Tweed Farm Walk & Talk @ Anastasia & Lexie's farm

Join Tweed Shire graziers Lexie and Anastasia and Tweed Shire Council's Sustainable Agriculture team as they walk and talk their way through a regenerative agriculture, pasture-cropping trial at Terragon in northern New South Wales.

Fed up with pasture dieback and an abundance of broad-leaved weeds overrunning their paddocks, Anastasia and Lexie knew there had to be a better way. Their focus has been on understanding and improving the health of their soils with organic amendments and by introducing new pasture species. Their strategy aims to overcome pasture dieback by increasing biomass, carbon capture, and nutrient cycling whilst improving water infiltration and outcompeting weeds.

Anastasia and Lexie both have family farming backgrounds coming from cotton and dairy farms. When they took over management of the farm it was in a state of disrepair having been historically cleared with a dozer like many properties in the area, with rampant regrowth of lantana, bracken and camphor laurel. They have been regenerating the property for a number of years since. Their initial approach to weed management was conventional broadacre spraying and slashing which quickly proved to be time consuming, expensive and not conducive to building natural capital. They have now transitioned to mulching for increased carbon return and pasture rejuvenation along with wick wiping to reduce chemical input.

Lexie and Anastasia’s goal is to increase soil health, encourage dung beetles and predatory insects like lady beetles by incorporating organic inputs and minimizing chemical use. They are now trialing multispecies pasture varieties and subtropical legumes for nitrogen fixing without inputs. These topics will be explored on the day.