-free alternatives to allow the landscape to thrive.</p> <p>"The bottom line is our costs are much lower," he said.</p> <p>It's part of the fourth-generation farmer's "regenerative" approach, although he doesn't much care for labels.</p> <p>"We don't care what you call us, we (farmers) are all excitedly talking to each other... we're all looking at solutions," Mr Royds said.</p> <p>Some consider the term regenerative agriculture a buzzword and divisive - one that implies other farming methods degenerate the land.</p> <p>Even regenerative farmers themselves have difficulty articulating what the term means.</p> <p>Now a group of academics and producers are drilling down on a definition.</p> <p>The National Farmers' Federation is working with Food Agility, Charles Sturt University, and Agricultural Innovation Australia to come up with standards and data for an industry-accepted term.</p> <p>"At (their) worst, standards or definitions can be divisive, and they can alienate producers or stakeholders or consumers," Tony Mahar, the outgoing chief executive of Australia's peak farming lobby, told AAP.</p> <p>In a world where consumers are increasingly demanding more sustainable products, a definition would help, he said.</p> <p>"As requirements on producers continue to evolve, there will be more focus on improving our own (agricultural) sustainability framework," Mr Mahar said.</p> <p>Helen Lewis, who heads up the Australian Holistic Management Co-operative, said farmers are becoming more and more interested in regenerative agriculture.</p> <p>She estimates that at least 10,000 Australian producers have trained in holistic management over the past three decades.</p> <p>"Your grazing can restore the landscape, can restore grasslands. The way in which you approach your land planning is constructive and enhances nature and enhances your business," she said.</p> <p>But she's perplexed why the term regenerative agriculture irks some people.</p> <p>"What causes a way of farming to be polarising? Is it the people? Is it about their reluctance to change?</p> <p>"We're looking for a regenerating outcome... there's not a silver bullet."</p> <p>She's expecting hundreds of farmers to attend a field day and conference celebrating 30 years of holistic management in Australia, being held at Carcoar in central western NSW in October.</p> <p>Mr Royds will be speaking at the conference and is keen to spread the word about the benefits of regenerative agriculture.</p> <p>"Part of being a regenerative farmer is accepting and being honest with yourself that what we've been doing in the past is not working," he said.</p> <p>"Our soils are getting less productive, our soil carbon has gone down, our costs of production have gone up."</p> </body>