Editorial

A vital part of the IEA mission is the implementation of an accreditation program to ensure that all who engage in transmitting the principles of ecological/regenerative agriculture do so “singing from the same hymn sheet”. Given the diverging conceptualisations of regenerative agriculture in the ideas marketplace, we look to our accreditation system as a path towards greater consensus over time.

Our website (www.ecoag.org.au) outlines the principles that guide our functions. They are set out below. Also important is our Position Statement which reflects the deeper meaning we bring to agriculture. This can be read at https://www.ecoag.org.au/position-statement.

Three principles have been developed by IEA to guide our members in an ecological context:

Concern for a declining environment. IEA is concerned about the impacts of a declining rural environment and the harm done from current and potential (future) land uses on farmland and natural ecosystems.

Concern for a lack of holistic approaches. IEA is concerned about the lack of emphasis on holism in education and agriculture; and the impact this has on the natural environment, farm productivity and the health and wellbeing of people.

Collaboration for climate. IEA aims to collaborate with national and international bodies responding to climate change in an ethical manner, cognisant of social and environmental standards and the principles of climate justice.

The first Accredited Members

The Institute of Ecological Agriculture is proud to announce its first Accredited Members! They are soil scientists Dr Katharine Brown and Mr Declan McDonald. They were awarded IEA Accreditation in June after successfully completing the application process which included a 45-minute interview in front of three assessors.

IEA Accreditation exists to uphold the integrity of advising, training, and advocacy in regenerative agriculture. “The IEA believes that bringing diverse practitioners, educators, and consultants into dialogue and shared learning, whilst collectively upholding ethical and professional standards, is fundamental to maintaining the integrity of Australia’s regenerative agriculture movement" [source].

Katharine Brown PhD has a strong background in science including a Bachelor of Applied Science at the University of Canberra, Master of Science from Aberdeen University Scotland, and a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Western Australia. On top of this Katharine completed a Graduate Diploma in Regenerative Agriculture at Southern Cross University. Katharine is the immediate Past President of the NSW Branch of Soil Science Australia and the Accreditation Director for the Australian Institute of Ecological Agriculture. Katharine’s passion for soils shines through as does her drive for a more holistic approach to soil management. Included in her extensive resume is the preparation and finalisation of land management strategies for soil carbon projects.

Declan is a soil specialist with over 30 years’ experience in soil, compost and natural resource management in a variety of roles in the public and private sectors. He has held senior roles in Open Space Management with Shoalhaven and Warringah Councils in NSW, and in primary production with the NSW, Tasmanian and Victorian state governments. He is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist as accredited by Soil Science Australia and an Accredited Expert with Accounting for Nature.

Throughout his career, he has worked to promote understanding of soils as the foundation of ecological health and has advocated management practices that protect and enhance this critical resource.

The Institute of Ecological Agriculture is proud to announce these awards and we look forward to adding additional names to the honour board in time.

Interested in learning more about ecological (regenerative) agriculture?

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

A ten-episode webinar program starting on 2 September from 6.00 to 7.00pm offers farmers a different way of thinking about issues they face from day to day, but also gives folk not into farming plenty to ruminate on. A similar series was run in 2023 and those attending provided very affirming feedback:

• “For those who are motivated to change but lack the encouragement, capacity, understanding, knowledge and experience, this course will initiate the first step.”

• “It connected a lot of dots for me from various personal experiences and training I have done on holistic, biodynamic, organic and regenerative agricultural systems.”

• “Agriculture needs a change in mindset. This course provided a broad but clear framework of ideas and techniques that enable participants to engage with, communicate and share a regenerative ecological mindset applicable to agriculture. It went to the core of the problem and provided a broad spectrum of solutions.”

• “I think most concepts in the course are relevant to everyone, not just those involved with agriculture – we all need to be aware of our dependence on the natural world and of the network of relationships in which we are enmeshed, including the relationship of our inner world to the outer one.”

The 10 webinars will focus on the human aspect of agriculture which is the cornerstone of regenerative agriculture. It will be presented on Zoom by the IEA starting on 2 September from 6.00-7.00 pm.

The webinar sessions

1. The context is ecological/regenerative farming. The how and the why!

2. Farming 1.2.3: three layers of learning: How it emerged!

3. Learning & thinking & agriculture: How to be more effective! (A)

4. Learning & thinking & agriculture: How to be more effective! (B)

5. Self-knowledge and its critical role in agriculture!

6. How to manage change!

7. Values move in stages and influence our approach to farming

8. Science is changing but is agriculture?

9. The paradigm that is holistic science!

10. The doing of regenerative agriculture!

The webinars will be recorded, which will be of interest to people unable to attend the sessions. Comprehensive notes will be delivered via email seven days prior to each session. Also note:

• The 10 webinars will cost $150 for members and $200 for non-members. (Suggestion: become a member for $62 and payment $150 rate.)

• A 15% discount is available for previous course participants wishing to repeat the series.

• Written material supporting each webinar will be sent seven days prior to a session. (Hard copy notes will cost $40 including postage; this offer will depend on numbers requesting this arrangement.)

• The webinars would be of value to those wanting to look at life in a more holistic and integrated way. The ideas covered are not necessarily specific to agriculture; they refer to a broader context although regenerative agriculture is addressed as well. The skills and knowledge are life-based.

• Each session will be recorded on Zoom.

For further information on the program contact Kerry Cochrane at kcochrane@ecoag.org.au or book with Humanatix here: https://events.humanitix.com/https-www-ecoag-org-au-events.

Other courses of interest

Readers are also likely to find the education programs of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance interesting. Click the link to find out when and how.

Brain talk versus gut talk

Is there such a thing? Yes, according to indigenous author Tyson Yunkaporta. Here is an extract from his thought-provoking larger essay written up in Emergence magazine, June 12, 2025 edition. The title is Fire in the Belly.

“I am over-thinking and under-feeling my existence, making inaccurate predictions from incomplete data sets
with increasingly dire consequences.”

It only takes a cursory glance at the deepening climate crisis to see that individualistic thinking does not sustain life. When reductionist, self-serving analysis eclipses embodied collective wisdom, we falter in our role as stewards of the land, and harm the symbiosis present in ecosystems and communities. What if we’ve mistaken thinking for knowing, and in doing so, dulled a more vital intelligence?

Aboriginal scholar Tyson Yunkaporta reminds us that we have a second brain: the gut, which processes not with logic but with feeling. Since the Enlightenment, we’ve favoured a division between intellect and emotion, operating from the silos of our minds and quelling the knowledge conveyed by our bellies’ intuition to disastrous effect – for it is the gut that “governs terrestrial relations and is in constant communication with land and all our human and nonhuman kin.” Our cerebral intelligence, which Tyson likens to lightning – quick, sparking, and solitary – needs grounding more than ever in the regenerative and relational “fire” of our bellies. It’s only when we each tend to this fire in connection with those of our relations, giving space to the flow and full expression of our gut feeling, that the dyad of brain and belly can interact as a sentient system that allows us to respond to the needs of land and cosmos.

Source: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/fire-in-the-belly/

Deep Winter Agrarians Un-conference Report

by Jen Ringbauer (Board member)

The weekend (in June 2025) started with a real bang … literally. A matanza. A traditional killing, slaughtering and processing of a pig for meat to share over the weekend. We were able to share in the process of de-hairing and then watch the pig be processed out in the open to supply stock for that night’s dinner, and the following day’s lunch, and the meat for the spit roast for the shared potluck dinner the following night. A simple yet profound act of food sovereignty and localisation right under our noses.

I was moved to attend this semi-regular ‘unconference’ after experiencing the same event held by the same group years ago. Little did I know that those few unconferences I attended in 2016 and 2017 were some of the very first unconferences held under the Deep Winter Agrarian (un)banner. I was very new to food and farming advocacy then. Actually, I was very new to any sort of advocacy really. It was this very movement and group of agrarians who inspired me to further think about the demise of food sovereignty in Australia and place myself somewhere to do something about it.

There is so much to unpack here. Firstly, the group “Deep Winter Agrarians” started in 2014 with a small group of farmers who were feeling isolated in their small farm and food systems fight. This group of land stewards (of small farms) met together in the deepest of the Australian winter; after all … when else do farmers get a break? These early years we discussed market gardening (the advent of The Australian Market Gardening Success Group Facebook page), pastured hens (the advent of the Australian Pastured Poultry Producers Facebook page), certification schemes – pros and cons. The early actions of these formative years of Deep Winter Agrarians have led to a more inclusive and broader information sharing for these types of enterprises and understandings as well as giving me confidence to venture into market gardening for a time, knowing that I had a supportive network to ask questions about weeding, watering, market options, certification and all the other things that I would never have had the mind to think about.

In the years following, Deep Winter Agrarians grew to be a sizeable and changeable group of farming and food advocates. In the early years, notable farmers and/or food advocates Matthew Evans, Tammi Jonas, Carolyn Suggate, Erika Watson, Hayden Druce and Joel Orchard with fleeting glimpses of Costa Georgiadis were instrumental in getting the tricky conversations flowing. Refreshingly and notably absent from these events were farmers on larger farms, talk of land management frameworks and those who were interested in non-localised food systems. I never once felt that I had to justify my existence on a small-scale farm, nor feel threatened or judged by larger landholders and their dislike of “blockies”, a common feeling when at other conferences, workshops and courses.

The unconference is a flattened structure of a conference-type gathering. There are no formats to follow and there are no notable speakers announced as coming. Everyone has a voice and is encouraged to use it. The agenda is set first thing at the gathering. The question is asked – what would you like to discuss? Then a democratic hands up to find the topics that are most important to the majority.

At this particular Deep Winter gathering topics were raised such as:

• What is it to be involved in a movement (food sovereignty, agroecology)?

• Labour and co-operative setups

• Fair land access

• How to bridge growers and consumers (city/rural)

• Education to the masses to retain multiple values of inconvenience

• How to decolonise the food system

• What are the barriers to consumers?

• Climate change and mental health

• Art in agroecology

• Seed saving

The 100+ people who gathered in a three-sided, breezy shed protected from the very first rain event in Daylesford for months in 4°C, then broke out into smaller groups to discuss a topic of choice. I was hoping to discuss alternative labour models and fair land access and sharing. Both were held at the same time … so choice made: labour and co-operative setups. There was no talk of labour, leaving more time for cooperatives. A wonderful example of a food hub set-up in Canberra: Southern Food Harvest, a co-operative set up to allow farmers to have a fairer and easier access to local consumers after finding that there was no fair and equal access to the local famers’ markets. This co-operative has set up an aggregated CSA food box scheme with localised drop-off zones around the ACT. Farmers can bring their produce in on one day and the food is delivered the next. Anything left over is value added and preserved to sell at shop front.

The land sharing model session spoke about the need for trust and building relationship as keys to success. There are some online groups connecting landowners to farmers without land, such as Young Farmers Connect, Farming on other people’s land (FOOPL) and sprout Tasmania. The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance has some supporting documents for setup arrangements with farmers and landowners to avoid and/or navigate the inevitable disagreements of opinion.

A farm visit (yes it was still raining and cold) ensued at Jonai Farms. Pigs aplenty, food scrap rescue for feeding said piggies, micro abattoir in the building and a wonderful market garden – fully subscribed to sell CSA style and to local restaurants. This one small farm feeds about 500 people locally and in Melbourne supporting nine residents and seven livelihoods – an inspirational story in and of itself!

Go here to join/find out about the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance.

Beyond Sustainability Conference: An important signpost in a journey towards a regenerative future

Our thanks to Nviro Media and Suzanne Cowley for the following article which is important in the context of regenerative agriculture.

Question. What happens when three regenerative farming legends Gabe Brown, Colin Seis and Walter Jehne get together with Stuart Austin for a sell-out North West Regional Landcarers Inc & Landcare NSW soil sustainability event in Quirindi NSW in a hall packed with farmers?

Answer. Powerful unfiltered knowledge sharing, farmer voices leading the conversation and building community and collaboration.

Nviro Media in partnership with Upper Mooki Landcare Group, Tamworth Regional Landcare Association and Landcare NSW were proud to capture this important conversation in a new podcast series, "Beyond Soil Sustainability" that is available now at https://beyondsoilpodcast.podbean.com/ or on Spotify, Apple podcasts and Amazon Music.

Beyond Soil Sustainability is a series of deep conversations with three regenerative farming pioneers about the future of agriculture, harnessing the power of soil health and farming with nature for a better future.

There are eight episodes in the series:

1. Introduction by Craig Carter, Chair Upper Mooki Landcare Group | Welcome to Country by proud Kamilaroi man, Jason Allan, CEO of the Walhallow Local Aboriginal Land Council and Liverpool Plains Shire Council Councillor

2. Opening address by Stuart Austin, Co founder of Audacious Agriculture and experienced grazier and natural capital farmer

3. Presentation by Gabe Brown, pioneer of the soil health movement, and named as one of the 25 most influential agricultural leaders in the US. Author of Dirt to Soil – Gabe Brown Abundance Farm, and influential TED talks, he is from North Dakota

4. Presentation by Colin Seis. From Gulgong NSW, Colin is an Australian leader in regenerative agriculture. He is renowned for his innovative pasture cropping solutions. Author of Custodians of the Grasslands and Welcome to Winona: The Home of Pasture Cropping.

5. Stuart Austin Remarks and Yirindaali Dreaming Story. Stuart Austin reflects on the presentations of Gabe Brown and Col Seis followed by the Yirindaali dreamtime story of the Liverpool Plains, sharing Gamilaroi culture, including comments from Col Seis on the important role of aboriginal people in managing land and looking after country.

6. Presentation by Walter Jehne, internationally recognised Australian soil microbiologist and climate researcher. Walter provides practical strategies on restoring the structure and function of the soil sponge to reverse desertification, increase nutritional integrity of crops and provide resilience to climatic extremes.

7. Audience Q&A Part 1.

8. Audience Q&A Part 2 Wrap up of an extraordinary day of meaningful knowledge sharing.

“Thanks to all of the inspiring community members, North West Landcare coordinators and members coming together to inspire a brighter future for everyone.”

The IEA thanks Nviro Media Films and Conversations to Inspire Change.

Wiki loves Earth in 2025

As a postscript, we can advise readers that Wikimedia Commons is presently conducting a Wiki loves Earth photo contest:

Wiki Loves Earth (WLE) is an annual international photographic competition held throughout May and July, organised worldwide by Wikimedia chapters, groups, and local Wikipedia volunteers. Participants take pictures of local natural heritage and scenic landscapes in their countries and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. For all participating countries, there are separate competitions organised by local teams, so periods, rules, prizes, etc., might differ a bit. [Source]

Unfortunately, for reasons we haven’t discerned, Australia is not a participating country in 2025. We’d therefore like to share with you a fabulous entry from Ukraine. When so many horrific images from Ukraine pierce our consciousness as the Putin war protracts, nice to know there are still some untouched havens; or at least were; this photo was shot in 2017.

Sharing the good oil!

The IEA Newsletter needs to circulate. It provides a different and emerging worldview on agriculture. Do help the organisation to grow by circulating it to anyone you believe might be interested, and even to those who haven’t commenced the journey as yet, but should do so!

If you would like to receive the free newsletter go to our website (www.ecoag.org.au) and click on Resources and then newsletter and fill out the email address.

If you would like to join the organisation go to the following link: https://www.ecoag.org.au/membership.

Editor: Kerry Cochrane
Design & presentation: Tony McKenzie