Organizer
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Lower Blackwood Talkin' After Hours
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Email
[email protected] -
Website
http://lowerblackwood.com.au -
Lower Blackwood LCDC Events & Online Community
Speaker
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David HardwickAgroecologist, Founder & Owner, Soil Land FoodWHO IS DAVID HARDWICK?
David Hardwick, is an agroecologist & partner in the rural change management company Soil Land Food. David has over 20 years experience in rural landscapes, farming and food systems. He develops and delivers many of the extension projects for Soil Land Food across Australia. He worked in community development and then horticulture before completing a dairy traineeship on an organic dairy in NSW.
Since then he has had a wide ranging career working in both management and technical roles. These include Landcare extension, agronomy, soils, agribusiness, biofertiliser R&D and manufacturing, organics, training, and consulting positions. For many years he also helped run a regional farmers market business with his wife. He has also worked on rural cooperative and social enterprise projects. David also teaches soils, regenerative agriculture, farm planning and agroecology at TAFE NSW on a casual basis. David’s passion is agroecology and empowering farmers with knowledge and skills that make a difference!
David’s qualifications include:
Bachelor of Ecological Agriculture (University of Sydney)
Diploma in Agribusiness (TAFE NSW)
CIV in Training & Assessment
Grazing Land Management (Queensland DPI)
Natural Sequence Farming – Tarwyn Park Training
Reboot Your Soil
A 6 part Online Course to learn how to identify soil constraints and key nutrient issues that may be holding back their enterprise.
Presented by David Hardwick and the team from Soil Land Food, this online 6 part course Reboot Your Soil will give you a clear, holistic process to follow to develop an effective soil management plan.
The course is designed to suit all farming enterprises to help farmers improve their soil management.
The course consists of six by 90 minute Zoom Webinars, run once a week over 6 weeks. Recorded sessions will be accessible for catching up via Talkin’ After Hours, the Lower Blackwood LCDC’s Online Community. You will also be provided with a Soil Action Plan Worksheet to help develop a plan for your soils as you go through the webinars.
Course Content:
- Session 1 – What is a soil system? – Air, Water, Minerals, Soil Life and Plants. How soils work! The 3 areas of soil management: Soil Type, Soil Health and Soil Fertility. The 3 core soil skills. The 4 essential steps to successful soil management. 10 Principles of Regenerative Soil Management. Using the Soil Action Plan Worksheet. Step 1 – Identifying your soil types. Step 2 – matching your enterprise to your soil types.
- Session 2 – Introduction to Soil Tests: what and why. Using soil tests: the Golden Rules to getting the most from them. Pulling apart soil tests: the 5 parts to any test. Different tests and labs: Conventional and alternative approaches. Looking at a soil test – Organic Matter/Carbon.
- Session 3 – Managing Soil Health: the 3 steps to success. The Soil Health Checklist. The Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio, soil salinity and soil pH. Options for improving soil constraints.
- Session 4 – The Soil Health Checklist: Using soil tests to manage soil health,
Cation Balances, Acid and Non Acid cations, Sodium, Calcium/Magnesium Ratio. Soil pH and soil salinity. Benchmarking and identifying potential issues. Options for improving soil health. - Session 5 – Soils and nutrients, the basics: The 5 steps to regenerative nutrient management. Using soil tests to manage soil fertility – Phosphorous and Sulphur. Benchmarking and identifying potential fertility issues. Options for improving soil fertility. Steps to soil success. Pulling your soil action plan together.
- Session 6 – The Q & A webinar: will offer a chance to ask further questions.
Course Logistics:
Course Dates:
- Session 1: Wednesday February 14th, 4.00pm to 5.30pm
- Session 2: Wednesday February 21st, 4.00pm to 5.30pm
- Session 3: Wednesday February 28th, 4.00pm to 5.30pm
- Session 4: Wednesday March 6th, 4.00pm to 5.30pm
- Session 5: Wednesday March 13th, 4.00pm to 5.30pm
- Session 6: Wednesday March 20th, 4.00pm to 5.30pm
Where? Once registered you’ll be sent a link to the zoom sessions prior to each session.
What else? This course is valued at $600 but is fully funded for rural land managers in the Augusta Margaret River Shire – Places are very limited for this course so don’t wait to register.
This course forms part of the Lower Blackwood LCDC’s Regenerative Agriculture in Practice Program (RAPP) 2024 which is supported though funding from the Shire of Augusta Margaret River Environmental Management Fund and Soil Wise. 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.
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