Friday, 2 December 2022

Tour 1 - Taste of the Northern Rivers ~ Tropical fruits, nuts, coffee  

Tour 1 travels east from the Lismore to visit subtropical fruit and nut orchards as well as a coffee plantation.  

Full day tour is $220.00 +  GST with morning tea and lunch included.

Departure 8.30 AM, Friday 2 December 2022 from the Southern Cross University Lismore Campus parking lot.  Return before 5.00 PM in time for Expo opening and the Welcome Reception

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Ross Arnett, Malua Macadamias

Ross Arnett’s farm, “Malua”, located on the Alstonville Plateau in northern New South Wales, has been in his family since 1872.
The macadamia orchard is 10 hectares with 2,000  mature trees.  Ross, a SoilCare member, has been using biological farming practices for many years and says, “soil health is fundamental to good farming practices. I use compost to feed the soil biology and promote healthy soil, which leads to healthy trees. Healthy trees have fewer pest and disease problems. Better soils make better trees!”
Biodiversity is also very important at Malua. Ross promotes this by using cover crops and shrubs to provide habitat for insects and birds. 
This diversity keeps an orchard healthy. Around the perimeter of the orchard Ross has planted tall growing cover crops like sunflowers, sun hemp, and sorghum, mixed in with buckwheat and clovers.    “That height diversity is really good for attracting insects and birds,” says Ross.  ​

SoilCare member, Ross Arnett, on his Malua Macadamia Farm.

In the inter-rows between the trees, he grows lower-growing cover crops that bring beneficial insects into the orchard, including aphids, which then lady beetles, and lacewings, which are natural predators for common macadamia pests.
It’s a complex, natural arrangement that all works beautifully!” he says.  Ross hosts numerous research projects at Malua, including biocontrol of insect pests with Richard Llewellyn and Christopher Carr from BioResEd.  Numerous cover crop trials have been established and are ongoing with support from Abigail Makim also from BioResEd.

​Read more about Ross and Malua Farm at Australian Macadamias and ABC News 

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Wendy and John Graham

In 1992 Wendy and John Graham bought a property in Wollongbar on the far north coast of NSW with a 5-acre orchard including 400 mature African Pride custard apple trees. With no prior expertise in farming they began a 29-year journey to grow their farm to 800 trees with the original African Prides and the subsequent addition of 500 KJ Pinks. 
A nearby TAFE afforded access to soil management courses where they learnt to focus on understanding the importance of soil microbial and fungal activity in tree health and disease resistance as the foundation of a profitable, productive orchard.
Soil biological activity is enhanced by the annual application of nutrient compost and by growing ground covers such as nitrogen-fixing legumes,  clovers and  Pinto peanut.  ​

John and Wendy Graham on their custard apple and lime farm.

Ground covers add diversity to the orchard floor, promoting moisture retention and nutrient cycling and stopping erosive loss of topsoil.
Inter-rows are allowed to flower and seed to provide food sources for beneficial insects and pollinators. Flowering windbreaks were also added to promote this diversity.
Wendy and John, SoilCare members, introduced biological pest control methods to manage numerous insect pests and disease.  On this tour you can learn about the beneficial insects releases as well as the cultural practices in place for successful IPM in subtropical fruit orchards.

​Read more about the Graham's farm in the September 2021 issue of Tree Crops.

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Zentveld's Coffee Farm and Roastery

SoilCare members, Rebecca and John Zentveld, have implemented some exciting agri-ecology practices on their coffee plantation and are passionate in their goal to improve soil health,  promote healthy waterways, care for country and create habitats for wildlife. 

The Zentvelds are actively planting cover crops such as the legume pinto peanuts to add nitrogen to the soil naturally, and soft, low growing grasses to cool the soil and form a nice matt cover right up to the tree trunks to minimise mowing and weed growth. They do not use chemical agri-fertilisers at all. On the path to soil regeneration, they introduce new practices every year, enhancing the microbial life in our soils.

On the Zentveld coffee plantation they return all  crop and ‘waste’ matter from processing and tree trimmings as mulch or compost for our soil health and water holding power – adding resiliency for drought times. Being friendly with food producers, what is waste to one, is mulch to us, so they happily accept other organic material such as hemp husk to mulch our 40 acres of coffee trees. With so few growers amidst horticultural diversity, there is no monoculture, or over-cropping across the few pockets of coffee growing in Australia. 
​The sustainability and ‘green’ farming practices of our local coffee growers is something we can be quite proud of. We will be measuring our carbon footprint and drawdown too, stay tuned.  The field pea and vetch, among the mix of legumes, cereals, radish, buckwheat and broadleaf, sown in June, were bursting with hot pink and purple flowers.
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From left – Dr Christopher Carr (SCU Entomologist) John & Rebecca Zentveld, Dr Terry Rose (SCU, Director, Centre for Organics Research).

​Currently a cover crop trial, led by Dr Terry Rose from the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Southern Cross University (SCU), is underway.  The project is one of one of eight industry-led soil research projects which aim to quantify the benefits of regenerative agricultural practices in restoring soils across Australia over three years.
Read more about the Cover Crop Trial on the Zentveld's Coffee Farm and Roastery website.

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Tour 2  Cancelled- Mara Seeds and SOFT Agriculture

This tour has been, regretfully, cancelled. 
Departure 8.30 AM, Friday, 2 December 2022 from the Southern Cross Lismore Campus parking lot.  Return before 5.00 PM in time for Expo Opening and the Welcome Reception

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Mara Seeds Pty Ltd is a family owned business started in 1967, located at Mallanganee in the foothills of the Richmond Range in northern New South Wales.

They provide a range of high-quality organic products that are produced using a self-developed method of 'softer farming' to replace the need for conventional farming practices. The company revolves around the AQIS registered plant founded on one of the certified organic farming areas the company uses for production.

​The company’s core business activities centre around grass seed, oilseed and cereal grain production in the summer and winter months and also the production of high-quality organic yearling beef that is grass fed or grain finished. 

Stuart Larsson, Managing Director, Mara Seeds and SOFT Agriculture

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SOFT Agriculture Pty Ltd is driving Sustainable Organic Farming Techniques with a range of certified organic products that improve the health and productivity of your animal and the quality of your soil.

Their vision is to offer farmers access to "carbon smart" innovations that deliver superior animal and soil health productivity.
​They produce:

• SOFT Fertilisers and Composts
• Stockfeed for your livestock including Green Chicken, Green Cow, Green Pig and Green Sheep
• Feed Additives that are BioChar activated

SOFT Agriculture's products are all Australian Certified Organic.

Read more about Mara Seeds and Soft Agriculture