39 UNDER NEW LAND MANAGEMENT
IMAGE: Mudmap by Colin Clarke EDITING AND SOUNDS: Rory Allen
‘We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn’ Mary Catherine Bateson, Composing a Life:
BIG END
End of year podcasts require big end of year thinking. I’ve got just the thing to get the ball rolling. Spend a few minutes listening to Louise Edmonds, CEO and founder of Carbon Sync, a gutsy little Perth start-up finding its feet in the world of Agriculture.
CHICKEN HEARTED INVESTORS
So that was Louise thinking deeply through many encounters and conversations with potential investors. This might be turning out to be one of those: there’s two kinds of people in the world sort of thing….and of course, we have both. We need those who are beavering away adjusting and adapting the engines of industry so they cease belching black plumes into the atmosphere. Maybe we even need those who are still sulking that they can’t just open another coal mine – why not? Plenty of tinkering around with 20th Century institutions is going on ….
But, the investors ready to leap with their money into the 21st Century? A much rarer beast it appears.
ABUNDANCE THINKING
When Louise was talking, I related her thoughts to the language of the Wellbeing Economy I have been soaking in this past year. The words ‘abundance thinking’ as distinct from ‘poverty’ or ‘scarcity thinking’ come to mind.
I started moving the thinking past chicken-hearted investors, observing what was going on around me and assigning it a century. As in, that’s 20th century thinking – that’s 21st century thinking.
IN MINIATURE
Here is a local example, bringing it down to the micro level.
A few months back, taking my regular constitutional with dog and bike on the bike path around the West End of Geraldton, I came across a bloke lying across the path just up from the railway crossing. Turns out he had a bucket of blue poison and was insinuating himself under a bush, a big healthy boxthorn, ready to do it harm. The box thorn is a fiercely spiny South African plant bought over by the first colonists as they stopped off in Africa on their way to Australia. It has made itself totally at home in the arid coastal bushlands of the Midwest. The thorns are so severe, that one of the indigenous tribes of South Africa used to use the cut branches to create makeshift corrals for their cattle and the bright red berries are edible and spread by birds.
I had a bit of a chat with the bloke and suggested that killing the boxthorn would have unintended consequences. He looked at me, surprised, and said that he was making room for local plants to thrive. The ‘duh’ was implied.
It’s a big argument to get into: suggesting that wiping out a particular ‘weed’ (read pioneer plant) would not automatically allow more acceptable plants to establish themselves. Talking about plant succession and taking a whole system’s approach wasn’t landing with the guy, and I had no quick fix to match his quick fix. He was sick of my lack of understanding by this point, and just wanted to do the job he had set himself to do as a public service, a volunteer, ably supported by our council who supply the blue poison.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
A few days later I returned and scratched myself to pieces removing ungainly spiky limbs that were blocking the path, stopped from blowing away by the fence along the railway track. As best I could I manhandled them over the fence towards the railway tracks. I didn’t know this bloke was going to actually chop the bush off at its stumps or I might have made more of a fuss.
About six weeks later I took a picture to tell the tale – posted with the text on the podcast page on the Soil and Human Health website. Devastation in this small patch of the coastal bush. Four small coastal wattles dead – probably collateral damage from the poison (I have learnt it is called Vigilanta and yes, just like Glyphosate perfectly safe and easy to use). Increase of bare soil, eroding in the face of the southerlies, the start of a howling six-month onslaught this coastal zone is famous for. What do they say about good intentions??
There it is in miniature. Twentieth century thinking and the basis of the whole industrial chemical approach to Agricultural: destroy or ignore natural biological cyclical processes and use fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides as the basis of food production.
The volunteer was thinking reductively. If he was looking under the bonnet of a car this is a useful problem-solving method to employ. Observe, say, a hole in the radiator hose, remove the offending hose and replace it with a new one. No sweat. Problem solved. If only nature worked like this!
Welcome to the 21st Century!
MY CONTRIBUTION
My self-directed task over the last three years has been to learn as much as possible about the principles and knowledge underlying cutting-edge agricultural thinking and practise – getting a handle on the Circular Economy through the lens of land management and Agriculture, Carbon Farming and the Carbon Market. All laced through with thoughts about First Nation’s people contribution to the conversation and of course, all underpinned by the deep connection between the microbial life of the soil/plants/sun/water and this cycles influence on human health.
I have met some truly exceptional people and been privy to the development of some ambitious and changemaking projects.
THE AHHA FACTOR
During this three-year apprenticeship I experienced many ‘ahha!’ moments – and shared them with you because they are the best bits…..
Three years on, the projects I have been involved with are now ready to fly. Land managers know things have to change, and are starting to see that by changing their practises they can continue to grow food and fibre while regaining the sovereignty they have lost over their own farm businesses during the industrial, chemical decades when the only sure profits were diverted to the merchants of Agriculture.
Endings and new beginnings abound.
THE CROP PROTECTION INDUSTRY
As an aside – I’ll tell you how far the argument has come. The Crop Protection Industry (that lovely euphemism) is now on board. You know the ship is turning when the five major global pesticide producers (Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Corteva and FMC) are putting huge resources in marketing climate-action strategies. Namely precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture — with both items falling under the broader terms “climate smart” or “climate resilient” agriculture.
Uh oh. This from the Big AgChem industry. They are fossil fuel dependent to the tune of using 26% of the worlds fossil fuels to make and distribute their products. They are greenwashing the language of genuine agricultural and social change.
The only reason I am bringing this up is that the Crop Protection Industries (I love this euphemism) sudden about-face from denying to accepting climate change reflects the huge transformation of thinking happening within the agricultural world. They are following cues from the farmers and know If they want to keep on selling chemicals, then they have to be market them as if they are contributing to regeneration and amelioration of climate change.
So, the cultural transformation that the word ‘Regenerative’ reflects, is going strong –it’s just the word itself might have just died a nasty death….
DO WHAT IS NEEDED AND THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW?
In some of the projects I have been following, it is the case that finance has been won. In others, the foundations that have been laid over the last few years are so intricate and strong that it is a matter of time before the appropriate investment flows.
THE CARBON SYNC STORY
Take for example Carbon Sync, a big thinking mob from Perth. You heard from their CEO in the opening take. They are currently on the road, testing the market for their innovative soil carbon sequestration project. And full disclosure, I am part of this team.
In the last few weeks, Louise and co-worker Craig Pensini, have been travelling across the SouthWest, pitching to growers interested in being part of the SouthWest Grazing Project. This is a project developed by Carbon Sync at the request of the Department of Water’s Healthy Estuaries initiative.
It will operate with some Government funding and private investment funds gathered by CarbonSync – the whole underpinned by the compelling business and environmental cases for Soil Carbon Sequestration offered by the mechanism of Carbon Credits.
There is no hard sell here. Louise and Craig need land managers who are fully in alignment with the values of the project. The rewards, risks and responsibilities are real. For the first few year there are significant training and evaluation components the grower must commit to that will run alongside regular farm duties, and the challenge for both parties is to maintain measured carbon levels in the soil over the legislated 25-year period. Twenty-five years is a time to conjure with – deep, generational change is not usually how far ahead governments and humans like to think – but a true partnership must be formed for this co-investment opportunity to function. Both parties have skin in the game.
The program requires 20 farmers and 20,000 hectares for the first stage. Louise and Craig are upfront that they need to sign up 5 farmers by the end of the year to show proof-of-concept for investors – without the farmers on board Carbon Sync will not get the financial investment needed to hit the ground running in 2021.
BIGGEST SMALL BUSINESS
Carbon Sync is technically a start-up, but they are not your average small business. The grazing project is a pilot adapted from the original more ambitious project across the Wheatbelt that begins with 60 farms and 240,000 ha and grows from there.
For Carbon soil farming to be viable, it has to be at scale and Carbon Sync will be one of the first companies in Australia to engage with the legislated soil carbon methodology in a big way. This involves working within the regulatory structures being set up by the Federal Government. That the Federal Govt is serious about soil carbon has become clear. The folks administering the Emissions Reduction Fund have started actively seeking feedback on the systems and procedures used in the programme and Carbon Sync is engaging with these Government regulatory systems and with newly set up peak industry body, the Carbon Market Institute.
https://www.carbonsync.com.au/federal-government-announces-support-for-soil-carbon-sequestration
A few weeks and a number of farmers later, Craig and Louise report back, delighted. There is clearly an appetite for change out there, they are confident they are on track for a 2021 start.
THE YANGET JUGGENAUT
In my regional town, Geraldton, 400 odd kilometres north of Perth, Rod O’Bree and the Tierra Australia men in partnership with NACC have won enough funding from the State Government to begin their ambitious program to Rehydrate and Restore the Chapman River Catchment. A bunch of local farmers are on board with the idea and the construction of water-slowing earthworks will radiate outwards from Rod’s farm Yanget, east of Geraldton, a convincingly impressive trial site.
The Chapman River is small, maybe 30 odd kilometres long, but the vision is big and ties in with hydrologist Peter Andrew’s and his disciple’s confident claims that using whole-of-landscape principles, every river across Australia can be restored: relatively cheaply and with massive benefit to the natural and built environments.
Even more exciting is the interest shown by First Nation’s people with connections to properties in the Rangelands. They get it. The potential to heal the land and create jobs for their people on the land is one of the major successes of this story and one consistent with Rod and his teams long running efforts to engage young local trainees in the work they are doing restoring water functions across WA ag land.
UNDER NEW LAND MANAGEMENT
Rod, who also runs a food distribution business, is ready to rebrand his butcher’s shop in the main drag of Geraldton and start spruiking the sales of lamb and beef and other produce procured from farmers growing food and fibre using regenerative land management principles.
His Catchment Food story is following hot on the heels of the success of Wide Open Agriculture, another small WA start-up starting to notch up products and sales using premier produce from regenerated land. WOA began this latest iteration of their business model with meat, and has been working with research and manufacturing bodies to produce Oat Milk, and now lupin protein, styled for contemporary tastes and uses.
MEANWHILE ON THE EDGES OF THE WHEATBELT
Perenjori farmer and changemaker, Rod Butler and his mob are working closely with First Nation’s people, Rangelands NRM staff, pastoralists and interested farmers to tell a story about the potential of using animals to wake up degraded and arid lands on the edges of the Wheatbelt.
At the heart of this story is training in Holistic Management and First Nation’s land management practises updated for contemporary conditions. It has been a painstaking stitching together of cross-cultural relationships that have been nurtured for years and are finally finding their feet in a shared love of the land and a genuine desire to shift the colonial story to a genuine engagement where all views are valued….
THE NEXT STEP
Like I said, things are on track for all of these projects finding their feet in the new year. So my job description has to change. I need to talk to a wider audience. We’ve done the learning, now we need to track how it plays out on the ground. And maybe to connect what is happening with citizens who have not necessarily made the link between their habits of consumption and the changes that are sweeping the world of primary producers.
And let me reiterate isn’t just back to how grand-dad used to farm – although that is certainly part of the equation, depending on the grand-dad. This is a paradigm-shifting change involving deep cultural adaptation - with the latest scientific discoveries and rapidly expanding IT gadgetry to back it all up. Exciting and scary stuff. We are all going to need to do a bit of shape-shifting to get on board with what is upon us in the Solar Age.
OFF THE AIR
And that includes me. I need to have a bit of a think. Where can I best put the words, the content, the language I have been developing? Do I need to look at different platforms to get the message out? Can I use my words to help other fabulous businesses that are fighting to find their place in the Circular Economy?
All this and more to be revealed in the new year.
I LOVE YOUSE!
Thank you so much for listening. To all those who have enjoyed these podcasts, and given me feedback, support and encouragement – I am so grateful to have had you to talk to.
Let’s hope for all our sakes that 2021 is the year where it all comes together for the NEW NORMAL. Have a great summer season.
