Catch up on Tran$ition23 conference via livestream

July 26, 2023

Farmers from around Australia and as far as NZ and the UK gathered in Moama, NSW to share the challenges and benefits of transitioning a farm to achieve regenerative outcomes at VicNoTill’s annual 3-day conference, Tran$ition23.

Growing nutrient-rich food, personal wellbeing and transitioning farming systems to better care for soils were on the agenda at the conference, attended by over 100 people.

For the first time VicNoTill livestreamed from the conference room, with people from across Australia and around the world tuning in to watch live. The livestream will continue to be available for a limited time for ticket holders who can purchase HERE.

This is what some conference attendees had to say:

Soils for Life

We had a blast attending the VicNoTill conference last week! Farmers from around the country and as far as NZ and the UK came to talk about the challenges and benefits of transitioning a farm to achieve regenerative outcomes. Amongst other great conversations, some topics that stood out for us were;
  • Profit is king so go slow, have a plan, make small wins; Grab a shovel, and start observing your soil, then ask questions; Find or start a group of farmers seeking to achieve similar outcomes.
  • We visited Hugh Macague’s farm where Tim Parton and Col Bowey talked to us about the role of calcium, the challenges with soils with heavy metals, and different approaches to take to grow healthy topsoil.
  • We got to hear from Tim Parton who manages Brewood Park Farm in Staffordshire, UK. Tim is a biological farmer passionate about soil health and supporting farmer knowledge sharing. He spoke about his journey moving away from synthetic inputs, his love for ‘brewed’ biology and cover crops, and the endless modifications he has made to his equipment to achieve soil health outcomes. For Tim, profit is still a priority in his farming system, but he says he understands that nature has the answers, he just needs to ask the right questions.
  • Col Bowey spoke about having a plan and a strategy in place that suits your farm and your goals. He emphasised the importance of understanding the bigger picture before making decisions to address soil limitations (ie. pH cannot be understood in isolation), and that getting off fungicides and insecticides is an important first step in improving soil health.
  • On the second day we learnt about the neuroscience of negotiation with Allan Parker, and heard from Tom Briggs about what happens when you transition a system too quickly – thanks Tom for sharing openly about your learnings with your peers, this was rich with information and passion!

Re-gen Farming

Great couple of days thanks Vic No-Till. Great diverse group of speakers.

Mike Porter, Foundation of Arable Research, NZ

A fantastic conference from beginning to end. See you next year!
Can’t beat a decent soil pit! First stop on the farm tour of the VIC No Till conference. Surrounding crop is a wheat/pea companion crop. That’s Tim Parker down the pit. Meeting Tim is number 1 on my to do list.

Nutrisoil

Nakala and HUB support team member Luke Harrington attended the Transition 2023 VicNoTill conference. Word back was that it exceeded expectations again! Hands on transition stories, support for farmers wellbeing, and loads of learning, questioning, fun and laughter. There’s no better medicine to keep us going through the cold winter, thanks VicNoTill!