August 2023: On-Farm Composting Roadshow

In June 2023 Soil Wise, a collaborative project to help farmers and land managers improve their soil health and nutrient management, supported a roadshow across seven catchments in south-west WA to encourage farmers and landholders to build their knowledge and skills to make and use compost.

The workshops were presented in collaboration with Lower Blackwood LCDC, Peel-Harvey Catchment Council, Leschenault Catchment Council, GeoCatch, Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee, Torbay Catchment Group and Oyster Harbour Catchment Group.

Every workshop was full, with some locations even having to prepare a waitlist, culminating in over 200 land managers attending the events. The days were packed with information, kicking off with Composting 101 and followed by a hands-on compost-making demonstration. Building a whole range of composts: Fermented Compost,  Johnson Su Bioreactor, and Thermal Aerobic pile.

Willyung Farm hosted our full-day event with expert Mark Tupman of Productive Ecology including 26 participants mainly other farmers. Giving locals a chance to see a larger-scale farm composting system in action.

Feedback has been incredibly positive and there’s lots of enthusiasm for both large and small-scale composting as well as plenty of interest in making compost teas and extracts for seed coatings.

Soil Wise funded the workshops. 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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Visit the Soil Wise events calendar to see upcoming events across South-West WA: https://estuaries.dwer.wa.gov.au/soil-wise/events/

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