Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator a community enabler
The NQ Dry Tropics Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF) works towards developing a skilled and capable landcare community by nurturing partnerships and providing access to funding, training and information. The landcare community includes Indigenous and natural resource management (NRM) groups, landholders, and industry bodies.
The RALF supports farmers, fishers and land managers to identify and adopt sustainable farm and land management practices that reduce agricultural emissions and help them adapt to changing climatic conditions.
The RALF delivers community and farm-based events, including workshops and field days, often in collaboration with other NQ Dry Tropics projects.
Kylie Stretton, Red Hill: Cultivating Connections
A key role for the RALF is to help farmers adapt to changes in the market. Consumers are increasingly showing an interest in the origin of food and market trends suggest provenance and sustainability are growing factors influencing purchasing decisions.
To help producers take advantage of these developments, NQ Dry Tropics engaged Burdekin grazier and rural advocate Kylie Stretton to deliver a presentation explaining how telling compelling stories about produce and its provenance can build understanding among consumers. In this hour-long session, Kylie recounts her experiences using social media to find ways to communicate with folk from the city and consumers, to build relationships through the tyranny of distance.
You may have read her View from the Paddock columns in the Queensland Country Life, or heard her on the radio advocating for reliable telecommunications services and better rural mental health support in the bush, among other issues. Watch this presentation to learn how to:
- promote the provenance and sustainability credentials of your product;
- reach new customers and maintain relationships with existing ones; and
- build social license with positive industry stories.
This presentation was part of the Burdekin Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator project, and funded through the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.
Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator Peter Arthofer (left) outlines the program at the first stop of a three-farm bus tour focusing on innovative grazing regimes. See the video HERE.
Burdekin soil health tests brainstormed at workshops
Peter Arthofer, of NQ Dry Tropics, workshop presenter and agronomist David Hall, Scott Underdown, of Plant Nutrition Australia, Tho Dey, of Vee Jay’s Kalfresh and agronomist Jessica Volker.
Farmers in Ayr and Bowen were keen to hear from experienced agronomist David Hall who conducted workshops in each centre.
The workshops were supported by NQ Dry Tropics, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and involved farmers bringing their soil tests for discussion. The group brainstormed possible solutions to constraints brought to light by the soil tests.
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