Making Biofertilisers on farm: Online Course July 2024

Learn how to make range of cultures, biofertilisers and biostimulants on farm?

Explore Bioferts, Effective Microbes and Korean Natural Farming approaches. 

Get tips from experienced Australian practitioners on making it work at all scales.

This practical Online Course from Soil Land Food will get you started!

Brand new online course for Australian farmers!!!!!!!

Join leading agroecologist David Hardwick, and guest practitioners including soil health coach Luke Harrington, compost and waste guru Gerry Gillespie and a regenerative farmer Simon Mattsson as we explore how to make cultures, biostimulants and biofertilisers on farm using a range of methods. This course will cover manufacturing biologicals on farm at different scales. A free workbook with open source recipes and an Action Plan will be provided as well.

During this 5 session online course you will learn:

• The different types of products: inoculants, biostimulants and biofertilisers.
  
• About the different approaches including Bioferts, Effective Microorganisms and Korean Natural Farming.
  
• How to make a range of basic Starter Cultures
• Compost Inoculants and Hydrolysates - high protein bioferments made with animal or food biomass
  
• A range of biofertilisers and biostimulants products using different approaches and ingredients
• Quality Control, storage and handling
• The different equipment options for making on farm.
  

"Thank you again for delivering a fantastic session" Bioferts Workshop Western Victoria April 2023

Places in this course are limited to 30 farm businesses so participants get time to share and learn with other participants and tap into the presenters' collective practical experience in making biologicals on farm. You will need access to Zoom to attend this Course.

Course Content:

Webinar 1 - Introduction to the Course and Presenters. Biological products: cultures, biostimulants and biofertlisers. The different culturing approaches: fermentation, aerobic and vermi products. An introduction to the different methods; Bioferts and Korean Natural Farming. Liquid fermentation: the essentials to getting it right.

Webinar 2 - Preparing to make biologicals: 5 things you need to plan: Site, Ingredients, Equipment, Water, Quality Control. Making Base Cultures: the different recipes and options including kefir, rice water, EM, cow manure and paunch.  

Webinar 3 - Making biofertilisers and biostimluants: chelation and stimulants. We go through 3 example recipes in detail including making trace element, Phosphorous and Calcium products. We look at alternative ingredients for certified organics along with different customising options.

Webinar 4 - Making hydrolysates and compost inoculants: we go through recipes in detail on using food scraps, fish etc. Making Korean Natural Farming cultures and biostimulants - we go through 3 recipes in detail with Luke Harrington, a certified KNF teacher who is making KNF products at scale. 

Webinar 5 - Q & A session where we answer any questions to help you make a batch on your place.

Dates & Times:

Wednesdays

• 24th July 2024 - 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm
• 31st July 2024 - 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm
• 7th August 2024 - 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm
  
• 14th August 2024 - 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm
• 21st August 2024 - 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm

Presenters

David Hardwick

David is a professional agroecologist at Soil Land Food. He has been doing soil and regenerative agriculture extension and consulting all over Australia for over 20 years. He completed a degree in Ecological Agriculture at the University of Sydney with focus on regenerative and organic farming systems, land management and rural change. For 5 years he worked as Technical Manager for a biofertiliser company that manufactured and sold a range of biological products including fermentation based biostimulants, humates, liquid fertilisers and rock phosphate products. He was involved in product development, QA and on-farm trials. In 2011 he completed the Mas Humas biofertiliser course. Since then he has worked with farmers, made and consulted on biofertiliser projects across Australia.

Luke Harrington

Luke is a soil health coach based at Deniliquin in southern NSW. He works across central and southern NSW and in Victoria helping farmers and graziers transition to a more biological approach to agriculture. Luke has successfully used a range of biostimulants with his clients for a number of years including worm products and plant extract based stimulants. He recently completed a course on Korean Natural Farming methods. Luke completed Korean Natural Farming training and is a certified KNF teacher. He has begun making KNF products and helping farmers who want to make them on farm as well.

Gerry Gillespie

Gerry is a pioneer in fermentative composting in Australia. He worked on worm farm operations before developing the fermentative or SPICE composting method as part of the original City To Soil Project in NSW. As part of that project he developed a number of fermentation recipes for processing high protein biomass such as food scraps and dead animals. He is acknowledged as a world leader in managing food scraps and organics from towns and cities to help transform the earth. He has recently written a book, "The waste between our ears", which is published by Acres USA. Gerry has mentored the Soil Land Food team for over 10 years!

Simon Mattsson

Soil Land Food team member Simon is a regenerative farming extension specialist, Nuffield Scholar and consultant who focuses on plant diversity for managing soil biological function to improve soil for increased productivity and better environmental outcomes. He grew up on a family cattle station near Mt Coolan, Qld, before the family moved into sugarcane and cattle operations in Mackay. A Nuffield Scholarship in 2014 to research soil biology gave Simon the opportunity to travel the world exploring multi-species cropping. After visiting farmers on three continents, including Gabe Brown, he came home and planted sunflowers in his sugarcane! Since then he has sown many multi-species crops and pastures and has helped numerous other farmers do as well! Simon has been an active user of soil and sap tests on his farm for many years growing a range of crops and pastures. For the last 4 years he has helped deliver a number of soil extension projects for Soil Land Food in Queensland and NSW. A champion of soil health in 2020 he transitioned to extension and consulting as well as starting a tropical fruit orchard where he uses plant diversity to manage the inter-row. In 2023 Simon completed the 4 day Soil Biology Masterclass at Western Sydney University.


The team at Soil Land Food have been running fun and practical workshops on composting and biofertilisers all around Australia for over 10 years. Check out our website for more info: www.soillandfood.com.au

How the Course works!!

The Course is 5 Zoom webinars, run one each week over 5 weeks. Each session will be recorded so if you miss a session you can catch up on Zoom via the Event Hub. We will also provide you with a free Making Bioferments on farm Manual to help you with recipes and to plan a project on your farm. Check out an introductory Biofertilisers Youtube video here! The course needs a minimum of 15 participants to go ahead. We reserve the right to cancel/postpone the course if minimum numbers are not achieved. Full refunds are given.

What people say about some of our other online courses

"Informative, helpful and easy to understand. I would highly recommend this to both beginners and more knowledgeable people. These guys are a wealth of information." Jason NSW

 "This course topped up prior self learning from reading about Gerry's SPICE composting online. I have made several batches of the SPICE compost in the past few months on my horse property. The knowledge of Dave, Gerry, Wes and Carl was terrific and filled in so many gaps I had and will now be able to pursue the development of a much better product." Robyn WA

 "David’s humour and way of speaking made this course really easy to follow along and get so much out of." Donna

  "The Australian Standards for composting was very interesting, going through the tests was excellent and helped pulled out key points. I really enjoyed the discussion of compost quality as part of session 4." Sharon NSW

 "Great, interactive and knowledgeable course for all levels of composting!" Amy