RIA Group Pty Ltd

Cobargo, Australia

An Overview Of Our Solution

Bio diverse food production starts with reconnecting natural systems while developing complementary social systems. We address both by restoring degraded land to its productive function and establishing meeting places in the community where people can discuss their land use challenges, sell their produce and move towards more bio diverse and sustainable farming. The social strategies include operating a whole food shop and cafe in traditional rural community in southern NSW and a small demonstration garden within a rural township. The cafe and demonstration garden are formal, as well as, informal portals for information about natural system reconnection practices and a link to other community capacity building organisations.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Other

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Deserts

Forests

Grasslands

Oceans/Coasts

Population impacted

500 - 32,000

Size of agricultural area

1 acre to 450 acres

Production quantity

Double current production

People employed

14 people plus contractors

Describe your solution

Natural landscape restoration strategies are the first steps in restoring biotic health allowing good land management practices to have the fullest impact. RIA applies basic principles to restore land health and promote biodiversity. We use plants to restore biodiversity and manage the daily water cycle. Physical interventions control erosion, manage water loss and major rain events and encourage water absorption. By re-creating landscape contours we encourage the natural sequence of water and fertility. We also provide and encourage social structures that support and inform individuals and the community. Specific solutions involve: • Slowing down and storing (in the landscape) all available moisture during dry periods and de-energizing and redistributing water flow during rain events. • Optimising the daily water cycle through plant specie choice and earthworks design. • Identifying the remnant patterns in the landscape by observing: o Plants and plant communities; o Morphology and geomorphology; o “Steps” running along lateral natural contours; o Water course patterns; o Clay patterns that show evidence of particle dispersal and saline activity and o Sedimentary patterns of recharge zones and former wetlands. • Creating places where landholders (and others) can seek and share information and observe how landscape system recovery principles can increase biodiversity and dramatically improve food production.

Describe your implementation

Restoration of degraded land encompasses: observation of latent land patterns, plants and soils; diagnosis of problems; identification of intervention points; creation of contour channels and erosion control structures and maintaining an ongoing relationship with clients. We have intentionally kept a low profile as we build a body of work, however we have benefitted from national media coverage of the natural landscape restorative approach. By providing a straight forward solution to landholders they have increasingly sought our services. The change in weather patterns, variability of rainfall, with increasing long periods of low rainfall punctuated by brief but damaging deluges, and declining productivity due to low fertility have also all driven interest and an increased willingness to explore alternatives. Natural system restoration reinstates biodiversity, land fertility and land hydration. Our clients have seen an increase in productivity and reduction in erosion and have altered the way they operate on their land with land friendly practices and more bio diverse production. Long-term farmers are the most difficult to engage, followed by landholders with a strong allegiance to a particular land management movement. Inflexible government regulations have also proven to be a major inhibitor, as are the cost of earthworks. We address these issues through: tours and independent assessments; the shop/cafe and demonstration garden where people can meet and discuss; liaison with government departments; variable pricing, multi staged payments and continuous improvement strategies to reduce costs.

External connections

We liaise with all levels of government, universities, community leaders, business leaders and NFP organisations. In the initial stages we spent considerable time seeking to influence and persuade. We now find we are much more effective change agents as practitioners. This approach has attracted a more engaged response from decision makers

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Like much of Australia, this area has been deforested and overworked. Agriculture in this region has previously focused on dairies and cattle. The challenges from compaction and overgrazing include: a monoculture of introduced grasses; significant resource intensive weeds; major disruption to the waterways causing massive erosion and ‘soil shedding’ during rain events. The compacted soils have a higher than desirable Ph and low fertility. The chemical and waste intensive dairy industry, presents significant toxin and wastewater problems for the catchment. There is heavy reliance on herbicides and fertilizers on the grazing pastures; practices, which have significant, long term implications for the desired shift to natural farming.

Describe the context in which you are operating

The dairy industry has supported this area for decades. However, for the past 25 years the deregulation of the dairy industry, consolidation of smaller farms into larger properties and the carving up of some properties into ‘life style blocks’ has seen a significant change in population, income and demographics. The number of people required to sustain a grazing operation has contracted while the interest in sustainable small acreage farming is increasing.

While the desire to enter into sustainable, environmentally responsive food production is high, there are barriers. These include: cost of viable farmland, steep compacted land, water availability, erosion, flood plain destruction, distance to markets and limited supplemental employment. Our previous research in regional development indicates that by addressing land health many of the social and economic issues can be overcome but continued degradation of the landscape can only result in the familiar path of rural collapse.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Natural system restoration has resulted in the reinstatement of biodiversity, land fertility and sustained land hydration. Studies by Australian and international scientists have articulated the veracity of our methods and our clients and landholders have seen a dramatic increase in productivity and reduction in erosion. Our approach has also had a significant impact on how landholders view and operate on their land with positive changes towards more land friendly practices that support biodiversity and plant community health, rather than a focus on monoculture. Specific impacts have included: • Repairing significant erosion points within three distinct water (supply) catchments in the region resulting in improved water quality and retention of arable soil. • On grazing land, there has been an increase in type and coverage of native grasses. • Overall improvement of land hydration, and subsequent biotic community viability. (This is especially evident during prolonged dry periods.)

Language(s)

English

Water

Water and land hydration are our key concerns. We utilise a number of strategies to increase hydration and manage water retention and shedding. Results include: • Efficient creek and waterway management; • Erosion control; • Weather variable buffers; • Hydro mulching; • Water polishing; • Hydration control; • Dam and dam water optimisation; • Increased transpiration cycling; • Cost savings (less need to provide drainage or irrigation).

Food Security/Nutrition

Improvements to food productivity and nutritional value include: • Dramatic increase in soil quality and fertility; • Efficient land hydrology; • Increase in animal health and marketability; • Recreating functional growing zones; • Optimising soil carbon to improve water retention; • Managing soil acidity and salinity; • Increase in biodiversity for new agricultural products; • More effective weed management; • Increase in plant nutrition; • Maximising orchard yield.

Economic/Sustainable Development

The economic benefits of improving land health and increasing biodiversity are well documented. Specific economic benefits to our clients have included: • Increasing land value; • Reduced input costs (fertilizer and pesticides); • Increased productivity; • Increased attractiveness of the local ‘restored’ natural amenities has arrested property value falls and attracted more people interested in sustainable development; • Agricultural diversity as hedge against market variations.

Climate

Climate impact of landscape system restoration has local as well as global impacts including: • More effective fire prevention and management; • Measurable direct and indirect impact on lessening greenhouse emissions; • Vegetation replacement offsets; • Volunteer plant propagation in situ; • Self sustaining vegetation; • Riparian zone function restored; • Biodiversity offsets; • Habitat restoration; • Increase in fauna health and balance.

Sustainability

We have deliberately created a mission based private business that creates a market for land restoration and offers affordable services. We believe this is the only sustainable way to ensure land restoration takes place and is available to most landholders. We always employ the most efficient, cost effective means to do the work including by physical labour when machinery is not appropriate. Some examples: We may use mulch win rows instead of excavated contours if machinery costs to clients are prohibitive. We also encourage clients to do as much of the work themselves and give them advice and instruction on how to do this and when. Government grants are available to clients from time to time but are not relied upon.

Return on investment

We offer our services on a variable pricing basis with earthworks and labour negotiated at the lowest rate possible (adjusted to the region and client’s resources). Our goal is to reduce inputs as much as possible so we design interventions to match the available materials. As erosion control is the most obvious benefit we provide arresting the loss of prime arable land is the most compelling reason to employ our methods. Eroded land is lost forever and is perhaps the greatest threat to biodiversity and food production in the long term. We estimate our charges are 1/3 less than standard industry rate.

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How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

This type of landscape restoration has been conducted over the past 30 years on properties in Australia ranging in size from a 500,000 acre grazing property and a 8000 acre horse stud to medium size farms and as small as 1/2 acre. It has also been applied on parks and gardens by municipalities. The most significant advantage of implementing the natural system restoration principles and methods is that they are applicable across any property, in any landscape and in any climate. We do not encourage people to conduct major earthworks without an extensive understanding of the methods and their risks and consequences. However, we do provide informal training and knowledge sharing within our social/community outreach and directly with clients. We are in the process of developing a certified holistic training package that explores landscape restoration, and restorative and sustainable land management practices.

Overview