WELCOME! Issue 17 - 1 June 2020
| Message from RALF Hi everyone, Our 'Big Shift for Small Farms' podcast series has now had 2500 individual listens. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so HERE or check out this short video for more information.
Also featured in this edition is planners claim farmland on city fringes is crucial; production of native grains for flour and bread using traditional Aboriginal techniques; co-operative farming and its potential benefits to Aussie farmers; creating a COVID safe workplace and more. If you know someone who might be interested in joining the Greater Sydney Small Farms network, they can register HERE. To provide ideas on how the Greater Sydney Small Farms network can help you, please email or phone me on 0436 803 337.
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Regards,
Richard Stephens Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF) | | | | |
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The 'Big Shift for Small Farms' Podcast
This week we're featuring some timely episodes from The Big Shift Podcast series during the Covid19 crisis and the current challenges were seeing in global supply chains and food insecurity.
The first of these episodes looks at community supported farming which dates back to the 1960s and is a relatively new concept in Australia. At a time when more and more consumers are looking to connect to the source of their food, this direct-to-market model is providing a viable way for small scale farmers to grow their businesses.
The next featured episode explores supply chain innovation and mobile on-farm processing of animals. Given the recent challenges with supply and demand and the closure of a Victorian abattoir due to Covid19, its worth considering alternatives to business as usual.
Other topics covered in the podcast series are: compost; farm resilience in a changing climate; certification; and holistic thinking. Access the entire series by clicking HERE.
This project has been developed by Greater Sydney Local Land Services and the Grow Love Project through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.
| | | COVID-19 Assistance For the latest Coronavirus news, updates and advice from government agencies across Australia, click HERE. For specific COVID-19 information | | Making Aussies eat their fruit and vegetablesFor many Australians, eating fruit and vegetables is a tough sell. Only 7 per cent of adults and 5 per cent of children eat sufficient serves of vegetables and half of adults and two-thirds of children eat enough fruit A new national body has been established to change our consumption habits and help the farmers who grow fresh produce. Made up of 11 members, its creation comes amid coronavirus and rising demand for home-delivered fruit and vegetables. Click HERE. | | | | | Planners say farmland on city fringes is crucial Professor Butt and Michael Buxton, two RMIT planning academics, have this month released a new book, The Future of the Fringe, published by the CSIRO. In it they show that a quarter of Australia’s agricultural production now comes from land on city fringes. The authors claim "In this pandemic, both food production and supply chains have proved increasingly vulnerable. And dependency on international and interstate food assumes that stable conditions will continue, but long and complex supply chains can be disastrous in a crisis." Click HERE. | | | First Dancing Grass harvest in 200 years On the hill above Bruce Pascoe’s farm, there’s a sea of mandadyan nalluk. Translated from Yuin, the language of the country, it means “dancing grass”. Pascoe and his small team of coworkers are producing native grains for flour and bread using traditional Aboriginal techniques. Pascoe says they are racing against the clock to refine harvesting methods and to extract the seed to make flour. For more information, click HERE. | | | | | Young Farmers Connect An awesome crew of Young Farmers have not only been radically changing the food system, they have been busily creating an awesome platform for new young farmers to connect. Young Farmers Connect offers membership at a range of tiers and the funds raised will be invested directly into facilitating activities resources and support for our growing young farmers movement. Share, jump on board, and join the network via website HERE. | | | WEBINARS, SHORT COURSES & EVENTS | | Brand Building for Small BusinessYour brand is everything, and we're not talking logos. In this free, two hour interactive webinar, you will be able to: discover what you really do and why you do it; find out who your true avatar is (and how you should be speaking to them); learn where your unique place in the market is and how to own it; and, uncover your brand’s personality (yes it does have one). Being held at 10am - 12pm, on Tuesday 2 June 2020. To register, click HERE. | | | | | Pruning grapevines during drought conditions NSW DPI is holding a Skills Development Program webinar on 'Pruning grapevines during continued drought conditions' on Monday 15 June 2020 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. The 1-hour webinar will cover: vine nutrient, carbohydrate and physiological considerations; current drought conditions across NSW wine regions; pruning considerations for drought-affected vineyards; Bureau of Meteorology outlook for July-September across NSW wine regions. Click HERE. | | | Can co-operative farming future proof Australian farmers?Co-operative farming can strengthen farming businesses and communities by giving them competitive advantages and market power via scaling, collaboration and innovation. In a new livestream series, farmers speak frankly about using co-operative farming business models. The fist livestream in this series is being held at 6:30pm, 17 Jun 2020. Click HERE to register with Co-op Conversations, click HERE for more info on each episode. | | | | NOTE: Significant funding is available to help business and individuals deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Please refer to the second article in this newsletter. | | | Small business COVID-19 support grant The NSW $10,000 COVID-19 small business support grants close on 1 June 2020. To be eligible, businesses must have: an annual turnover above $75,000; sit below the NSW Government 2019-20 payroll tax threshold of $900,000; have a decline in turnover of 75% or more. For more information, click HERE. | | |
Boundary fencing funding The NSW Government will help bushfire-affected landholders with the cost of rebuilding boundary fences adjoining public lands. Private landholders who share a boundary with public land and were impacted by the bushfires of late 2019 and early 2020 are eligible to receive up to $5,000 per kilometre to contribute to the replacement of damaged boundary fences. Grants can be issued retrospectively to cover costs already incurred. Click HERE to complete the form, or call 1300 778 080. | | | | | Registration relief for farmers To give farmers and their families some much needed drought relief, registration charges on Class 1 agricultural vehicles have been waved. Primary producers can benefit from additional savings on their heavy vehicle registration costs until 30 June 2020. For more information click HERE.
| | | Farm Innovation Fund To help farmers improve productivity, manage adverse seasonal conditions and ensure long term sustainability, the NSW Government has committed $1 billion to the Farm Innovation Fund. Farmers can borrow up to a maximum of $1 million per project, with a total of $1 million outstanding at any one time to build on-farm infrastructure, including stock containment areas. In addition, interest charges on Farm Innovation Fund loans for the 2019-20 financial year will be waived. Click HERE. | | | | | $310 MILLION boost to drought assistance The NSW Government has announced a further $310 million in emergency drought relief. Extended support for drought affected communities and farmers includes; $116 million to continue the Drought Transport subsidy;$99 million to continue waiving of Local Land Services rates, bee site permits, and provide assistance for vehicle registration costs for eligible primary producers; $28.5 million to continue existing water licence fee waivers for stock, domestic, general and high security water users; Continuation of health and wellbeing programs. For more detail, go to the Drought Hub website HERE. | | |
All the Dirt The Autumn 2020 edition of 'All the Dirt', NSW DPI's soil health newsletter for farmers, is now available. Articles include: Research papers;
Guidelines for organic amendment experiments; The stabilization of soil organic carbon; New publications; Web resources; Events. Click HERE. | | | | | Compost trial bears fruitThe Greater Sydney Local Land services Demonstration Farm at Richmond has been researching the value of recycled organic compost in vegetable production by comparing different compost soil treatments with conventional farmer practices. The compost trials have provided valuable results on how adding compost improve soil health and an informative video has been produced. To view the video, click HERE. | | | 'The Regenerative Journey' podcast series The 2018 Bob Hawke Landcare Award winner Charlie Arnott has launched his inaugural podcast series 'The Regenerative Journey'. In the nine-episode series, Charlie takes the listener on regenerative journey as he uncovers some truly inspirational stories with his special guests. Topics include the regenerative agriculture definition, natural capital, the phycology of transitioning to regenerative farming practices and principles and partnering with nature. To listen, click HERE. | | | | | Getting businesses back to work safely With some restrictions easing on 1 June 2020 businesses are beginning to plan how to get their staff back to work safely. Safe Work Australia have put together a list of resources to direct businesses to national and industry specific work, health and safety guidelines. Take time to plan your business plan to stay safe with these free resources. Click HERE. | | | What condition is your riparian land in? A guide to improve on-farm management of riparian land (the land that runs alongside your waterways) has been released by Water NSW, the Australia River Restoration Centre and Rivers of Carbon. It enable you to assess the health of your riparian land and carry out a quick visual assessment of the five main indicators of riparian health, being: three distinct layers of vegetation; wildlife habitat; indigenous vegetation; plant debris; and are native plants spreading naturally. For a copy, click HERE. | | | | | Roadmap to recovery – and beyond A workbook designed to support small businesses navigate their way through a COVID-19 recovery has been released by Deloitte. It is designed to help you determine where to focus, what’s required to meet your most pressing business priorities and how to revitalise your business. It addresses customer considerations, cashflow, supply chain, workforce and digital enablement. Download a free copy HERE. | | | Peri-Urban Agriculture: The Future of the Fringe The urban fringe holds 50% of Australia's biodiversity and most urban water source. What can we do to protect farming in the food bowl? A new online webinar series is being launched in June focusing on urban and peri-urban agriculture. The first in the series is on Wednesday 17 June, hosted by two professors from RMIT University - Michael Buxton and Andrew Butt. Melbourne based Sustain is the host of these interactive events. Tix $15 / free for Sustain members. Click HERE for more info. | | | | | Does your business have a COVID safe plan? COVID‑19 will be with us for some time, so it’s important that your business has a plan - and continues to plan - to keep your workplace healthy, safe and virus-free. Download the FREE Government toolkit to help prepare yourself and your business HERE. | | | 'Farm planning for better biodiversity and reduced fire risk' podcastFarmers, scientists and researchers have come together to understand more about the relationship between biodiversity, productivity and mental health on farms. Join Sustainable Farms and podcast host Gordon Taylor as he interviews experts for insights into the latest research on farm planning for better biodiversity and reduced fire risk. and reduced fire risk. Click HERE. | | | | This project is supported by Greater Sydney Local Land Services through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program. | | The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing. However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that the information upon which they rely is up to date and to check the currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Local Land Services or the user’s independent adviser. For updates go to www.lls.nsw.gov.au
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Lvl 4, 2-6 Station Street Penrith NSW 2750 Australia
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