In late 2024, Weddin Landcare received funding for their project titled (in short) ‘Over the Fence’. The project will run over two years in 2025 and 2026. 

The project extends on the concept that great ideas and practice change often result from the conversations that occur between farmers ‘over the fence’ and when farmers get the opportunity to look beyond their farm gate. The project will utilise Weddin Landcare’s extensive network to connect farmers with leading or early adopting farmers and experts to gain the practical advice and guidance they need to adopt climate-smart agricultural production systems. 

Six field days will be held to demonstrate the viability of various best practice methods in a local context. Experts will be engaged for these events to help facilitate conversation and provide technical knowledge and advice. In April 2025, over 40 farmers attended our first field day as part of this project on ‘Strip and Disc Cropping Systems‘. We held our second field day ‘Microbe Friendly Farming‘ in September 2025. It was another great success with around 45 farmers from near and far attending. 

During August 2025, we took a small but keen group of farmers to the Riverina region to visit 7 progressive farms. Participants indicated they got a lot out of the two-day bus trip. A second bus trip is being planned for 2026 to central/northern NSW. These bus trips will encourage farmers to think more broadly and expose them to other, proven ideas that could be adapted locally.

In 2026 so far we have held two more events, a Farm Business Strategies workshop with Agrista and a Landscape Rehydration field day with Mulloon Institute. Both were very successful days. We also offered a training subsidy to local farmers to undertake professional training. Several farmers took up this opportunity and are currently completing their training. Training funding was also put towards a Low Stress Stockhandling day, which will be held on 15-16th July 2026. Several other field days are also planned. Check out the details below for our ‘Talking Dirty’ soils workshop with Dr. Aurelie Quade in May and a Livestock Tech Day in June.

Six visual stories featuring local farmers, properties and projects will be created to cater for the increasing number of farmers who gain their information online. The visual stories will give insight into the challenges, motivations, triumphs and goals of some of our local farmers in the Weddin district and will be produced by Grenfell boy, Stuart Walmsley – one of Australia’s most multi-faceted content producers who has a passion for sustainable agriculture and stories from rural and remote areas. Work on the visual stories has commenced, with Stu working with our chosen local farmers to create some great videos!

Keep an eye on our facebook page for updates on this project or sign up to our e-newsletter to get notifications direct to your inbox.  

Join in on this project by coming along to one of our upcoming events!

Talking Dirty – Soil Health Workshop

Wednesday 20th May

Join Dr Aurelie Quade to learn practical tools to understand soil health, design a sampling strategy, and turn results into practical management actions. All you need is a shovel!

Livestock Tech Field Day

Thursday 11th June

At this field day we’ll hear from industry reps and adopting farmers about the latest in technology for livestock to improve management, productivity and profitability. Find out more here.

Low Stress Stockhandling School

Wednesday 15th – Thursday 16th July

This two-day school will change the way you interact with livestock, for the benefit of the animals, the people and your productivity. Find out more here

For any enquiries about this project, please get in touch with Melanie on 0493 416 442 or weddinlandcare@outlook.com

This project, is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.