The Western Landcare Forum took place in Broken Hill and was deemed a huge success by the participants and organisers. 200 people gathered together to attend the Forum which was themed ‘Healthy Landscapes, Healthy Food’ and explored the question “What can we do to promote the produce of the Western Region?”
Speakers and presenters included Major General the Honorable Michael Jeffrey who gave an inspiring talk on the importance of soil health and the role that Australian farmers are playing in educating the world on soil and land management.
Holistic Management Educator, Dick Richardson, discussed the patterns of behaviour that relate to land management and the need to move away from rigid and and set actions and look at a more needs based approach.
Other speakers included Sophie Hansen who shared her own success using social media as a platform to tell the story of your farm and Daniel Linklater who discussed sustainable practices for dry land cropping.
Speakers were also complimented by a landholder panel and an industry panel who addressed questions from the audience. Topics discussed included the synchronisation of government bodies with primary producers to enable better market reach especially with international markets, the need for market drivers to raise the demand for kangaroo meat and by products as well as the role of groups in raising the standard of land management practices.
Forum participants were also engaged in workshops including a drone demonstration from JSL Drones, understanding global markets with ANZ, cooking demonstrations and a butchering workshop.
We look forward to the next Forum in 2019!
