In early 2026, as part of our Future Farm Foundations project, NACC NRM is hosting international and local guest speakers who will visit the region to share ideas and inspire you to implement practical solutions to become resilient in the face of change.
Don’t miss your opportunity to register for these events, connect with people who inspire your mind and to give back to the land and the soil that was so giving in 2025. This is your chance to ask questions, connect with a level of sustainable agriculture expertise that doesn’t come around this neck of the woods too often!
‘Not Just Dirt: A Hidden Ecosystem’ Forum
18th February 2026 | 10:00am – 2:00pm
Irwin Recreation Centre | Ridley St, Port Denison WA 6525
Key note speaker: Kevin Elmy of Cover Crops Canada
Registrations: Click here for FREE registration
Beneath our feet lies a vibrant, living ecosystem essential to farming and life on Earth. Soil is far more than dirt — it’s a complex network of microbes, insects, fungi and organisms that support plant growth, regulate water and sustain our planet.
Led by Canadian agronomist and regenerative agriculture educator Kevin Elmy, this forum explores the science and practical application of soil health. With over 20 years’ experience, Kevin helps producers restore soil ecology, improve resilience and rethink conventional farming systems.
This session delivers practical, actionable strategies farmers can take home, supporting low-input, resilient systems that work with nature, not against it.
Designed for anyone who works with soil — from backyards to paddocks — the forum unpacks the hidden soil landscape, exploring plant interactions, functional plant groups, key soil principles and how everyday decisions impact life below ground.
Together with other expertise, the forum will focus on:
- Soil microbes: bacteria, fungi
- Earth worms and termite action
- Cover and companion cropping
- Livestock integration
- Nutrient cycling
- Soil organic matter
- Practical tips for soil management
Registrations are FREE, so please secure your spot for catering and insurance purposes.
Stay connected through NACC NRM’s Facebook and Instagram pages for updates. For further information, get in touch!
Katrina Sasse | Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator, NACC NRM
M 0447 361 335 | E katrina.sasse@nacc.com.au | T (08) 9938 0110
This event is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program through RegenWA’s Accelerating Regenerative Agriculture Adoption Project.
NACC NRM’s Future Farm Foundations project is funded under the Natural Heritage Trust’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.
Resilient Farming Learning Groups
Learn from peers and new alternative systems and ways of thinking.
Up to 10 farming businesses (maximum two participants per business) can register for two peer-to-peer working groups beginning February and March 2026. To register please contact Katrina.Sasse@nacc.com.au and specify which learning group you have preference for. The program will include a half-day deep-dive session, an individual farm visit or phone call with the facilitator, and a follow-up catch up with the cohort. All for FREE!
20 February 2026 | Learning Group 1 | Kevin Elmy of Cover Crops Canada | Half Day Deep Dive Session
*SOLD OUT*
Led by Kevin Elmy, a leading expert in regenerative agriculture, farmers will focus on better understanding soil health principles, and the importance of plant group diversity for regenerative agriculture. This working group will mostly focus on learning about unlocking profit through soil biology and plant diversity and those starting out to experiment with regenerative agriculture practices on farm.
About the Facilitator | Kevin Elmy
Kevin Elmy is a Canadian agronomist, regenerative agriculture educator and coach based in Saskatchewan, who has consulted widely across Western Canada and Australia. After purchasing a run-down piece of land in 1999, Kevin spent more than two decades rebuilding soil function through the use of cover crops, diverse rotations and well-managed livestock.
Kevin is a respected speaker who has dedicated his life and work to guiding farmers and landholders towards resilient, low-input systems that work with nature rather than against it. Through his books Cover Cropping in Western Canada and Not Just Dirt, Kevin helps farmers understand how healthy soils and improved soil ecology — supported by better choices of crops, pastures and species blends — can reduce reliance on synthetic inputs while improving resilience, productivity and animal performance.
Kevin will facilitate Learning Group 1 for the regenerative agriculture community in the Northern Agricultural Region, bringing together those already exploring soil health, plant function and livestock integration with those who are keen to advance and learn from regenerative approaches. The group will focus on practical topics such as using multi-species systems to improve soil function, with the aim of creating a supportive learning environment that encourages shared experience, peer learning and on-farm application.
3 March 2026 | Learning Group 2 | Nick Eyres of Greenough Specialty Ag | Half Day Deep Dive Session
Led by Nick Eyres, an Independent Agronomist from the Northern Ag Region (NAR), this group is for farmers with a willingness to support new ideas to remain viable and refine inputs, with a special focus on managing opportunities for N recovery, Nitrogen Use Efficiency and legume species. This group will dive into challenging the status quo within the broadacre agriculture sector and assisting one another to adapt their systems or trial new strategies in challenging, but high potential environments.
About the Facilitator | Nick Eyres
Nick Eyres, of Greenough Specialty Ag, is an independent agronomist specialising in sustainable broadacre agricultural production. His consultancy supports farm businesses through practical, evidence-based agronomic strategies that are tailored to local landscapes, farming systems and on-farm decision making. Based in Greenough, Nick also manages a small block where he lives with his young family.
Nick’s career spans both conventional and alternative farming systems, with a strong focus on optimising inputs, managing risk and improving long-term system performance. His work includes research into the legacy impacts of legume species and their role in improving nitrogen use efficiency and farm profitability. He sees significant opportunity for increased productivity in the Northern Agricultural Region through smarter rotations, effective break crops and better use of existing resources.
Nick works closely with growers who are building resilient, future-focused farming systems and value whole-farm outcomes. He is actively involved in regional grower groups and regularly presents on soil health, system optimisation and sustainable land management. His approach balances current farming practices with traditional knowledge and emerging, soil- and landscape-friendly innovations.
For Learning Group 2, Nick will focus on practical, decision-ready agronomy that participants can apply straight away. Topics will include understanding nitrogen banking and recovery following legumes, optimising cereal crop performance, and making informed input decisions. The group will work through the 2026 season together, sharing real-world challenges and successes in a collaborative, peer-based environment that supports early-career and next-generation growers.
What is involved in a Deep Dive Session?
These sessions are more than just a workshop. They will be a facilitated exploration of individual farm businesses’ challenges supported by peer to peer learning. Farmers will review and share challenges and ‘stuff ups’ as well as wins and gains. The facilitator will help identify practical solutions and set clear goals to overcome challenges. Each farmer will be led to plan to adapt their existing systems through a small practical change, or develop an innovative trials or demonstration they will implement in 2026. If you’ve been wondering about that idea and wanting to identify a clear starting points for change – one of these learning groups are for you!
Following the Deep Dive Session the learning group will have:
- A follow up phone call or farm visit with the facilitator (Mid-late 2026)
- A face to Face catch up with the learning group focusing on reviewing outcomes so far after the Deep Dive (Mid-late 2026)
- An on-going farmer led support group or network channel (e.g. Whatsapp) to continue to bounce ideas, successes and challenges.
What’s In it for you?
- An intensive capacity building and learning experience, FREE of charge.
- There is an option for you to receive a $500 payment if you would like to take part in an NACC NRM Survey before June 2026.
- Catering included.
- Participants will be responsible for any travel and accommodation expenses incurred to participate in learning group events.
Register your interest today!
Katrina Sasse | Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator, NACC NRM
M 0447 361 335 | E katrina.sasse@nacc.com.au | T (08) 9938 0110
Supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program through RegenWA’s Accelerating Regenerative Agriculture Adoption Project.Supported by Future Farm Foundations project under the Natural Heritage Trust’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.
Advancing Sustainability Workshops with Joel Williams & Grant Sims
Wannamal | 30 – 31 March 2026 (TBC)
Keynote speakers: Joel Williams, Integrated Soil & Grant Sims, Down Under Covers
Internationally renowned Canadian guest speaker in regenerative agriculture, Joel Williams of Integrated Soil, and Former President of Victoria No Till Farmers Association and business owner Grant Sims of Down Under Covers will be visiting the Northern Ag Region to share their passionate and innovative workshop on sustainable agriculture.
Joel and Grant have been delivering presentations to farmers all over Australia and the world, providing guidance on:
- Plant nutrition and foliar feeding
- Seed treatments and biofertilisers,
- Covers, companions and intercrops
- Plant Disease resistance
- Increasing production/lowering inputs
- Soil carbon
- Multi species pastures
- Livestock integration
- Soil health
- Farm business
So if you’re keen to drive your business to the next level with some key learnings in sustainable agriculture and want to take home some innovative ideas and motivation – this event is for you.
Key presenters:
Joel Williams | Integrated Soil
Joel Williams is a widely respected and highly sought-after speaker, presenting at leading regenerative agriculture forums and events around the world. Known for his dynamic stage presence, Joel delivers the “what” behind regenerative systems, combining data-driven decision-making with sound science.
An independent plant and soil health educator and consultant, Joel has worked extensively across Australia, Europe and Canada, where he is currently based. His interests include agroecology, plant nutrition, and plant and soil microbiomes, and how these support sustainable production systems.
Joel holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Australia, specialising in plant and soil dynamics, and an MSc in Food Policy from the UK, where he researched barriers and motivations for adopting intercropping. Passionate about teaching, he shares practical, science-based insights with farming audiences worldwide.
Joel on X
Grant Sims | Down Under Covers
Grant Sims is a sixth-generation farmer from Victoria, Australia, managing 8,500 acres of dryland and irrigated cropping alongside Angus beef cattle. A pioneer of no-till farming since the early 1980s, Grant has spent decades improving soil function through biological approaches, diverse crop rotations and integrated livestock systems.
He co-founded Down Under Covers in 2019, now Australia’s leading supplier of multi-species cover crop seed. A former President of the Victorian No-Till Farmers Association and 2015 Coles Weekly Times Farmer of the Year, Grant collaborates with researchers studying soil carbon, beneficial insects and pest management. He is a sought-after speaker, sharing practical insights on cover crops, biofertilisers and profitable regenerative systems.
Joel and Grant’s combined knowledge will help us delve into transformational approaches for developing resilience and facilitating adaptation to a drying and increasingly erratic climate.
Grant on X
Registrations will go live in February 2026.
Stay connected through NACC NRM’s Facebook and Instagram pages for updates. For further information, get in touch!
Katrina Sasse – Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator
Supported by Future Farm Foundations project under the Natural Heritage Trust’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.
The Future Farm Foundations project is funded under the Natural Heritage Trust’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.