In this podcast episode, Gavin heads out to Jim Coren’s place in Tucki Tucki near Lismore, NSW.

Apparently Tucki Tucki means place of many koalas. The local Bundjalung word for koala is Burbi, a totemic animal prior to European settlement, and a concerted effort is now being made locally to conserve the koala population.

Jim and his wife Andy settled here a few years ago just as the worst flood in recorded European history impacted Lismore and surrounds, and like many people on floodplain country, it left much of their property underwater for a long time and saturated for most of 2022.

Like a lot of farmers, Jim likes getting things done and being able to see the results of his efforts. He aims to improve the impact of his grazing management and regenerate tired flood plain soils and pastures, but the challenge of these extended wet periods has proved difficult.  

There have been wins though, especially on hill country where the impact of fish hydrolysate made on farm has boosted the growth of Rhodes grass, so it is now able to compete with the less desirable Bahia grass.

Jim and Andy are also seeing thriving patches of mixed species of sorghum oats and legumes.

This Ground Cover episode is the final episode in a six-episode series where we heard from participants in the Regenerative Agriculture Mentoring Program. RAMP was developed at Southern Cross University. The project has been assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust. You can learn more about RAMP at https://www.ramp.org.au