Funds: $20,000

Source: 2014-15 25th Anniversary of Landcare Grants

Contract: 25ALG-660

Southern New England Landcare's Malpas Catchment Group will focus on ways to regenerate healthy soil-pasture systems. ‘All the Dirt III’ helped landholders of the Malpas Catchment and Guyra area participate in a 10-month series of class room and farm days to better understand their soils and the relationship between inputs, outputs, soil and pasture analyses, stock management and overall productivity. This project aimed to increase productivity, build capacity of the grazing community to analyse their resource base, and increase knowledge and skills of participants to make management changes for positive production and environmental outcomes.

Discussions were drawn to focussing on soil carbon, especially liquid and organic forms of carbon and their role in feeding microbes and ultimately plants and animals, as well as phosphorus pools and the movement of phosphorus from soil, to plant to animal and how to monitor needs for external phosphorus. Grazing management techniques of group members, as well as external situations were discussed, debated, reviewed and considered for local trialling. Activities provided open, useful and inspirational sharing and learning, among this trusting and committed group of landholders.

Project highlights for participants included:

• understanding results of soil, leaf and feed tests
• determining major limiting factor(s) of a grazing system and how to address them
• learning about the roles of nutrients and their flows through ecological/farm systems
• beginnings on how to read an environment to find problems or enhance productivity and ecology
• the formation of a like-minded group who developed trust with each other and potential for ongoing contact and problem solving.

Project outcomes included:

• 14 landholders who voluntarily participated in 4 classroom days
• 12 farm days
• site, soil and pasture assessments on 14 properties
• 1 peer-based learning group keen to apply and further develop their recent experiences.