“Soil health is about biodiversity that gives us the balance to produce the beef we need to be able to run profitable enterprises.
That’s where it starts and that’s why we’re at this workshop.
I’ve read Christine’s literature for quite some time so the opportunity to come today to listen to her speak was too good of an opportunity to pass up”.
Soil expert tours the BBB
LDC hosted a week-long tour of the BBB region by Dr Christine Jones, of Amazing Carbon. Workshops were held at Six Mile, Glenalpine, Weetalaba, Mt Pleasant and Glencoe. Many thanks to the landholders of these properties who hosted workshops.
LDC is taking a region-wide approach bringing together soil health professionals and graziers to improve awareness of existing, new, and evolving regional soil health practices and assessment methods.
Dr Christine Jones’ workshops combined theory with practical, where participants walked the landscape with a shovel to take a closer look at soil.
Discussion topics included:
- Putting carbon back into the soil.
- The benefits of increasing plant species.
- Making plant diversity and soil microbes work.
- Activating nutrient cycling.
- Restoring soil-water cycling.
Check out the photos here.
“I believe that you put great minds together, great things can happen.
You’ve got Christine Jones sharing her experience and knowledge and you’ve got graziers asking questions and sharing stories about what has and hasn’t worked.
Everyone is here to learn to do the right thing by their soil and land – education for our industry is vital”.
Dr Christine Jones, (left), Elizabeth Lyons, Four Mile, and Peter Le Feuvre, Belmahar, inspecting root systems and soil aggregate. There is a huge appetite for soil, ecology and grazing information in the Dry Tropics region including Bowen and Collinsville areas, landholders want a better understanding of the science behind pasture management.
Internationally-respected soil and groundcover expert
Dr Christine Jones is a internationally-respected soils and groundcover expert and presenter on soil ecology. She has worked with graziers on regenerative land management practices for many years.
Earlier this year, Christine was a keynote presenter at a NQ Dry Tropics’ masterclass for field staff to build their capacity around key grazing land management issues, particularly the linkages between grazing practices, soil health and pasture productivity.
Christine was the in-field soil expert during a NQ Dry Tropics Stomping Out Sediment field trip in May. The project is investigating a range of options for improving grass cover to manage erosion and increase productivity, while also trying different methods for fixing gullies and remediating erosion sites.