Fostering healthy landscapes in the Macedon Ranges area
Regenerative agriculture enhances landscape health through improving soils, increasing biodiversity and ensuring water cycling. This program will help guide and encourage the transition to regenerative practices by providing landholders with individualised, on-ground, and practical land management options. This program will see land managers take real action on their properties and ensure they are best prepared for future climate variability.
The program offers landholders multiple opportunities to learn about regenerative agricultural practices to help improve land, soil, water and livestock, including:
- Individual, free, on-farm advice
- Webinars, workshops and field days
- Holistic Grazing Management short course
- Farmer discussion groups.
This program is currently funded for one year via contributions from the project partners. The demand for the service is overwhelming. New funding can solidify the program and provide much needed on-going support for landholders willing to create positive change.
Themes and Local Areas
| Primary Theme: | Soil health |
| Other Themes: | Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change |
| Primary Local Area: | Macedon Ranges, Hume, Mitchell & Whittlesea |
| Other Local Areas: | |
| Project location: | Agricultural and rural land across the Macedon Ranges Shire Council area |
| Scale of the project: | Local – multiple properties |
| New or continuing work: | Continuing project/work |
Project partners
| Lead organisation: | Macedon Ranges Shire Council |
| Key partners: | Hepburn Shire Council, the City of Greater Bendigo, North Central Catchment Management Authority, Coliban Water, Melbourne Water and the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network |
| Registered Aboriginal Party/s relevant to the project or its area: | Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation |
Investment opportunities
| Opportunities for investors within this project start from: | $$ (Tens of thousands of dollars) |
| Estimated scale of investment for full project implementation: | $$$ (Hundreds of thousands of dollars) |
| Estimated timeframe for full project implementation: | 2-10 years |
Contribution toward targets
| Primary Regional Catchment Strategy target: | Soil health – The proportion of exposed soil in the region remains in the range 10% to 15%, or less, each year from 2020 to 2050. This project will contribute by improving land management practices on many properties. Sustainable agriculture – The Green Wedges and high value agricultural land of this region are retained for agricultural use and are supporting diverse and profitable agricultural enterprises. |
| Relevant Biodiversity 2037 goal: | – |
| Relevant National Landcare Program priority: | Agriculture systems – Projects that support industries, farmers and fishers to adopt new management practices that help them to adjust to weather and/or climate variability |
More information
https://www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/Live-Work/Environment/Land-Management/Healthy-Landscapes#section-1
