Why we believe Regenerative Farming is the key to the future of farming
Current climate – where we’re at
A few weeks ago, we wrote an open letter to our supporters and friends detailing our struggles with the current drought that is affecting Australia. We detailed our struggles and what the ongoing increases to the cost of feed are doing to our farm and how we’re challenged to deal with it.
To be honest, our confidence and faith was a little shaken at this time – but again, it’s 90% of how we react to it – our attitude is everything!
It was during this time that we took some time to reflect what we’ve built, what we’ve achieved and do you know what? Jason and I are bloody proud of ourselves. We incorporated systems and management styles since we started our business eight years ago (albeit, refining over time) that have put us in a good position.
Depictions of the drought in the media
We’re in support of raising awareness about the plight of farmers experiencing hardship around the country in response to the drought. Helping consumers understand that the drought is real, what that looks like on the land and what it means for them in terms of communities and small business – the ripple effect!
People need to know that current drought conditions are serious and is having irreparable damage on some farms and communities. However, Jason and I are challenged and upset by the single view linking all Australian agriculture with the negative impressions. We feel this negative association that it’s all doom and gloom is giving our communities a sense of hopelessness and implying that many of the farmers involved are not good business people.
On reflection
Fact: Farming relies on weather, which is in God’s hands and certainly out of anyone’s control. Weather is always an area of concern for primary producers, and we know that droughts happen! Therefore, it should seem like a risk and be built into our business plans & practices. How we farm our land is something we do control and so you can make choices to make the business resilient.
So what are we doing differently and how do we become ‘drought resilient’?
To be honest?
You can never be drought-proof – it’s a risk to every farming business. Sometimes we know that one is creeping up on us and most of the time we don’t know for how long it will last! So the ability to manage through a drought comes from knowledge, and building a strong foundation – in our case the foundation of a farm is the SOIL!
Soil health is the single biggest factor that keeps us afloat during drought periods. The Soil drives our farming practices and creates a healthy eco-system to be resilient against droughts or extended dry periods.
Think about soil health like your own health. Generally, when you are healthy and strong you can ride the challenge of sickness, colds, and likely you don’t need to spend days in bed. But if you are stressed – your immune system is already challenged and then cold that comes along – knocks you for six; in bed for days, long recovery and the hang-over of the cold lasting weeks or even months.
The soil we farm is the same, when it’s healthy it has a stronger tolerance to challenges. It is able to assist and keep healthy the plants, the water cycle and the animals in it’s ecosystem – they all rely on the soil. Soil health is the single biggest factor in making our farm RESILIENT & STRONG!
How do you get good soil, we hear you ask?
We practice a newer style of farming called ‘Regenerative Agriculture’. In essence, we regenerate the soil to increase biodiversity and improve water cycles, enhance ecosystems, increase resilience to climate fluctuation and strengthen the health and vitality of land itself.
The real key to building soil is providing it with good food – which comes from healthy plants – their roots make food for the soil microbes. The animals also lay manure on the soil – which is fertiliser (more food for the microbes). But ultimately the defining factor is RESTING the land. Allowing time for recovery between animal movements – if you think about natural herding animals in the wild – they don’t stay the whole year in a paddock – they move seasonally to where is the best food. Regenerative Agriculture is creating a system to mimic natural animal behaviours which results in a holistic approach and is full of symbiotic relationships – good for the soil, good for the plant, good for the animal, good for the environment!
If it sounds complex, that’s because it is…..
One way also to explain SOIL is to compare it to your garden or veggie patch at home. People who put effort into building a strong ecosystem in their soil by using manure, compost, blood & bone, seasol etc. help to provide nutrients and food to the soil microbes. This results in an ability to grow better plants that are stronger to resist insects and diseases, and importantly, produce the best tasting food!
Generations of poor land management on an agricultural scale have depleted much of Australia’s rich soils where, over time, the soil microbes have not been the focus of the farm’s practices. Poorly managed land leads to soil microbe death. No soil microbes = no things growing.
“From Little things, BIG things grow!!”
Where are we heading?
We continuously check our business in against a few core goals of what Jason and I are trying to achieve with our business here at McIvor Farm. One of which is understanding the mutual and interrelated relationship we have with our customer base.
In our experience, our consumers want good food and choice.
There is a sense that big industrial agricultural corporations operate behind closed doors. They typically don’t take the opportunity, to be honest, and open with their consumers who are interested in what is going on with our food. We want to know things like how it’s made, what lives have the animals had, what do they eat.
We, like many of the customers drawn to the McIvor Farm brand, are empowered by knowledge. Knowing the provenance and journey of producing food drives our choices as consumers.
We’ve built McIvor Farm on the principals of honesty, transparency, respect for all-beings (from the microbes in the soil to the animals to the people that care for and eat them). We consider that to be one of our points of difference in the market. We’re not the only producers who make great tasting pork, but we are one of the few that are honest and transparent about our practices. We’re doing what we can to be as open and transparent as possible, taking it a step further to open our farm for Tour Days, show you can see it with our own eyes.
Into the future
Recently, Darren Doherty of Regrarians visited our farm, as he does many times of the year – Darren is a consultant, mentor and friend to us both. Darren also designed our farm, from the physical layout to the best place the ways to capture the most amount of water.
On this particular visit, Darren was showcasing our farm to his friend Rob who has farmed in NSW most of his life.
As Darren showed Rob up the paddock around it sounded like Rob got a little excited.
“THIS is it mate! THIS is it…. It’s soil being formed right there – look at it mate – it’s as good as it gets and they’re growing bloody pigs for goodness sakes!”
A comment like Rob’s is one of the micro-moments that has a macro impact on our business and faith! It sums up why Jason and I have hope in our future here at McIvor Farm and true belief we are making a difference.
We can see the change in our paddocks and we receive feedback from you, our customers, who eagerly tell us how much you enjoy our pork. This shapes us and gives us the drive to keep going. So thank you, your support means the world to us.
We’re here for the long haul!
