An introduction to Ground Cover - a series exploring the trials and tribulation of the regenerative agriculture revolution

Ground Cover

Welcome to the introductory episode of Ground Cover – a podcast for farmers by farmers.

This podcast is brought you by the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, in partnership with Southern Cross University.

Ground Cover is a uniquely Australian series exploring real-life stories of land managers who have undertaken the transition from conventional farming to regenerative agriculture.

Each week the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance will bring you a unique and honest conversation about the challenges and opportunities of regenerative agriculture so you can make informed decisions about how best to manage your land.

The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance was founded to address the urgent need to transition from conventional farming to regenerative farming practices.

As the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance’s director Lorraine Gordon often says: “The Sustainability ship has sailed”. We need to start fixing what is fundamentally broken and start regenerating landscapes.

Enter the regenerative agriculture movement.

Regenerative Agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services.

It is a practice which aims to capture carbon in soil, reversing current global trends of atmospheric accumulation.

At the same time, it offers increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and higher health and vitality for farming and livestock communities.

Regenerative agriculture draws from decades of scientific and applied research by the global communities of organic farming, agroecology, Holistic Management, and agroforestry – many of these experts can be found at Southern Cross University, world-renowned for its plant and soil labs and environmental science research.

Southern Cross University has a track record in driving collaboration on an unprecedented scale. The regional University has the proven capability to deliver national and global results across all primary industry sectors.

Each episode of Ground Cover will be introduced by Lorraine Gordon, director of strategic projects at Southern Cross University and founder of the Regenerative Agricultural Alliance.

Named Rural Community Leader in the 2018 Farmer of the Year awards and a former NSW ABC Rural Woman of the Year, Lorraine, an Ebor grazier, is the driving force for the alliance.

Lorraine is also the director of the Farming Together Program, which delivered a multi-award winning knowledge mobilisation model to 28,500 primary producers nationwide, unlocking the power of collaboration and empowering a generation of primary producers.

Lorraine’s story and her mission to transition Australia for a resilient farming future, will feature in our eighth and final episode of this season along with a very exciting announcement which is set to be a game-changer for agricultural education in this country, so be sure to subscribe to Ground Cover and catch the big reveal at the end.

In the meantime Ground Cover will feature seven of the leading practitioners in the regenerative agriculture space and is hosted by the veteran voice of Australian ag, Kerry Cochrane.

Kerry is a leader in ag education as well as a seasoned rural reporter. As President of the Australian Institute of Ecological Agriculture Cooperative, his passion is one of promoting an ecological approach to life as a key strategy in mitigating against climate change.

It is fitting that we launch the series with none other than Dr Charles Massy, self-described ‘underground revolutionary’, farmer, and author of the Best Selling book ‘Call of The Reed Warbler.

He shares his personal experience – as an unknowing, chemical-using farmer with dead soils to a radical ecologist farmer carefully regenerating a 2000-hectare property to a state of natural health.

Charles is a storyteller who connect the dots between healing the soil, healing the planet, and repairing what it is to be fundamentally human.

In this Australia-first podcast you will hear from the leaders and revolutionaries in this space. You will hear them speak about the technical changes in their soil but you will also hear them speak about deeper unexpected changes … in their values, in their connection to land and their connection to community – such is the all-encompassing nature of regenerative farming.

Welcome to Ground Cover. We hope you enjoy.