Maia Field Day – Growing our Natural Capital

Dick Richardson (Grazing Naturally) and Carolyn Hall (CEO Mulloon Institute).

The Mulloon Institute’s CEO Carolyn Hall joined 300 guests for a wet Maia Grazing field day at Wilmot Cattle Co’s Hernani property. Stuart Austin and his team hosted another great event that has become a fixture on the regenerative field day calendar. Event partners included RCS Australia, MLA, Carbon Link, Farmbot and Land to Market Australia. A very special Welcome to Country kicked off the event and an opening address by Alasdair McLeod of the Macdoch Group provided a global perspective. We all enjoyed a packed day that focussed on building natural capital. The presentations by Dick Richardson from Grazing Naturally, Stuart Andrews from Tarwyn Park Training and Kerrie Sagnol, RCS set the scene for the day with a focus on landscape function.  

As always, the day included tales of graziers changing their management to benefit their enterprises and the environment. Charlie Arnott and Bart Davidson from Maia Grazing provided some light relief and then things got serious with Stacey Curcio’s presentation focussed on wellness. A great farmer from across the ditch Doug Averygave us the four Cs and reminded us all of the importance of mental health.  

It was raining so hard by now it was hard to hear the presenters. A panel discussion with representatives from PWC, MLA and the NFF explored Macdoch’s Farming for the Future Initiative – an ambitious research project – data collection linking business profitability to natural capital. The day finished strong and long with a catchment champion Johannes Meirs from Danthonia demonstrating a focus on natural capital and landscape function does make farms more resilient to drought. The ambitious Packhorse team presented their vision for scaling grazing management and good environmental management across Australia! Shanna Whan the 2022 Australian local hero of the year did not leave a dry eye in the house with her story of creating sober in the country – it is always “OK to say no” to booze.

You can read more about it here:
https://www.theland.com.au/story/7634987/build-carbon-to-increase-production/