This year Murrumbidgee Landcare Inc were looking for six Landcare champions in the Murrumbidgee region that went above and beyond to look after the land and the Narrandera region did not disappoint, having four of the six winners and a runner-up.
Strong family’s 25 years improving the land
The Strong family (Garth, Jan, Graham and Amanda) from Boree Creek own a property called ‘Arcadia’. They were nominated and won in the category of Landcare Farming Champion Award due to their farming journey and efforts in improving the land in a sustainable way over the last 25 years.
They were early adopters in sustainable farming after the droughts of the early 80’s and 90’s, it was after this when the family started to notice a change in farming profitability. It was from 1996 onwards when they changed their farming practices and started planting saltbush and tree belts 30m to 50m wide around their fence lines.
By 1997 the Strongs had implemented the method of direct seeding, utilising locally sourced native seeds and cropping techniques to sow their paddocks with native perennial grasses and tree lanes with native endemic trees. By 2001, when the millennium drought hit, the family were glad that the saltbush, native perennials, and grasses that had been established on the property was holding up in the drought and continue to hold up and fill feed gaps.
This meant that they were able to sustain their sheep throughout the drought. In 2006 they started marketing ‘Arcadia Saltbush Lamb’ and built up a self-replacing Soft Rolling Skin (SRS) dual purpose merino flock with high fertility to match that of cross breeds.
The wool is sold as Ethical Wool for which the family get a premium. The SRS sheep breed are less likely to get flyblown due to the reduced wrinkles, meaning the family have not mulesed for about 15 years. The Family have embraced principles of regenerative agriculture and divided their paddocks, put in laneways, utilise electric fencing to enable longer rest periods for plant growth and keep ground cover to protect soil. They have continued to plant trees and shrubs and have been able to establish over a million trees and shrubs since the 1990s. No broadacre insecticides or fungicides have been used for over 25 years. Herbicides are used sparingly and usually spot sprayed.
When asked if there was anything they wished they did differently with the knowledge you have today. They said “Looking back over 25+ years there are no important issues which we would change. Starting earlier would have been helpful.”
The Landcare movement has been an important driver and influence for the family and the neighbouring properties. The Strongs were members of the Strontian Road Landcare Group which was established in 1991. At the time, salinity was a problem for properties in the area.
Over the next two decades several hundred hectares of Old Man Saltbush was planted by the group helped by funding from National Heritage Trust Greening Australia and other sources.
This group folded in 2019 as properties were sold or leased and there were too few members left to continue. Their assets were given to the Narrandera Landcare Group. The Strongs appreciate the knowledge and impetus Landcare provide.
When asked what their farming goals are for the future they responded with: “We intend to continue with our goals of maintaining 100% ground cover 100% of the time. Also, to continue wool and meat production in an ethical and environmentally positive way. The goal is also to not only be sustainable but also regenerative. We are also part of the ANU Sustainable Farms study which is ongoing.”
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 23 December 2021.
