Soils for Life

Located around the Eastern Riverina in NSW, the ‘8 families’ group first formed in 2008 after attending the same Holistic Management course in Holbrook.  Over the last decade, the 8Families have become a strong community of practice for regenerative farming, and continue to help each other make major changes in managing their landscapes and their businesses. This story demonstrates what is possible when regenerative farmers sharing the same landscape come together to support one another.

Prior to joining the group each of the 8Families were seeking an alternative framework to conventional farming. In particular, they were looking for ways to avoid the worst impacts of drought: including soil loss, water shortage and the financial burden of buying feed to keep animals alive.

Before coming together, many members of the 8Families felt a deep sense of ‘belonging to the land’ and a ‘sense of responsibility’ for the future of the landscape, livestock and families. Influenced by leaders such as Allan Savory, Peter Andrews, Stan Parsons, and Terry McCosker, the group is committed to leaving a positive legacy and felt inspired by the idea that agriculture had the potential to make a positive impact on the world. 

Before joining the group, one farmer, coming from an engineering background, described his worldview as mechanistic. He focused on controlling processes on his land, until he realised that he was ‘on a treadmill’ of constant work in order to do this. Another group member described his paddocks as “blowing away”, and having no time for thinking through decisions or enjoying time with his family. For others, the failure of their high input/ output family farm during the drought and subsequent land degradation and increasing debt drove them to look for other ways of farming. All families wanted to avoid the worst impacts of drought: including soil loss, water shortage and the financial burden of buying feed to keep animals alive. 

For all of these reasons, each of the families were seeking an alternative framework to conventional farming, leading them to enrol in Holistic Management (HM) courses. 

To delve deeper into Soils for Life’s first group case study – the 8Families – and learn about the process of peer to peer support, the group’s regenerative practices, and links to landscape health, economic resilience, and personal wellbeing, follow this link: https://soilsforlife.org.au/the-8-families-group/