Soil Health and Regenerative Agriculture
Change is underway at Kioma Station near Toobeah in South-West Queensland, to improve profitability and create a more sustainable farming system.
Local landholders around Toobeah, west of Goondiwindi, were invited to a field day in June to see first-hand how farming country is being regenerated at Kioma, a large, mixed farming and grazing operation. The day was hosted by Southern Queensland Landscapes’ Emma King, whose husband Angus is the farm manager at Kioma.
Around 30 people braved the cool and windy weather to hear more about how to manage and improve soil health and ground cover with the help of multi-species plantings and vermiculture, from fellow land holders and agricultural service providers.
The day began with a talk from veteran farmer, Ran Mitchell, who took visitors back in time, to share he and wife Jenny’s journey over 50 years to regenerate the soil on their farm near North Star in North-West NSW.
The Mitchell’s began focusing on ‘regenerative’ agricultural principles decades ago, before the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ had been coined. Over the years they’ve developed a passion for harnessing and working with the natural rhythms of their land, flora and fauna. Unlike today, Ran was breaking new ground, figuratively speaking.
Rod and Maree Farrow, (Rod works for Ran on Leyland) run Vermagra – their worming farming enterprise. The team uses very few pesticides, plants multi-species cover crops and includes regular long fallows in the farming system.
“I watched the opening up of land for farming in what was to become known as ‘The Golden Triangle’,” Ran says.
“It didn’t take long before I could see and sense that we were working against our soil and nature in severe ways. The sound of shear bolts breaking on the neighbour’s blade plough as it hit stumps kept me awake at night and led me to the realisation that this was not the way forward.”
It was 45 years ago after having some basic water infiltration tests done on a stand of native vegetation and in a field that had been farmed since the 1930s that stands out.
“I can’t remember what the different infiltration rates were, but we were so dismayed we parked the disc ploughs we had and began no-till farming in earnest,” Ran said.
“To you people here, now is the time to form a vision for the future.
“To start, make just one plan to change one thing for the better.
“It’s ultimately about helping balance what we take out of the soil and putting back in the most natural way.
“One handful of fertile soil contains more living things than people on Earth – just recently we’ve learned that the underground livestock (biology) living in a hectare of healthy soil, would weigh eight tonnes.
“Eight tonnes of things we can’t see but need to grow and preserve.”
Kioma provided the perfect backdrop to discuss soil health, now nearly 15 years into a journey in regenerative farming. Much of the journey has been guided by Ian Moss from FARM Agronomy & Resource Management (FARM), who was on hand to share his knowledge and discuss options and decisions for planting and managing forages and/or pastures from a regenerative agriculture perspective. He’s working with Angus and farming manager Ewen who oversees the regenerative farming strategies, including their on-site worm bioreactors.
Ian says the aim is to build the capacity of the soil to improve productivity and profitability by focusing on soil quality, namely through increasing soil organic matter levels.
Kioma is a mix of clay vertisols, varying from red through to lighter black country and was previously managed in what is generally described as ‘traditional’ farming methods, in a winter-crop dominant system, heavily relevant on herbicides and synthetic fertilisers.
The current regenerative system grew from an early focus on nutrition.
“In the early days I was helping nutrition, which included a focus on soil testing and fertiliser rates,” Ian said.
“An initial step in this journey was to add liquid injections at planting and seed dressings to provide micronutrients with biological seed treatments.”
The next big step was looking at soil fertility as a whole and move to more long-term thinking and planning.
“As agronomists and farmers, we are really good at looking at a paddock and working out how to make the most money from it in the next six months,” Ian said.
“What we aren’t so good at, is understanding the impact of crop sequences, fallows and covers over 10 years, these are big things that make a difference to profitability.
“To determine what was needed long term required us to look at what was holding back yield, sub-soil constraints and a method to rebuild soil health over time.”
Changes at Kioma have included an aim to keep 20 percent of the area for summer cash cropping to spread risk and give opportunity to grow cover crops in long fallows. The farm works towards a five-year rotation of three winter cash crops in a row then a long fallow summer cash crop.
“We have moved chickpeas to the last winter crop before long fallowing to sorghum because it doesn’t have value as a standing stubble cover crop – we will plant cover after chickpea harvest at the earliest opportunity.
“The rotation plan rarely happens as planned and we deliberately throw out the five-year plan every time we have a decent fall of rain, or a planting window closes.
“By doing that and having cover crops in the mix we’ve been able to help Angus utilise them for grazing, which was particularly valuable in the last drought.”
They’ve moved away from pre-plant N application and are now using a spreader to add N in the form of sulphate of ammonia if, and when needed. Plant testing is another widely used tool.
“Often it’s the nutrient excesses that we deal with first before the deficiencies,” Ian says.
“By knowing what is left in the soil, post-harvest, all the options are open to us.”
Multi-species forage crops are a key to improving soil health. The field day visitors had a close look at a field planted with oats, barley, triticale, wheat, field peas, vetch, tillage radish, forage brassica and falcon leafy turnip. The multi-species aspect is building better quality and quantity of forage and the diversity of plant roots helps build the soil through promoting biological growth and water infiltration.
The next big step will bring the worms into the mix, starting this year. A liquid extract from the vermicast will be used for seed dressing, liquid injection at planting and as foliar treatments to reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers.
Ian says the interest in regenerative agriculture is certainly growing. So what brings landholders to explore regenerative ag?
“There are two main reasons landholders come to us,” he said.
“Either they’ve seen and heard about regen ag and what we do, or, more and more I’m getting phone calls from people saying ‘I don’t know what I need to change but know I need to change something’ mainly because they’re experiencing increases in farming costs but not seeing this translated into increasing yields.
“My job is to make ‘sustainable farming profitable’.
“It is really about the farming system and starting to understand and appreciate the actions we take and how they affect everything else, in terms of the long-term health of our soil – which is the greatest asset we have on our farms – if it is healthy.”
The field day wound up with a presentation from Christian Capp from Data Farming who gave a practical and useful outline of the value of data and mapping to manage soil and farming systems.
To learn more about events like this, check out: https://www.sqlandscapes.org.au/events
Become a member of Southern Queensland Landscapes: https://www.sqlandscapes.org.au/become-a-member
Article authored by: Melanie Jenson
This event was supported by Southern Queensland Landscapes and Millmerran Landcare through funding from the Queensland Governments Natural Resource Investment Program.
With our team working alongside landholders to turn planning into practical, lasting outcomes on the ground, our project, Protecting the Brigalow Belt in Southern Queensland , is well underway. This project supports landholders to protect remnant and fragmented Brigalow vegetation, while strengthening the long-term sustainability and productivity of agricultural systems across the region. By aligning conservation outcomes with grazing enterprise needs, the project recognises that healthy landscapes and productive businesses go hand in hand. Across southern Queensland, we are currently partnering with around 50 landholders to address priority challenges such as weeds and pest animals, alongside targeted property improvements that benefit both production and nature. Supported on-ground activities include both weed and pest management, fencing to improve grazing control and protect remnant vegetation, and infrastructure such as alternative watering points to better manage livestock access and reduce pressure on the Brigalow scrub. A key focus of the project is improving the condition and connectivity of Brigalow habitats, particularly along important corridors and remnant patches. These areas can provide critical habitat for nationally significant species including koalas, the Yakka Skink and the Northern Quoll. Strengthening these systems helps conserve threatened Brigalow Belt ecosystems while maintaining the shade, shelter, soil health and water retention benefits that are so valuable to grazing. We sincerely thank every landholder who is partnering with us on this project. Your stewardship, local knowledge and commitment are central to the success of this work. Collaboration between landholders, First Nations people, government and local communities remains at the heart of achieving lasting improvements for the Brigalow Belt, now and into the future. This project is funded by the Australian Government under Saving Native Species and delivered by Southern Queensland Landscapes, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners Panel.
West of Augathella, along the winding Nive River, sits Biddenham , a family-owned cattle property run by Guy Newell and his wife Natalie. The river forms a defining feature of the property, supporting riparian landscapes and providing important habitat for native wildlife alongside productive grazing land. In early 2025, we approached Guy to explore opportunities to work together on landscape and biodiversity projects. At the time, our Western Koala Project was underway, alongside the Coolibah–Black Box and Poplar Box Project, both of which strongly aligned with the natural values present at Biddenham . With extensive areas of Coolibah–Black Box and Poplar Box Grassy Woodland threatened ecological communities (TEC's), particularly along the Nive River corridor, the property was well placed to support these initiatives. These TEC's also provide important habitat for native fauna including Koalas and Rufus Bettongs, with existing records and on-ground evidence confirming their presence in the area. As part of the project activities, we collected an environmental DNA (eDNA) water sample from a local waterhole to investigate the presence and abundance of native fauna, as well as potential pest species. An acoustic recorder was also deployed to help monitor wildlife activity across the site, providing valuable data to inform ongoing conservation and management efforts. A key focus of our support at Biddenham has been weed management, particularly targeting Mother of Millions and Tiger Pear, invasive species that can significantly impact native fauna and degrade threatened ecological communities. Through a combination of biological control and targeted herbicide treatments, we have worked alongside Guy to reduce these weed pressures and protect the health of the riparian corridor. Guy has also actively participated in pest management programs, taking part in the initial aerial pest control operation in May 2025, followed by a second program in November 2025. These efforts targeted feral pigs and feral cats, helping to reduce threats to native species and safeguard the ecological integrity of the TEC's along the river. Building strong relationships with landholders is central to Southern Queensland Landscapes’ work, and it has been a pleasure to collaborate with Guy and Natalie at Biddenham . Their willingness to engage in conservation projects while continuing productive land management demonstrates the value of partnership in achieving positive outcomes for landscapes, wildlife and rural communities. This project is funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Southern Queensland Landscapes, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.
Members of the Southern Queensland Landscapes team recently spent time on Bunya Country with the Bunya People’s Aboriginal Corporation, whose work involves Healing Country and strengthening Songlines through on-Country projects and partnerships. We were grateful to be welcomed onto Country to listen, yarn and learn, and to introduce the Growing Climate Smart Grazing in the Condamine River Basin project, which forms part of the national Climate Smart Agriculture Program. Spending time together on Country created space for open conversations, allowing shared priorities to emerge naturally and respectfully. These early discussions explored healthy Country, cultural burning practices and caring for landscapes in ways that honour First Nations knowledge systems that have guided land stewardship for tens of thousands of years. By walking gently alongside Traditional Custodians, these conversations are helping shape the Growing Climate Smart Grazing program so that works will: • Respect and align with First Nations land management knowledge • Support cultural aspirations and practices • Strengthen connections to Country • Build genuine partnerships We recognise that First Nations peoples are the original land managers of southern Queensland, and their knowledge, cultural obligations and connection to Country remain vital to how we care for landscapes today and into the future. Southern Queensland Landscapes sincerely thanks Bunya People’s Aboriginal Corporation for welcoming our team and sharing wisdom and perspectives that will help guide this work.
Southern Queensland Landscapes is pleased to announce key leadership changes following its 2025 Annual General Meeting, including the appointment of Anthony Glasson as the organisation’s newest Board Director. Anthony, who operates Picarilli Merinos near Thargomindah, brings broad experience in primary production, regional leadership and natural resource management. His long-standing involvement in rural industries and commitment to sustainable land stewardship will be pivotal in supporting Southern Qld Landscapes delivery under its NRM Regional Plan, Flourishing Landscapes, Healthy Communities . Southern Qld Landscapes also confirms the reappointment of Directors, Louise Winton from Morven and Pippa Jones from Goondiwindi. Both Directors bring substantial governance experience and strong regional perspectives, and their renewed terms will continue to support their commitment to community-led outcomes. Additionally, Southern Qld Landscapes acknowledges the contribution of retiring Director Hollie Grimwade, whose service has strengthened their strategic direction and regional engagement. Board Chair, Kimberley Swords said “these appointments reflect the stability and capability of Southern Qld Landscapes governance and the organisation’s strong focus on delivering real outcomes for our communities.” In welcoming and recognising the Directors, Ms Swords said: “I am very pleased to welcome Anthony Glasson as a new Director of Southern Qld Landscapes. Anthony brings a wealth of practical knowledge from his leadership of Picarilli Merinos and a deep commitment to our region. His understanding of land stewardship and his passion for community-led change will be invaluable. I also congratulate and warmly acknowledge the reappointment of Directors Louise Winton and Pippa Jones. I also want to sincerely thank our retiring Director, Hollie Grimwade. Her commitment, professionalism and regional understanding have been significant assets throughout her tenure.” “I would also like to acknowledge our dedicated staff, who continue to deliver meaningful outcomes for landholders, partners and communities. This year, we delivered more than $9 million worth of project activity across the region, with on-ground and in community work to support sustainable agriculture and build community resilience,” said Ms Swords. Members also voted at the AGM to adopt a new modernised, constitution in line with contemporary not for profit governance expectations. Southern Qld Landscapes looks forward to working under its renewed Board leadership to advance regional priorities, continue strong partnerships, and deliver tangible benefits across the Southern Queensland region.
Southern Queensland is set to benefit from a major investment in Queensland’s natural assets, with more than $9 million allocated through the Queensland Government’s Natural Resource Management Expansion Program and delivered by Southern Queensland Landscapes. Southern Queensland Landscapes will receive $6.6 million to work with landholders to improve more than 124,000 hectares of land and vegetation adjacent to key waterways by installing fencing and watering points to better manage grazing. A further $2.5 million is allocated to the improvement of priority koala habitats and support animal movement and survival across Southern Queensland. This targeted action to remove key threats including wild dogs and invasive cactus species. Southern Queensland Landscapes CEO, Gillian Meppem said “the investment highlights the vital link between healthy landscapes, productive agriculture, resilient koala populations and thriving waterways.” “We are looking forward to delivering two key projects in partnership with landholders, through the Natural Resource Management Expansion Program. These projects are focused on protecting our waterways through improved grazing management and supporting thriving koala populations across Southern Queensland.” “Better grazing management, strategic fencing, and improved stock water infrastructure will enhance ground cover and protect waterways, ensuring our landscapes are more capable of resisting and recovering from natural disasters and the impacts of a changing climate.” “We are improving koala habitat by tackling key threats such as wild dogs and invasive cactus and supporting greater genetic diversity to ensure thriving koala populations across southern Queensland,” she said. Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development, The Honourable Dale Last, said “the funding demonstrates the Queensland Government’s strong commitment to supporting regional communities and natural resource management.” “When we came into government, we promised we would double funding for NRM organisations, and we would ensure our regional workforce would benefit, and we are delivering on that promise. “These NRM organisations are leading the way in safeguarding our natural resources, and that’s why we’re proud to support them and invest in Queensland’s future.” The NRMEP is a partnership between the Queensland Government and NRM Regions Queensland to deliver $117.84 million in on-ground land, water and biodiversity programs over the next three years.
We are seeing fantastic momentum across the region, with strong interest from landholders in improving land condition. Even better, clusters of neighbouring properties are getting involved, a promising sign for achieving landscape-scale change that supports water infiltration, soil health, and resilient groundcover. To help visualise this, Projects Lead Payel Sinha, developed a set of clever graphics that capture the essence of the NRRP program. The circular diagram below shows how water, soil, vegetation, grazing, and ecosystem balance are interconnected, all working together to support healthier landscapes.
We were honoured to have CEO Gillian Meppem, Richard Turnbull, Dr Payel Sinha and Uncle Kevin, a Margany Elder from near Quilpie, come together on the Gold Coast for this year’s Landcare Conference, representing our vision, work and cultural partnerships across the region. Dr Payel Sinha delivered a presentation on the Natural Resource Recovery Program: A Holistic Approach to Restoring Landscapes , showcasing how integrative, place-based strategies can unite ecological health, cultural values and community resilience.
The rapidly evolving global market for agricultural commodities, including cotton, was front and centre at the recent Australian Cotton Research Conference held in Narrabri, NSW. A key theme throughout the event was the increasing pressure climate change places on cotton production and how the industry is adapting through innovation and research. Andrew Davidson of Southern Queensland Landscapes introduced an innovative national project funded by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC). The project focuses on mapping woody vegetation across cotton farms in Australia, a crucial step toward better understanding on-farm biodiversity and supporting sustainability goals. The project uses a cutting-edge methodology developed by Southern Queensland Landscapes, drawing on a national dataset curated by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). What makes this approach unique is its ability to consistently measure vegetation across state and territory lines, overcoming long-standing challenges caused by fragmented and inconsistent regional datasets. The initiative is a true collaboration between the cotton industry, Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups, and NRM Regions Australia. Together, they aim to build a national picture of woody vegetation cover, including how much of it connects to larger, regional biodiversity corridors. Why It Matters... This vegetation data will provide a scientifically robust and cost-effective indicator of potential biodiversity on cotton farms. In practical terms, it can help: • Support cotton growers in meeting environmental standards for market access • Inform risk management strategies and conversations with financiers • Align with international frameworks such as: - The Science-Based Targets for Nature - The Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework - The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) As the cotton industry looks to remain competitive and resilient in a changing climate, initiatives like this are critical. They help position Australian cotton as a globally trusted, environmentally responsible product.
A Message From Our CEO, Gillian Meppem
Project Officers Katrina Higgins and Erin Landsberg recently joined Rose and Weston from Boobook Ecological Consulting in Roma, to complete field monitoring in the Murweh and Maranoa districts. This monitoring measures the value and health of Coolibah, Poplar Box, and Brigalow habitat. During this time, we deployed acoustic recorders and motion-sensor wildlife cameras, and took DNA samples from nearby water sources to ascertain the fauna within these threatened habitats.