Nuffield scholars share ideas

SOME of agriculture’s most passionate and motivated people have gathered in Launceston this week for the Nuffield Australia national conference. 

About 150 people attended the conference, which was last held in Tasmania ten years ago. 

The two-day conference also included presentations from scholars form across the country who shared the findings from their studies. 

Among them was farmer and 2023 Nuffield Scholar Iain Field. 

Mr Field runs the diverse operation Leap Farm at Copping with his wife Kate and the focus of his project was how to increase ecological literacy and biodiversity on farms. 

As part of his project Mr Field travelled to countries including Canada, Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain and northern Australia. 

“I’ve been looking at how farmers can increase biodiversity on farm, and how they can integrate it into their practices,” he said. 

Mr Field has always been passionate about nature and worked as an ecologist before starting a farming business in 2012. He said seeing what farmers are doing in other parts of the world had been encouraging. 

“I think a lot of farmers have already been making changes but it has been humble progress and it hasn’t always been for the environment, it has been towards increasing their production or productivity but biodiversity has been at the core of it,” he said. 

Mr Field said while there are ways of measuring improvements in biodiversity and making that cost-effective and so it can be shared by the whole supply chain is a challenge. 

Looking forward, Mr Field said biodiversity will become more of a focus for consumers as well. 

“I think it’s tsunami that’s coming at us,” he said. “We’re seeing nature related financial disclosure, we’re seeing access to the European market all dictated by the inclusion of biodiversity friendly farming. It’s coming it’s just a question of how fast we adopt.” 

Mr Field said many farmers however are on the front foot already. “Farmers have been doing this for decades,” he said. 

“Farmers have been including biodiversity friendly practices in their operations for decades, now legislation and Government is finally catching up.” 

Mr Field said they are now trialling some of the practices he has seen on farms in other countries in their own operation. 

One of those is the establishment of hedge rows on the farm, which can provide shelter and food for animals and insects.

The hedge rows include some natives as well as fruit and nut trees and biodiverse fodder options of the animals.” 

While undertaking a Nuffield Scholarship is a big commitment, Mr Field said he would encourage anyone considering it to definitely give it a go. “Just go for it,” he said. 

“Don’t think that you’re not capable. Nuffield scholarships are an incredible opportunity to meet other farmers and you won’t necessarily meet like minded farmers, there will be challenges and that’s great because you need to be challenged to grow.” 

Well-known Tasmanian business women and cheesemaker Jane Bennett who was a 2008 Nuffield Scholar is now the chair of Nuffield Australia. 

Ms Bennett’s involvement with Nuffield started when she was nine years old and her father was a Nuffield Scholar. 

She remembers clearly the many visitors they had staying at their house over the years who were all Nuffield scholars, and this is something she herself still does today. 

“I was about 12 when I realised one of my life’s ambitions was to become a Nuffield Scholar,” she said. 

“The reason I knew that is because all the people that came to stay at our house were all so interesting and motivated and enthusiastic and I thought how fantastic.” 

Ms Bennett said the family’s Ashgrove cheese business had been established after her father met with Nuffield scholars in the UK that were involved with cheese making. 

“He returned home for that trip in 1986 and gave my sister and I a present each and the present he gave me was an apron from a cheese factory in Switzerland and he handed it to me and said this is for you to wear when you’re selling your cheese,” she said. 

“And that was the first conversation we had about me becoming a cheesemaker and it all started from there.” 

Ms Bennett said the benefits of the Nuffield Scholarship program can been seen throughout agriculture. 

“What is does is takes people out of the known knowns, throws them out in the world and gives them a whole heap of tools and understanding and capability to be curious, to ask questions and challenge themselves to be open to new possibilities,” she said. 

“What we see is when they come home and go back to their farms, it really enhances their ability to adapt to change and in agriculture we need to be constantly adapting.”