Giving Voice To Australia’s Regenerative Food Story
At Farmers Footprint Australia, we believe that regenerative farming holds some of the most powerful means of addressing our increasing environmental and health challenges which is why we seek to bring awareness to this movement and redefine our connection to the land.
Our Approach
Our ethos is one of progress over perfection. We seek to meet farmers where they are at, understanding that each farmer is doing their best and that any step toward more regenerative farming practices is a positive one.
We focus our efforts on:
Awareness
Sharing stories that generate interest and drive the regenerative movement forward.
Education
Connecting farmers to educators, resources and information about regenerative farming practices and benefits.
Support
Empowering and connecting farmers, stakeholders and consumers with positive action to regenerate our food system.
Our Impact
Our commitment is to inspire will and build capacity to collectively accelerate regenerative food systems as a means to restore human and planetary health. Our efforts, driven by collaboration with allies, farmers, and communities, aim to not only restore the land but also to empower local economies and support the wellbeing of farmers and their families.
Our annual Impact Report aims to chronicle the transformative strides made over the past year toward fostering more regenerative practices in Australia. As we reflect on the challenges and milestones, this document serves as a testament to the power of collective action and the positive change that can emerge from a commitment to sustainable practices.
We offer our stakeholders and supporters a transparent look at our achievements and the tangible impact of their contributions. We invite you to join us in celebrating these accomplishments and to continue partnering with us in our journey towards a healthier planet.
Benefits Of Regenerative Practices
Regenerative farming techniques provide a range of benefits to farmers, the land and our overall wellbeing.
Healthier Soil for
Healthier Food
Food is as nutrient dense and microbially rich as the soil within which it is grown.
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Yet decades of widespread use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers have stripped our soils of their biodiversity. In turn, this has depleted our food of its nutrient density leading to poor health outcomes irrespective of our food choices.
The good news? Now that we know better, we can do better. We can repair the biology of our soil through a return to regenerative farming principles. By restoring the health of our soil, we restore the health of the plants and animals we eat and in turn, our own health.
Drought resilience from the ground up
In recent times, we have witnessed the increasing impact that human and natural disasters have on our food supply – for consumers as well as growers.
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Many conventional farming practices have severely depleted our soil’s ability to store water, leading to reduced rainfall, longer and more severe droughts, soil erosion, rising salinity levels and the increasing desertification of our landscape.
Natural farming practices help restore the water cycle by enhancing the soil’s ability to retain water. As we regenerate farmland and create more arable landscapes, we improve the drought resilience of our farms as well as our country’s food security in the face of climate challenges.
Regenerating the carbon sponge
Today’s climate movement focuses much of its attention on reducing carbon emissions, particularly from fossil fuels.
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While this is crucial, research is reminding us that we have to take care of the other half of the carbon cycle – nature’s ability to absorb and store carbon. Many conventional farming practices have severely degraded the soil carbon sponge, but by changing the way we grow our food, we can restore our land’s natural capacity to cycle carbon.
Healthy soil – particularly on our farming lands – provides an effective means to store the increased carbon in our atmosphere.
Biodiversity for abundance
As above, so below. When it comes to the diversity of life and its interrelationships, we now know that the world beneath our feet mirrors the world above.
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They are inextricably linked and biodiversity loss on one level undoubtedly affects the other. Fortunately, this goes both ways: when we allow our soil to rebuild it’s biological diversity, all terrestrial life benefits.
Revitalising the biology of soil improves plant and animal health, repairing ecosystems and allowing farmers to enhance the ecology of their land. In this transformation of soil, we witness diversity and abundance of life thrive above ground. Regenerative farming methods are powerful tools that enable this urgent restorative work.
Reducing chemicals for life to thrive
When we spray our farmlands with synthetic chemicals and pesticides, we directly disrupt the biology of the soil.
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These chemicals then cycle their way through connected waterways, eventually damaging our ocean life too. Given what we eat is grown within these ecosystems, these chemical residues often end up in our food, ultimately passing through to our gut where they wreak havoc on our gut microbiome, harming our immune system function. These chemicals have been linked to the rapid rise in autoimmune conditions, cancers and many other chronic diseases currently afflicting humanity.
Regenerative practices allow us to remove these chemical inputs from our farming systems which allows soil biology to regenerate, improving the wellbeing of people and our environments.
Revitalising farmers and their land
Conventional farming is grounded in a never-ending struggle against nature.
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This paradigm considers use of chemicals, tillage and monocropping to be the most productive, economical and consistent method of food production. The reality, however, is that these approaches come at the expense of soil health, animal health and ultimately human health. On the frontline of the battle are our farmers. Amongst hard yakka, isolation and the uncertainties of working on the land, our growers are bearing the brunt of a broken food system with many feeling trapped in a cycle of mounting debt and despair, often leading to depression or worse.
By transitioning to more natural, regenerative forms of farming, farmers experience a deeper connection to their land and a revitalisation of their physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.
We’re proud to partner with these allies:
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Your support helps us accelerate the transition to a regenerative farming future.