The Regenerative Journey with Charlie Arnott Mick Wettenhall | Part 2 | Innovative farmer tapping into the power of the fungal highway
This is the second part of the Charlie's interview with Mick Wettenhall. Charlie caught up with Mick Wettenhall at his property 'Weemabah' at Trangie, NSW to dig into his own regenerative journey. Mick most recently has been progressing research into a little know fungi that has an enormous capacity to sequester carbon in the soil. Mick would rather see an agricultural evolution than an agricultural revolution, highlighting that if we are to support the adoption of regenerative practices it needs to be 'adaptable' to their current farming situations.
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Episode Takeaways:
Dr James White pioneered the research into plants farming microbes back in 2013 |Think big, start small, scale fast | There is a massive potential to sequest carbon in soil, farmers just need to know how | The key to driving a shift in farmers thinking of how they can contribute to reversing climate change is the conscious consumer through their buying choices | ‘Create a product or service that people can patronize to make that difference | ’The only thing missing to rapidly progress the research and uptake of carbon sequesting practices in this space is money | You can’t manage what you don’t measure | Farmers need to be remunerated for the carbon they sequest and nutritious food they grow | Hand held nutrition scanning technology is developing rapidly |Market gets what market wants |Create a demand economy lead by consumers to support farmers to grow more nutritious food |Mick uses a number of Johnson Su compost bioreactors to make fungal dominant compost which he then makes an extract from to spread on his crops | It is essentially a static pile aerobic compost | Once the thermophilic stage is complete worms are then added (vermophilic) | If the same amount of funds that is currently invested in industrial Ag ‘solutions' was invested in regenerative farming techniques........ | Truth is first ridiculed, then opposed then accepted as fact | Next generation will want to be part of the solution | Mick attended Landmark in his early 30s. It could be called a personal development course, however is so much more...Charlie has completed the course as well | Landmark Forum is essentially 'Holding a mirror up against ones self to help identify why one does the things one does '....
Episode Links :
Aust soil planners group - Australia's largest sustainable group of farmers.
’Quality Agriculture’ - John Kempf
‘The Great Disruption’ - Paul Gilding