At 8.30am this morning we (Daniel, Louisa and myself) faced a judging panel of 15 Catchment Management Authority people in the final act of the Farming Systems Program. We are competing with 10 other farming families to come up with an innovative solution to the problem of dryland salination. Up to three of us will receive up to $100,000 to execute our plans. Our solution- "Uamby: A Carbon Farm" - we costed at $200,000+ for stage one. (The outline appears in a blog below).
We were given 5 minutes to present the outline of our solution, then we were subjected to questioning by the panel for 30 minutes. It was nerve-wracking stuff. Especially as we have been completing a 70-page report for submission yesterday, containing the details of our plan...
The others in our class - all progressive farmers - kept their cards close to their chests. But we do know Jane Wilson of Lowe Family Wines has an innovative composting tea solution, Rick and Angus Maurice were looking into edible shrubs which can act as understory in a grassy woodland, Col Seis is doing something with native grass seeds, Bruce and Jenny from Bathurst have a wetlands project, Tom Green is also looking at edible acacias... We get to see everyone's entry next week when we get together and present to the class. Then the winner(s) are announced, then we go otu to dinner to celebrate/comiserate/whatever.
The Central West CMA took a big risk with this program and all eyes are on the outcome. A few careers hang in the balance. I think their political masters will be pleased.
I guess they could find it hard to award a prize to our submission because it flies in the face of the Federal Government's stand on climate change. But there has been no trace of that during the 20 days training we have undergone in the past 6 months. So we remain optimistic.
We wll know the result in a week. Fingers crossed.
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