Wheatbelt Integrity Group Farming Field Day

WIG Regenerative Farming Field Day 2020.

Proudly supported by RegenWA.

Featuring Guest Speaker ** Via Teleconference Dr Maarten Stapper, BAgSc AgEng PhD FAIAST

Dr Stapper's Topic: 'Managing Soil Health for Profit and Climate Resilience'

***There will be time for Q & A after Dr Stapper's presentation.

Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon Tea included in ticket price- showcasing regeneratively grown produce.

A Field Walk on the Kelly Farm (Hollands Track Farm) to follow after lunch.

As farming systems research agronomist with the CSIRO Dr Stapper has quantified since the 80’s production on many wheat paddocks in dryland and irrigation districts in southeastern Australia. In that work he became aware that most soil problems (eg. low fertility, compaction, salinity, acidity) start with the loss of both soil organic matter (carbon) and soil biology.

Rather than actively managing improvements in soil organic carbon and soil biology, these soil degradation features led to an increasing dependency in modern farming on synthetic fertilizers, chemicals and lime in tilled and no-till systems. However, soil problems keep recurring and may necessitate occasional mechanical soil profile modification. How to regenerate and maintain soil health requires new thinking. This is still not taught at University.

The main focus of Maarten’s work is helping farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural soil processes, improving their use of inputs and understanding those practices that negatively impact on soil health. Activation of soil biology decreases compaction, acidity and salinity, and improves soil carbon and water holding capacity. A healthy soil produces crops and pastures requiring less fertilizers and chemicals for similar productivity and better produce quality. Plants become more resistant to insects and disease, and more tolerant to drought, heat and frost. Ecosystems cannot be changed overnight. A profitable transition over several seasons is thru a step-by-step replacement of synthetic inputs with biologics. Allowing the biological cycles within and between soil and plants in paddocks and their surroundings coming together into a natural rhythm. Landscapes will improve in the process and attain a higher biodiversity. Hence, to achieve this we have to look at the whole farming system – where every thing is linked to everything else. Agricultural and environmental sciences are thus intertwined on farms. Such regenerative farming with much lower use of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, leads to higher biodiversity, better pollination, less runoff, better water and air quality, and thus resulting in healthy catchments.

Biography: Dr Maarten Stapper began a career in agricultural science more than forty years ago, has international experiences on four continents and is a former senior scientist with CSIRO. Employing a holistic approach, he is an expert across a wide spectrum of agricultural areas in research, development and extension. During his research he found a lower external-input agriculture within regenerated ecosystems, now known as regenerative farming, to be most sustainable for producers, consumers and landscapes. Maarten’s focus is on farming systems that help farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural soil processes with practices creating healthy soils while reducing heavy reliance on synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, and improve the quality of produce.Maarten featured in ABC TV’s Australian Story “Back to Earth” in 2009 about his road into regenerative farming systems and disconnect with the official science world.“Dr Stapper is a dynamic and engaging speaker who is able to relate the concepts of soil health to the practical problems that farmers are grappling with.”