Chief executive of Align Farms Rhys Roberts says his operation has recently embarked on a new farming strategy, converting two of its five dairy farms to re-generative (regen) farming.
And he wants to share his experiences with the rest of us at a regenerative field day on December 7, 10am to 1.30pm at 2581 Hackthorne Road, Westerfield.
“We will be sharing our data and learnings with plenty of time for questions. Attendees should be able to walk away from the day with an understanding of both the successes and failures with robust multi-year data to back it up,” Roberts said.
The transition of Align’s Claireview Farm to regen farming started last year with 20 per cent of grazed area converted to regen paddocks with another 30 per cent converted this year.
Another farm will begin its transition to regen this year and will be operating 100 per cent regen by the end of 2024.
Roberts said there were about five principles that regen agriculture stood for “but for us, we increased the diversity of the pasture species so instead of just ryegrass and clover we added in chicory, plantain, and different types of grasses and clovers”.
The paddocks were sprayed out and direct drilled, he said.
“Some we over-sowed directly into the grass species. On highly compacted soils we used 15 to 20 different species and some with deep tap roots that penetrated to aerate the soil. But when this wasn’t needed, we sprayed out or direct drilled into the soil or over-sowed existing pastures.
“The farm managed regeneratively hasn’t seen any urea for three seasons now. That is a positive,” he said.
“Productivity is reduced but it depends on what you are trying to achieve. It’s a matter of fine-tuning things, Roberts said.
He said it would take about five years to get any accurate data on regen farming however Align Farms is looking to take more of its land over to regen in due course, he said.
“We have been doing this for about three years now.
"We publicise all our data live. As far as success goes, it depends on what success looks like I guess,” Roberts said.

• By Pat Deavoll