[FOCUS] Carbon Positive Farming with Kate Field

Speaker: 00:00:00

Good day everyone.

2

: 00:00:01

I'm Kate Field and I am from

Tasmania, a little town called

3

: 00:00:06

Copping Tasmania is part of Australia.

4

: 00:00:09

It's the little island off

the Bo Southeast of Australia.

5

: 00:00:14

Wonderful.

6

: 00:00:14

I am very excited to be here today

with you too, because we all have

7

: 00:00:19

regenerative farming in common.

8

: 00:00:21

I'd love to know your backgrounds

in regenerative farming.

9

: 00:00:24

We can start with you, Kate.

10

: 00:00:25

So my husband and I, uh, came

to farming in: 2012

11

: 00:00:30

only been farmers for 10 years.

12

: 00:00:33

He started out as an ecologist,

so he was a scientist.

13

: 00:00:36

He was working for Macquarie

University in Sydney at that

14

: 00:00:39

time, and he was specifically

looking at the ecology of marine

15

: 00:00:43

vertebrates in the Anta and sub anta.

16

: 00:00:46

So pretty different from what he's

doing now in one sense, but very

17

: 00:00:51

similar in that it's all about.

18

: 00:00:54

Ecology ecosystems and how

everything interacts with each

19

: 00:00:58

other in a natural setting.

20

: 00:01:00

Uh, we were living in Sydney,

so that was living with, uh, 20%

21

: 00:01:04

of Australia's population, and

it's not a town that's set up for

22

: 00:01:09

transport and ease of transportation.

23

: 00:01:11

We weren't really enjoying living

in Sydney, and we'd always dreamed

24

: 00:01:15

one day that we'd have our own farm,

but we were also dreaming about

25

: 00:01:20

having a commercial cheese operation.

26

: 00:01:22

And, uh, it got to 2011 and we were at a

turning point in our, our lives and our

27

: 00:01:28

careers, and we decided that we would

become commercial cheese manufacturers.

28

: 00:01:34

And of course, to make

cheese, you need to have milk.

29

: 00:01:38

And so we made a decision that

we wanted to ensure quality

30

: 00:01:41

milk and to have quality milk.

31

: 00:01:44

We felt that we needed to guarantee the

health and the happiness of the animals,

32

: 00:01:49

which meant that we needed to buy a farm.

33

: 00:01:51

So we looked in a various few

places around Australia as to

34

: 00:01:55

where we wanted to purchase a farm,

and we settled back to Tasmania.

35

: 00:02:00

We'd both been to university here

in Tasmania and decided to return.

36

: 00:02:04

His parents had migrated from the UK

to live in Tassie, and so we were,

37

: 00:02:09

felt like we were returning home.

38

: 00:02:11

We found a fabulous patch of land

that fulfilled our needs in terms of

39

: 00:02:16

proximity to the hospital because I

also work as an emergency doctor and

40

: 00:02:22

proximity to the airport in case I

couldn't get a job back in Hobart and

41

: 00:02:26

needed to fly in and out for work.

42

: 00:02:29

And we looked at the landscape and

decided, uh, that the best mammal to have

43

: 00:02:36

for milk production was gonna be goats.

44

: 00:02:39

So we actually chose our livestock

for our landscape rather than

45

: 00:02:44

buying a bit of land and forcing

it to do what we wanted it to do.

46

: 00:02:49

Our value system, our um, ethos is

to work with nature and to utilize

47

: 00:02:55

nature to be able to produce

really good high quality food.

48

: 00:03:01

So that's kind of how we

got into it, through cheese.

49

: 00:03:05

Wonderful.

50

: 00:03:05

Thank you Brian.

51

: 00:03:06

I'd love to hear about your.

52

: 00:03:08

Farm story.

53

: 00:03:09

How did you get into

regenerative agriculture?

54

: 00:03:12

Sure.

55

: 00:03:12

Well, so I grew up on a farm or,

uh, as we call it, uh, where I grew

56

: 00:03:17

up in, in Oregon, on the west coast

of the United States, uh, ranching.

57

: 00:03:21

And, uh, we raised cattle originally.

58

: 00:03:24

Um, but then at one point, uh, we made the

decision, I don't, I can't say that it,

59

: 00:03:28

it was quite as thoroughly thought out,

uh, as Kate and Ian's very methodical,

60

: 00:03:33

uh, means of going through a, an analysis.

61

: 00:03:36

But we did, we, we made a decision shift

away from cattle and move into goats.

62

: 00:03:41

We have, uh, approximately 250

acres out in Oregon, my family farm.

63

: 00:03:45

And, uh, it's, which is about the same

size as Kate's farm down in Tasmania.

64

: 00:03:51

And we've got a herd of just

shy of a hundred cashmere goats.

65

: 00:03:55

So they're not focused on dairy

production or meat production, but

66

: 00:03:58

rather fiber production for the same

thing that you go buy in the stores,

67

: 00:04:02

the cashmere that we, we all wear.

68

: 00:04:04

Um, so that was, uh, Uh,

just about 10 years ago.

69

: 00:04:08

So, Kate, I, I feel like we made the,

the dive into the world of goats and

70

: 00:04:12

ruminants in that sense at the same time.

71

: 00:04:14

Um, and it's been a fun journey for us.

72

: 00:04:17

They are so much entertainment

and joy, um, while still doing

73

: 00:04:22

great things on the landscape.

74

: 00:04:24

Um, and sort of, which I think

we're gonna dive into and sort of

75

: 00:04:26

talk about all the great things.

76

: 00:04:28

And Katherine, you know, we, when we

all gathered together, I don't, I don't

77

: 00:04:31

know that we all realized you also

have a history, uh, with, with goats.

78

: 00:04:36

Tell us a little bit about that.

79

: 00:04:38

Yes.

80

: 00:04:38

So we had a, uh, regenerative herb

farm, uh, for about five years.

81

: 00:04:44

Unfortunately, our lease was not renewed,

so we couldn't keep the farm land here is

82

: 00:04:49

outrageously expensive and even to leases

beyond the capabilities of most farmers.

83

: 00:04:55

But for those wonderful five

years, we had a, a regenerative

84

: 00:04:59

herb farm and our goats were.

85

: 00:05:01

Or they were rescues.

86

: 00:05:02

So they were mostly pets, but they were

also fantastic fertilizer providers.

87

: 00:05:07

They were our lawnmowers, they

were our blackberry control.

88

: 00:05:10

They, they did all these wonderful

things for us that, uh, helped

89

: 00:05:14

make our farm run smoothly.

90

: 00:05:16

Honestly, don't think I could

have done it without our goats.

91

: 00:05:18

So we've got three corners

of the globe covered here.

92

: 00:05:21

We've got, you know, the, the east coast

of the United States and North America.

93

: 00:05:26

We've got the west coast of North America.

94

: 00:05:28

We've got Tasmania down near Australia.

95

: 00:05:31

What a good collection of people.

96

: 00:05:33

But I wanna come back and, and maybe

ask a little defining question.

97

: 00:05:37

Let's talk about the word regenerative.

98

: 00:05:39

What is, what does that really mean, Kate?

99

: 00:05:41

I might hand it over to you.

100

: 00:05:43

I think regenerative means different

things to different people, but

101

: 00:05:47

for me, regenerative really means

that you are regenerating the

102

: 00:05:52

soil more than anything else.

103

: 00:05:55

So, different people might talk

about regenerating a landscape.

104

: 00:06:00

I think of regenerative farming in

particular as regenerating soil.

105

: 00:06:05

So every time you grow something in

soil, you're removing nutrition from the

106

: 00:06:10

soil, whether that's to grow a carrot

or to grow garlic or to grow grass.

107

: 00:06:17

And regenerative farming, for me is a

way of farming in which you're putting

108

: 00:06:24

nutrition, specifically carbon, um, and

improving organic soil carbon through your

109

: 00:06:31

methodology that you utilize on your farm.

110

: 00:06:34

And so this can be applied to all

different farming enterprises.

111

: 00:06:38

So could you tell us more about how you

improve your soil on your farm, Kate?