Building business strength from the ground up

The team from Cape York NRM took part in an “information-packed” workshop with landholders in the Lakeland region on July 18 as part of a business resilience project examining good soil health and plant ecosystems.

Organised by Growcom, the Building Business Strength From The Ground Up Workshop included presentations from the Manager, Resilience, for Growcom Karen George, Founder & Director of Learning from Nature Wendy Seabrook, and Regional Soils Coordinator from the TNQ Drought Hub  Dhiraj Gajera. 

Some 12 attendees began the day at a, "Lakeland local" all organic farm. 

“Owners Maria and John have created a beautiful organic farm where they grow Pawpaws, Passionfruit, Limes and Bananas,” Cape York NRM RALF coordinator Katrina Shaw said. 

“They are certified organic which means they use no chemical fertilisers, and grow their own mulch to help hold moisture in the soil and control the weeds.  While we were out there, Dhiraj took some soil samples to assess the richness of the land.”

Back at the Lakeland Hall, Wendy Seabrook, presented on farm soil and ecological health, which she said was key to a healthier and more resilient farming future. 

“Karen finished off the afternoon with a demonstration on how to get your own drought resilience plan in place,” Katrina said. “She made it very clear that a more resilient and sustainable farm is easily achievable and also gave us an overview of QRIDA drought support grants & loans.”

For Cape York NRM’s recently appointed Sustainability Officer Kathrina Southwell, the event was a terrific opportunity to get to know the locals. 

“I got to meet some of the Landholders and it was great to see them coming up with an extensive list of goals that they would like to achieve for their business/farm planning resilience,” she said. 

“These included improving the ecosystem, having a truly sustainable model, better water storage solutions, value adding, lifting of industry standards, holistic management, better profitability, ensuring they have a nice place to live and work, succession plans, having saleable products and cohesion of government departments.

“I am really looking forward to working with them to help them hit their targets.”

This workshop is delivered by Growcom with support from the TNQ Drought Hub with funding through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Queensland Government’s Drought and Climate Adaptation Program