Published since 1986
JANUARY, 2021
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Small farms big on benefits
Michael Densham on high productivity and profit on little landholdings
By EMMA OLIVER
AT THE HELM AND IN THE SOIL: Georgia Beattie, chief executive officer of Bulla Park, Australia’s largest organic mushroom farm, leads a team that lives by their values farming mushrooms through sustainable, clean farming practices and facilitating the development of the business from carbon neutral to actually impacting environmental issues for the benefit of all. Turn to page 2 for the story.
“TO build an economically and environmentally sustainable system for small farming enterprises, greater focus must be placed on leveraging the strengths of small farms and utilising innovative intensive farming methods,” said Michael Densham on receiving a 2021 Nuffield Scholarship sponsored by Hort Innovations. The scholarship is the continuation of a journey started many years ago by Michael, with his partner Keren, farming on a small holding in Israel. Moving to the United States, the couple then lived
in Sebastopol, California working at the renowned Singing Frogs Farm with its 2.5 acres of intensive vegetable production grown under a no-till soil management system. The recipient of numerous ecological farming awards, the farm with its emphasis on ecologically beneficial and regenerative farming systems produces over six times California’s average of harvest revenue per acre, and inspired Michael and Keren to return to Victoria and co-establish Mossy Willow Market Garden in Main Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula. Concentrating on building the organic matter in the
soil, while attracting a huge population of native pollinators, beneficial insects and vertebrates, Michael’s education at Singing Frogs Farm also involved a no-spray system of cultivation, and these are all principles he brings with him to the stewardship of his own farming enterprise. “Over the last four years I’ve been exploring cultivation techniques to build a more robust and resilient system, and by practising no-till farming you’re not only minimising weeds but also increasing the fertility of the soil as you’re respecting the soil biology,” Michael said. ■ Continued page 3
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