IN November 2018, Greening Bathurst organised a one-day conference on a remarkable worldwide movement - regenerative agriculture.
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Two hundred and thirty people, mostly farmers, crowded into the Flannery Centre. They came to hear other farmers speak about the principles of regenerative agriculture.
These landholders question traditional farming methods: set stocking, reliance on chemical inputs and weed control using herbicides, and the failure to address the many forms of land degradation.
For them, conventional farming had become a risky treadmill of rising costs - not always accompanied by a corresponding increase in profitability.
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They usually have a good understanding of ecological principles, are fiercely independent, and often refuse government financial help.
They appear to be well ahead of resource scientists in their innovative thinking and experimentation.
Their input costs are lower; they are willing to accept lower productivity but often experience better financial outcomes.
They report having more spare time than when they were traditional farmers. They appear to have healthy crops and animals that are not drenched or subject to chemical controls.
Researchers have demonstrated that they enjoy better mental health than other farming groups and have a greater sense of wellbeing and resilience.
Under drought conditions they tend to destock earlier, value drought-tolerant native grasses, seek to store as much water as possible underground rather than in farm dams (e.g., restoring the once common swampy meadow systems) and to maintain dense ground cover.
They report that changing from traditional farming to regenerative agricultural practices can be tricky, but many manage the transition in a few years.
They are generally pleased to see increased biodiversity on their farms and recognise the value of native trees for their windbreak and shade values and the associated increase in productivity that trees bring to a farming property.
The three vital ecological cycles they embrace are the carbon, nutrient and water cycles and they seek to repair them when they leak resources.
On Friday evening, November 1, from 6.30 to 8.30pm at the Holy Trinity Community Centre at 81 Gilmour Street, Kelso, Greening Bathurst will be hosting two speakers who will report on good-news stories during the current drought.
Both are successful regenerative agricultural practitioners and will emphasise the retention of water in the landscape.
Greening Bathurst is not offering a silver bullet approach to farm water management by landholders, rather information that might make future drought planning more hopeful.
