There’s an ancient proverb found in Sanskrit text of 1500BC that sums up the seriousness of soil with frightful accuracy;
“Upon this handful of soil, our survival depends. Husband it, and it will grow our food, our fuel and our shelter and surround us with beauty. Abuse it, and the soil will collapse and die, taking humanity with it.”
Gabe Brown and the Soil Health Academy give a lot of airtime to soil health, but it’s not a particularly new concept. In 1989, Bob Rodale, son of the original Mr Organic, J I Rodale, outlined a set of principles for regenerative agriculture. They were much broader and rightly included economics, profitability, happiness, people and community; topics we also cover in other sections of our educational materials.
Nowadays, there are various ideas on soil health published by different groups, and while the order of the principles varies, there is total agreement on some of their content, such as;
Our Founding Director, Dr Terry McCosker, developed our RCS soil health principles independently of others and has received extensive praise on them since.
Because the RCS approach to agriculture is based on universal principles, it was critical to get these right before expanding the RCS business model from grazing to cropping.
When considering the Natural Resources Conservation Service list, the only principle Dr McCosker disagrees with is the one about tillage. He agrees that reducing or eliminating tillage is in the best interests of soil health; however, he considers it a tool rather than a principle.
In agriculture, we only have two choices about how we run our ecosystems. We can manage in a manner that causes ecosystem health (including soils) to spiral downwards towards desertification, or we can manage to regenerate ecosystem health, profits, production and well-being to spiral upwards.
We can only manage for improvement or damage to an ecosystem. There is no in-between. Each direction is a cycle which develops into a spiral, either up or down. Ecosystem health, like the foundation of a pyramid, is the foundation of any agricultural business and drives both productivity and profitability. We believe this adaption from J I Rodale should frame your goals.
Our Founding Director has been working with and developing our fundamental principles for 30 years, and has learned through this process that the order is important. “It took me around 20 years to realise that a principle for people and management must head the list,” says Dr McCosker. The RCS version of soil health principles can transform soils, plant production and the economics of agriculture when applied to any natural system, including horticulture, tree cropping, broadacre cropping or grazing.
The RCS principles, in what we currently believe to be the correct order, are:
Our courses explore these principles further. If you feel your farm management could benefit from these principles, contact our team or sign up for a course or workshop.
Listen Regen Ray podcast Ep 39: Start Thinking Holistically About The World Beneath Our Feet with Dr Terry McCosker
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Dennis Donohoe, farm manager with Aminya Pastoral, is a seasoned producer with decades of experience, and his story is a testament to how even minor changes in farming practices can lead to significant improvements in productivity and land health.
Once you have ownership as to why planning is important, the next ingredient is to work out where and how you will do your planning. When you write something down you change your relationship with the content. I cannot emphasise enough the power of getting your thoughts and plans out of your head onto paper or the computer.
The season in SA and Tassie is particularly tight right now with little or no useful rain since early January and a generally failed 2023 spring prior to that. Right now, across southern Australia and much of the eastern NSW, you won’t need to drive far out into the countryside to see cattle and sheep grazing (and lying on) hay and silage trails lined across paddocks.
Martha Lindstad and partner Robert James are farm managers on ‘Karalee’, Enngonia NSW. Both have travelled different paths to being where they are. Martha is originally from Norway, growing up on a three hectare farm before travelling to New Zealand and eventually the Pilbara in Western Australia. It was here that she saw the benefits of sustainable farming for the country and livestock.
The Prince’s RCS mentor, Raymond Stacey, sees a strong future ahead for Simon and Laura. “The Drought Resilient Soils and Landscapes project is about supporting graziers to manage their country and businesses better,” Raymond said. “I see an operation here where they’re working hard on their planning and putting their plans into action to leave their country, business and people in better shape.”
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