Our first speaking engagement as a team

Louisa and I made history when we addressed 250 farmers from the Manning District in Gloucester, NSW yesterday at a LandCare Innovative Farmers’ Forum. It was the first time we had ever spoken publicly about how we farm at “Uamby”. It was the first time we had spoken together as a team. And it was a complete success, despite our nervousness and misgivings.
Our presentation - “Uamby: A Carbon Farm” – was based on our submission to the CMA Farming Systems program as well as a presentation about the Carbon Coalition. It was a real eye-opener for us to be recognised as “innovative farmers” worthy of such exposure because there are many farmers who know more about farming than we do. But probably not so many who have tried as many different techniques for building soil as we have. (I will blog parts of our presentation in later blogs.)
The highlight for me (after the thrill of appearing on the same platform as my wife as a team) was meeting and having a long conversation with Peter Andrews – the man who has dedicated his life to restoring the water balance in the Australian landscape. His methodology is called Natural Sequence Farming.
Peter is universally described by people who meet him as a difficult, one-eyed, self-obsessed man. But I found him to be a charming, personable, passionate bloke on a mission from God to save the planet. He has a special insight into how water moves through the Australian landscape – insights not always based on science but nonetheless valid.
His beliefs are based on the bedrock principle that we should be managing the landscape to mimic Mother Nature. “This country ran itself and ran its water and it costed nothing. So if we start to plan these things and it costs a lot of money, then we’ve probably got it wrong,” he told the gathering. (We were on the bill as the support act for Peter.)
Peter’s story is dramatic and was widely published on ABC TV’s “Australian Story” - he lost his wife and family due to his obsession with his vision, was almost committed to an asylum, and has spent the best part of 30 years as a voice crying in the wilderness, only now coming to prominence as Australia’s water problems have become acute.
I will blog Natural Sequence Farming and Peter some more later.