Farmer discussion groups and field days

On Saturday 1^st August 2026 Professor David Karody, of Melbourne University and the Climate Council joined over 30 farmers for the MP farmer discussion group to discuss the recent forecast of a ‘super’ El nino, what it means and how you can prepare. Click here to download David’s slides and for more information on the risks to farmers see the National Climate Risk Assessment completed by the Australian Government last year.

In this presentation and discussion we host Jean-Martin Fortier from Canada, one of the world’s leading thinkers on small-scale farming, to delve into how the transformative power of ecological farming can restore and ignite local communities.

Jean-Martin highlights the success stories of growers empowered by The Market Gardener Institute and explores the innovative ventures that continue to shape the future of regenerative agriculture.

In the second half we introduce a panel of leading Australian and New Zealand Market Gardeners for an interactive panel discussion. This talk promises to inspire and equip viewers with the knowledge and passion to cultivate a more resilient and sustainable food system.

This event was supported by the Australian Government through the National Heritage Trusts Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.

Held on June 24th at Flinders Community Hall, the Agroecology Forum welcomed over 100 attendees for a day of connection, learning, and action.

The event featured three dynamic sessions: Caring for Country = Caring for Community, Agroecology in Action, and Disrupting the Supply Chain, each highlighting innovative approaches to local, regenerative farming. A highlight of the day was the locavore lunch curated by Simone Watts, showcasing the richness of Mornington Peninsula produce. The forum brought together farmers, researchers, and community members to explore how agroecology can strengthen local food systems and community resilience.

Catch up on the full event via the video recordings; and dive deeper into the story on the MPP website: The Future of Farming is Local.

This program was delivered over two sessions:

1. Brian Wehlburg from Insight Outside Management
2. Pragna Prathap and Nick Dudley from Agriculture Victoria and Dom Walker from RCS

Following on nicely from our last talk with Fiona Baker, an approach to addressing climatic variances and general environmental challenges on farms is holistic management and decision making. Farms on the Mornington Peninsula are vulnerable to a wide range of interconnected environmental and social variables that represent the ‘whole system’. Managing the whole system correctly can improve a land manager’s ability to reduce the risk of overgrazing, build more stable and resilient farming systems, increase the health of soils and landscapes and address climate change by sequestering more carbon in soils.   

To explore holistic management and carbon farming in depth, a two-day educational and training series was run between April-June 2025 with Agriculture Victoria in partnership with the Carbon Farming Outreach Program. Several leading experts in this field spoke to the farming community to deliver an exciting event: Brian Wehlburg from Inside Outside Management, Pragna Prathap and Nick Dudley from Agriculture Victoria and Dom Walker from Resource Consulting Services (RCS). 

Coined by Alan Savory of the Savory Institute, holistic management and grazing is being adopted across Australia and taught by a few highly trained educators. One such educator is Brian Wehlburg, who spoke passionately to the farming group on day 1 of the training series about the management approach and range of benefits. Central to holistic management and grazing are 4 key insights: nature functions as a whole, the brittleness scale, the predator-prey relationship and time rather than numbers governs overgrazing. Each insight contains depth and detail for land managers to consider and must be understood fully before implementing Savory’s holistic approach.   

Building on Brian’s fantastic talk, day 2 of the training series narrowed in on the topics of carbon farming and the ecology and economics of holistic grazing. From Agriculture Victoria, Pragna Prathap provided a detailed introduction to carbon farming and Nick Dudley took the group through several carbon accounting tools and carbon sequestration estimation activities e.g. using LOOC-C. Use of publicly available carbon accounting tools can provide valuable carbon sequestration estimations to farmers under certain management practices. 

Linking carbon farming to holistic decision making further, Dom Walker from RCS discussed grazing principles with a focus on linking ecology and economy, holistic management and grazing for profit. Key RCS grazing principles that land managers could follow are: plan, monitor and manage; plants need rest; and match stocking rate to carrying capacity. Learning how to calculate a paddock’s carrying capacity requires an understanding of Dry Sheep Equivalent (DSE), the type of livestock, the size of a paddock and the amount of annual rainfall. 

Intertwined throughout each RCS principle are important understandings about the relationship between ecology and economy whilst maintaining a holistic approach at all times. For example, the direct relationship between yield and time when grass is growing, seasonal growth adjustments through observations, and rotating your livestock when grasses reach the desired growth stage.  

If you missed this training series, please get in touch with us to learn more. 

In Autumn 2025 the Peninsula experienced severe rainfall deficiencies and long range forecasts expect a continuation of this trend coupled with higher than usual temperatures. As of May 2025 the Mornington Peninsula is considered in drought and farmers should seek the latest information and support from Agriculture Victoria.

For this talk we had Fiona Baker from Agriculture Victoria, a Livestock Extension Officer with extensive expertise in feed management, discuss preparing livestock enterprises for seasonally dry conditions in Autumn.  

This timely topic provided Peninsula farmers with a range of insights and strategies, including managing supplementary feed, assessing pasture conditions, understanding pasture species survival rates and appropriate mixes, pasture resowing considerations, what to look out for with animal health, what to consider if the dry season continues and addressing farm water issues.  

During dry conditions, buying, selling or feeding fodder must be considered in order to preserve pasture and livestock health. There are a range of available tools and feed estimation equations to support this further, including Meat and Livestock’s Pasture Ruler. By estimating the carrying capacity of pastures and daily livestock energy needs, managers are better able to adjust to seasonal shifts and get the most out of their farming system.   

Recognising the challenges that farmers face during dry season conditions and droughts, the Victorian Government is offering On-Farm Drought Infrastructure Grants for technical decision-making and wellbeing support to the Mornington Peninsula from May 2025.  

Topic: Birds on Farms
Location: 76 Bellingham Road, Arthurs Seat
When: Friday 28th March 2025, 10.00am-12.30pm
Attendees: 51

For this event we had Shannon Creaney from Birdlife Australia, the Monitoring Coordinator of the Victorian Birds on Farms program, present to attendees about Birdlife Australia, the Victorian Birds on Farms program, the kinds of birds typically found on Mornington Peninsula farms, and the benefits of birds on farms. This short video gives a brief overview of the project.

The program supports landholders and local communities to enhance populations and diversity of woodland birds and their habitats, within a landscape that continues to be agriculturally productive and profitable. This program is open to anyone with bird habitat that suits the program’s requirements. To express interest in being involved, you can submit your details via this contact form.

A range of temperate woodland habitats can be found on Mornington Peninsula farms, and these habitats suit a range of bird species on the Peninsula. The most common are Australian Magpies, Red Wattlebirds, and Grey Fantails while less common species are Scarlet Robbins and Crested Strikes. During the bird-watching activity, the group spotted a range of birds, including a Grey Strike-thrush, Red Wattlebird, and New Holland Honeyeater.

Interested in finding out more? Check out their website here: Birds on Farms – BirdLife Australia for tips on bird identifying and creating a bird-friendly environment, and information on how to get involved including doing your own bird counts.

Watch this short video for a brief overview of the Birdlife Australia’s Birds on Farms Program.

Three invaluable sessions were held.

1. An introduction to biofertilisers: Daniel Hodges. Watch the video.
2. Biological mapping and assessing agricultural landscapes: Luke Weekley. Watch the video.
3. Using biological inputs: Peter Briscoe. Watch the video

This panel discussion was hosted as part of the Future Farmers program.

Watch the webinar recording.