About us

RegenWA is a network of committed West Australian farmers and industry stakeholders who are identifying, implementing and sharing innovative and sustainable land management practices that other farmers can learn from and adopt.

Within the agriculture industry, there was a need to support and encourage farmers who are willing to break away from conventional farming to trial practices that may prove to be more sustainable (profitable, socially, ethically and environmentally responsible).

Farmers have different motivations and capacity for adopting new practices; these include financial pressure, resilience to the impacts of climate change, personal health, concerns about food safety and nutrition, loss of family time and declining productivity of farmland. No matter the reason, farmers want to be good stewards of the land and are always looking for opportunities to improve the soil health and biodiversity on-farm, as essential for the longer-term viability of their farming enterprise.

RegenWA aims to support farmers to transition from current conventional practice to leading sustainability practices. By identifying and supporting the adoption of these leading sustainability practices we will be able to improve the resilience and productivity of our agricultural land.

RegenWA’s main objectives are to:

  1. Facilitate a peer-to-peer support and learning network between farmers who are willing to investigate, share and demonstrate leading sustainability practices.
  2. Support collaborative and independent research to evaluate the applicability of these leading production systems, practices and technologies.
  3. Identify mechanisms that enable farmers to demonstrate their sustainability credentials to consumers who want to make more informed purchasing decisions.

How RegenWA works

RegenWA is the lead organisation in Western Australia for facilitating collaboration between key stakeholders at a local, regional and state level for regenerative agriculture activities. These activities include sharing of information, research, projects, events and news.

This RegenWA project is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program and managed by Perth NRM. It is guided by a Steering Committee of 11 members who are all passionate about regenerative farming and come with a range of skills in business management, farming, marketing, health education, and land management.

Ethical land stewardship

Identifying and adopting regionally appropriate land management practices that improve soil fertility and landscape function. Working towards ensuring the land is in better condition for the farmers of tomorrow.

Agro-ecological production systems

An ecological whole-of-system approach to agriculture that focusses on soil health and biodiversity and is backed by independent research and evaluation of outcomes.

Revitalising the natural water cycle

Practices that contribute to and benefit from evapotranspiration, condensation, precipitation, and infiltration to rehydrate the landscape. Maintaining green ground cover on the soil’s surface for as much of the year as possible to minimise loss and capture rain where it falls.

Improve the carbon cycle

Regenerative Agriculture sometimes known as Carbon farming, is very effective at drawing down atmospheric carbon via plant photosynthesis and sequestering this carbon into our farming soils. Carbon is essential for feeding the soil biology, improving water retention and nutrient availability.

Biodiversity

By improving above and below ground biodiversity, farming systems become more resilient to the impacts of climate change, pest and disease pressures, and enables greater utilisation of soil nutrients.

Increasing biodiversity leads to: Healthy soil – healthy plants – healthy animals – healthy people – healthy communities ­- healthy planet.

Regenerative Agriculture. An ecological approach to farming that allows landscapes to renew themselves (Massy, 2018).

 

Soil Wise is funded by the National Landcare Program Smart Farms Small Grants – an Australian Government initiative. It is supported by Healthy Estuaries WA – a State Government program.

Perth NRM and RegenWA acknowledge the significant early support of the State Natural Resource Management Program, and its critical role in establishing RegenWA.