APRIL 2020
What a turbulent time, with so much of the economy and people’s lives thrown into total disarray due to the corona pandemic. When will life pre-2020 resume? Fortunately most farms can continue on as “business as usual”, maybe with less social interaction, but relatively normal farming operations being able to be maintained.
On a positive note, a large part of the eastern states have had great autumn breaks, some the best in recent history. Sadly, other areas just a stone’s throw away, remain gripped in drought…and many land management issues still abound, not hidden by a film of green.
At the Soils For Life office work continues on, with all staff working from home. Later this month the ‘Fairhalt’ case study will be published and next month the ‘Salisbury’ case study will be released. We are always on the lookout for new case studies, so please contact us if you would like to apply.
In the “office”, Narelle Luff has been doing an outstanding job as operations manager, keeping the new “at home workplace” going in as full swing as practicable. Recently there have been new additions to staff: Jen Richards as Communications Manager; Katherine Brown from a soil science background; James Diack, an Agricultural Scientist; and Rebecca Palmer-Brodie from the field of social science. Welcome all to the S4L team!
Other happenings include the refinement of our website to make valuable information and contacts easier to access. We continue to post on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and are now active on LinkedIn as well. Any feedback on any of these is always welcome!
On another front, I have been embarking on some “slow travel” aiming to ride a push bike from Perth to Pambula…where is Perth I hear you say! The ride is as a fundraiser for the country education foundation, to raise funds for rural students to get opportunities in education that they would otherwise miss out on. Have a look at cef.org.au/charlie for more info. Unfortunately with borders closed, I was able to ride from Mildura to Narrandera and then Adaminaby to Pambula before the lock down, covering about 750km of the state.
What does this have to do with Soils for Life? Quite simply, “slow travel” enables me to observe changes in the landscape and differences in management between places in a district. The management of ground cover, species diversity, riparian health and weed infestation are some of the things which stand out…the seven days of bike travel so far seemed to go faster than the two of car travel to get there….with so much more to be observed when travelling at a slower pace!
It really makes me realise that we still have a long way to go with environmental stewardship and the long term health security of this land we all love. There is still much to be done to get the Soils For Life message out there…and implemented!
