The GROUNDED Australia Festival has quickly become one of the most important gatherings on the regenerative agriculture calendar – and this year’s edition did not disappoint. Carolyn Hall (CEO), Jeanette Rawlings (CFO), Tam Connor (Learning Programs Manager), Cass Moore (Comms Officer) and new Mulloon Institute Board members Siobhan Toohill and Cath Jenkins were proud to bring Mulloon Institute to Yan Yan Gurt West Farm, nestled in the eastern foothills of the Otway Ranges in southern Victoria, for over two days of deep conversation, practical learning and genuine connection with some of the brightest minds in regenerative agriculture from around the world.
With over 70 speakers and 85 sessions across three speaker tents, a How-To Tent, The Understory space, and guided “walkshops”, the program was packed and choosing between six simultaneous sessions was, honestly, the hardest challenge of the festival!
Each day started with early morning activities to get us moving against the overnight chill, including a group yoga session or a farm walk hosted by various members of the Stewart family, sharing their stories of regenerating the land over the past three decades. Several before/after images had us wondering if we were actually on the same property! For five generations, the Stewarts have stewarded this land with a vision that extended far beyond a single season. Beginning in the 1960s, they recognised what industrial clearing had wrought: a landscape stripped bare, vulnerable and diminished. Rather than accept this as inevitable, they chose restoration. What started as an act of stewardship has blossomed into a transformative journey, weaving agriculture back together with ecological diversity to create one of Australia’s most inspiring models of regenerative farming.
For Mulloon, the festival was a chance to both share and absorb. Carolyn’s presentation on the history, expansion and future of Mulloon Institute engaged a crowd from across the regenerative spectrum to further understand our rehydration work and message, and the conversations that followed reminded us just how much curiosity and appetite there is for our evidence-based expertise. Mulloon Board member Siobhan Toohill’s presentation bridged the gap between boardroom sustainability commitments and farm-gate reality, demonstrating how corporate accountability can become a genuine catalyst for regenerative agricultural transformation.
One theme that resonated strongly was farm finance and the economic realities of transitioning to regenerative practice. It’s one thing to be inspired by what’s possible – it’s another to make it work on a balance sheet. Hearing frank, grounded conversations about ownership models, value chains, carbon credit schemes and farm viability was a reminder that lasting change in agriculture must be financially sustainable as well as ecologically sound. These are conversations Mulloon cares deeply about, and it was energising to be engaged with a cohort of practitioners asking the same hard questions.
Equally inspiring was the focus on food education and school kitchen gardens, and the understanding that the connection between healthy soil and healthy people starts young. Seeing chefs, growers and educators share the stage to talk about growing and working with fresh food in school curricula was genuinely inspiring. If we want future generations to understand and value regenerative food systems, getting kids into the garden with their hands in the soil is one of the most powerful places to start. Australia’s regenerative future is looking bright.
The magnificent setting itself reinforced the message, a multi-generational working farm where more than 55,000 trees and shrubs have been planted over the past 32 years, now forming a 22 km wildlife corridor connecting native bush to the Barwon River through beautiful, undulating farmland. There’s nothing quite like having these conversations while standing in a living example of what’s possible.
To everyone who stopped by the Mulloon stall, engaged in our Stream Table game, sought out our team, or asked a question that made us think harder: thank you. These are exactly the conversations that move things forward.
We extend a special thank you to chef/farmer/author Matthew Evans and the Grounded team for an extraordinary event, and the extended Stewart family for graciously hosting us all on their beautiful property.
The work continues, and we’re more energised than ever.
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