Regenerative Agriculture: Understanding the intent, practices, benefits and disbenefits

Regenerative agriculture techniques appear to have been increasingly adopted over recent years. Adherents suggest that crop and pasture production can be maintained through improving soil function delivering more resilient farming systems with lower input costs. However, there is a lack of data to confirm the extent of adoption and the range of practices being utilised. There is also limited data on actual changes to soil function and farm profitability to be able to evaluate the benefits/disbenefits of these practices.

In response GRDC has funded a 3.5 year national project to answer these questions. In conjunction with local grower groups the project is being delivered by a multidisciplinary team from Southern Cross University.

The project comprises:

Using this knowledge, the project team will establish ways to monitor the potential benefits or disadvantages of regenerative agriculture across a range of Australian cropping systems.

THIS PROJECT IS NOT RESTRICTED TO FARMERS CURRENTLY USING “REGEN” PRACTICES!! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN IMPROVING SOIL FUNCTION, REDUCING FERTILSER INPUTS AND/OR GAINING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF SOIL/PLANT RELATIONSHIPS ON YOUR FARM THIS WILL BE OF INTEREST.

FOR A CHANCE TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT:

We are seeking farm owners and/or managers to complete the on-line survey on the link below. We expect the survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. There are 5 sections relating to your farm, goals, management practices, background information and views on regenerative agriculture.

Survey Link: https://scuau.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3HKnIKYYq3ZhT0i

Further information: https://www.scu.edu.au/news/2024/grain-farmers-survey/