Land to Market CEO Tony Hill to speak alongside regenerative agriculture experts at upcoming Goulburn conference

Currently mentoring farmers in the Goulburn region, Mr Hill said more conversations were needed between farmers as well as with the community.

"I don't know whether it's some aspects of our traditional life in Australia, the way we get fixated on supporting our favourite sporting team, but the temptation to fall into a kind of tribal discussion of them and us is quite strong," he said.

"If we can overcome that and have a genuine and open discussion, involving everybody in the community, and not in a way that blames anybody, we'll move forward."

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After purchasing a farm in 2016 Mr Hill was inspired to learn about regenerative farming. He quickly realised that there needed to be a flexible approach to sustainable farming.

In response, he started up 'Land to Market' which offers training in 'ecological outcome verification', the world's first verified regenerative-sourcing solution for farm produce and ecological health.

"My perspective was that [regenerative farmers] were quite introspective," Mr Hill said.

"They were very busy doing the things on their farm and they didn't have a lot of time to tell the rest of the community what was happening."

Through the verification process products receive a special seal which consumers can use to make decisions about the type of produce they want to buy.

"I think there is a bit of a misconception about [regenerative farming], that somehow it's got to be a kind of defined or pre-approved set of practices and from my point of view, nothing could be further from the truth," Mr Hill said.

"The key point is that ecological outcome verification doesn't dictate a set of farming practices.

"Instead it looks at the actual health of the ecosystem on the production farmland."

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Mr Hill said farmers should have resilience at the top of their minds when making any farming decisions.

"It's important so that you're not suffering so much from all the kinds of catastrophes that we face, whether that's floods, fires or megadroughts," he said.

The mentor said he was particularly impressed by the eagerness of people in the Goulburn region to engage in meaningful discussions.

Tony Hill mentors as part of the Regenerative Agriculture Mentorship Program established by Southern Cross University, he said the mentorship program was a supportive environment but participants had to be a "little bit brave".

"You have to be prepared to be frank with your comments and make a contribution to the overall discussion because the more contributions individuals make, the better the discussion gets," he said.

"We have to be brave enough to get up there and talk not just about our successes, but where we haven't been able to work things out so well and try to learn from that process."

Misunderstanding and not having the opportunity to engage with other farmers were two of the greatest barriers to more farmers taking an interest in regenerative agriculture according to Mr Hill.

"One of the things that really helps is to have communication and interaction so the conference coming up is trying to share those ideas and give people a chance to discuss," he said.

Tony Hill will be speaking at an upcoming conference organised by Community Voice for Hume called 'Let's Get Earthy'.

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The event will run over two days from Thursday, September 15 to Friday, September 16 and will include a farm field trip, community dinner, conference and expo.

There will be 12 speakers at the conference, which will be held at Goulburn Soldier's Club, including internationally recognised soil microbiologist, plant ecologist and innovative strategist Walter Jehne.

There will also be a variety of exhibitors such as ANU Sustainable Farms Project, Gundaroo Regenerative Land Management and Landcare Goulburn Mulwaree/SE NSW.

Mr Hill said understanding that we are living on land that was previously occupied by First Nations peoples for tens of thousands of years was also of high importance in any discussion on sustainability.

"First Nations peoples had a cultural view that didn't separate people from the land, that people were integrated with the land," he said.

"I haven't come across a farmer yet who didn't love the land in some way, it doesn't matter what cultural background you come from, if you've got that strength of commitment and engagement, you've got a real foundation to build on."

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