In this ENCORE episode you'll get an insight into what you can expect at the VicNoTill annual conference on September 2 and 3 at Moama, NSW when you meet our dinner guest speaker Will Bignell.

VicNoTill board members met Will last year at the Grounded Festival in Tasmania, and couldn't wait to get him over to the mainland to share his story. Limited tickets to the conference are still available. Visit VicNoTill's website to purchase. VicNoTill members get discounted tickets, so if you're not a member, you can join here first.

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Agricultural investment manager and VicNoTill board member Angus Ingram steps in as guest host for this fast-paced, action-packed interview with Tasmanian farmer and ag scientist Will Bignell. Angus pulled Will aside after hearing him speak at the Matthew Evans Grounded Festival in southern Tasmania in December 2024.

Will is a 7th generation farmer and father of three boys from Bothwell in Tasmania and it's remarkable what he's managed to cram into his life so far. The Bignell family farm is well known for pioneering and innovating a number of new and emerging Australian industries. Will has a fascinating back story and runs a highly diverse operation in an extremely challenging environment.

Will runs a 2300Ha farm with his parents and produce wool, poppies, lamb, venison and a number of boutique specialty root vegetables. He is highly regarded for his skills at breaking down complex problems and bringing together people and resources to create simple, effective and economical solutions.

We really appreciated Will's openness and his transparency about all the various challenges, successes and failures that he's had so far in life, and we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

NSW broadacre cropping farmer Dan Fox has a fascination for understanding the intricacies of how plants and soils function, and his conversation with Omnia research and development manager Andrew Doecke takes him into some deep rabbit holes on nutrition, chemistry and science.

Dan is in his element in this sponsor episode in piecing together how bio-stimulants fit into broadacre cropping systems.

This indepth discussion covers humates, inoculants, fertilisers, balancing nutrients and some of the misconceptions around biological stimulants.

Andrew outlines how Omnia are part of Fertiliser Australia's code of practice for labelling, to ensure farmers who purchase their products know exactly what's in them, and gives an invaluable insight into how farmers can be more targetted with their applications.

• Omnia's core philosophy is sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on optimising the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils. Based in Morwell, Victoria, they manufacture organic based soil conditioners and fertilisers that maximise and sustain soil productivity. Due to access to unique quality of raw materials in Australia and innovative product development, Omnia has grown into the largest Australian manufacturer of natural humate-based products. They collaborate with Monash University and other Australianresearch institutions to develop new products and tools locally for use in Australia and worldwide.
• For more information visit Omnia's website.

“If you have a decline in yield as a result of a transition to regenerative ag, it is not a result of regenerative ag, it is the result of poor agronomic management. Accepting a yield loss is a choice. Don’t say it’s a result of regenerative ag because it’s not, and I will die on this hill.”

It is a strong start to this Farmers Helping Farmers special episode with John Kempf – a true visionary in regenerative agriculture.

VicNoTill board member Angus Ingram catches up with John as he launches his new agronomic AI tool, Field Lark. It is an honour and a privilege that John chose our podcast as the first public recording about this tool.

VicNoTill members have already started testing and using Field Lark and believe this has the potential to be very powerful in assisting with information interpretation and decision making. It is a lightning-fast fact checker and a valuable sounding board. However, to our minds, AI will never replace a farmer's experience or their intuition – that ability to detect when something isn't quite right.

In this episode we also cover:

• Building an ‘on ramp’ for biological nutrition, whilst also building an ‘off ramp’ for chemistry- focused nutrition.

• The easy-to-achieve return on investments that nutritional and biological seed treatments offer, and the superior nutrient uptake efficiency that foliar applications provide.

• Non-linear agronomy - when you begin combining all these smaller variations to your inputs, you can see a compounding effect in the outcome. He calls it the ‘one plus one equals three’ scenario.

• A specific example relating to Australian conditions and how we can ensure that our crops and pastures have enough in the tank as we plant into cooling soils.

VicNoTill has long admired John’s vision and ambition, and he provides some great, relatable analogies for Australian farmers in this episode. Enjoy!

• Test Field Lark here.