Out and About in Dowerin with Sustainable Agriculture
9th September, 2021
With field day season in full swing, Perth NRM’s Sustainable Agriculture team took the opportunity to attend the Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days on August 25th and 26th.
The State’s biggest agricultural field days bought record crowds, with farmers, families and some city dwellers keen to make up for the one year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. The promising season so far also provided a good reason to make the drive out this year as the crops around the district are looking outstanding.
The Sustainable Agriculture team held a display booth to showcase all things RegenWA, Natural Capital Accounting, and the WA Food Supply Capability Assessment. There were lots of good conversations with farmers, researchers and the general public and it was pleasing to see a lot of interest in our projects.
Questions from people around regenerative agriculture provided a good opportunity to reinforce how the principles look to address some of the key challenges facing agriculture in WA. It was also interesting to hear from farmers who are already implementing or trialling new practices on their properties to improve the condition of their soil.
The Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Project proved to be of great interest and relevance when the team chatted to a few landholders about the project and gave an insight into the ways in which it aims to assist farmers in determining the economic value of their greatest asset – their land.
Others were interested in taking part in the WA Food Supply Capability Assessment survey, which is for Western Australians to take ownership and have their say about WA’s food security challenges. This feedback is vital to drive change in the critical success areas identified.
Overall, the team enjoyed both days and the general feel was that most who wandered passed our display booth were supportive of the work being done in our projects to ensure we can have profitable, sustainable and secure farming systems well into the future.
If you would like to participate or contribute to these programs, please reach out to Bonnie on [email protected]
This was made possible through funding from the West Australian Government’s State Natural Resources Management Office and the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.
Partners
We acknowledge and appreciate the support of all our partners, supporters, funding bodies and sponsors.
