Episode 171

[FOCUS] Grazing Lightly Farming with Kate Field

Episode Summary: This segment is from a longer episode featuring Kate Field, a regenerative farmer from Tasmania, Australia.

In this episode, we explore sustainable farming practices focusing on low-input systems to avoid overgrazing and carbon leakage. Emphasizing the importance of resting pastures and maintaining continuous plant growth, we discuss methods like holistic grazing to enhance soil health and carbon sequestration. This approach not only nurtures soil microbiology but also optimizes pasture recovery and organic carbon content, illustrating a harmonious balance with nature's rhythm.

To listen to the full episode go here.

To find out about Kate’s farm, check out https://www.leapfarm.com.au/

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Let’s Have a Think: Regenerative Farming

Josh Spodek Website

https://www.sacredcow.info/book

Footprint Network - Ecological Footprint Test

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

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Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can find out more on pages 76, 116, 119,121,124, 200, 202, 205, 214, 216, 229, 231, 234 and 260 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 022, 598, 067, 069, 600, 569, 243, 218, 215, 214, 212, 107, 219, 105 and 119

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Katherine Palmer and Brian D Tormey

Katherine is an Aromatherapist and Workshop Coordinator from Canada.

Brian is a Real Estate Title Insurance Professional and Goat Farmer in the US.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.


Transcript
Speaker:

a lot of farmers who will be listening

to this and potentially a lot of

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non-farm as well, might be shaking

their heads, but for us, we have a

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very low input system, which means

that we don't have maximal yields.

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So for us, it's grazing lightly.

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So that we don't overgraze.

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And by grazing lightly what

we're doing is ensuring that we

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don't have areas of bear ground.

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Bear ground will leak

carbon into the atmosphere.

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So keeping ground covered

is really important.

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Keeping the plants that are in

the soil, growing in their natural

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rhythm is also incredibly important.

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And so, uh, if they're constantly being

grazed, they'll be struggling to grow.

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So for us, what we do is we try

and rest areas of our farm at

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different stages of the growth cycle.

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We're always making sure that there's

something in the soil that's growing.

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So you might have a grass that

grows particularly well, like

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fallis over the winter period when

other grasses, particularly annual

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species, aren't growing very well.

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And what that means is that while a

fall, Polaris is growing, That plant is

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harnessing the sun, and it's actually

creating all the sugars and pumping them

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into the soil to feed the bacteria and the

fungi that are in the soil, and that keeps

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the soil and the soil micro biology alive.

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When the fall, Polaris dies back

and the other plants are going

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through their rapid growth phrase

and harnessing the sun's energy, they

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start pumping in the carbon sugars and

they also start feeding the bacteria.

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So there's always something growing

in our pasture, but we also rest

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our pasture to allow the plants once

they have been grazed to recover.

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And that's really an

important part of the cycle.

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Every time a, a plant is eaten

by an animal, It's more important

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that the leaves are torn rather

than cut, for instance, by,

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um, a slasher or a lawn mower.

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So it's the way the plants have

evolved, of course, because they've

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evolved with remnants eating them.

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So the pasture or the plants are, are torn

by the tongue and the teeth of the animal.

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And as the leaves are, um,

cut down from the base of the.

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So two are the roots in the soil

pruned back by the plant, cuz they've

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suddenly got all this root mass,

but they need to actually focus on

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putting energy now into the leaves.

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And so what that does is it leaves

the roots in the soil, um, but it

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prunes them back as such, which means

that there are some dead roots in

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the soil, which go on to improve the

organic carbon content of the soil.

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So this, process where you graze more

lightly and less frequently, , has

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a number of, descriptors, it can be

referred to as time managed grazing,

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holistic grazing, cell grazing.

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And it's, uh, really just a form of

managing your pastures , that can be.

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