Director of the locally based Holistic Management Australia, Dr Judi Earl, told guests planned grazing introduced by Rhodesian farmer and biologist Allan Savory over 25 years ago had taken off in the Tablelands since the early 1990s.

Now over 200 local landholders have successfully adopted the concept as well as a further range of holistic management practices to improve pasture growth and soil water retention and the movement is still growing.

Currently seven experienced local practitioners in Guyra, Inverell, Warialda, Uralla and Wongwibinda are engaged and their properties used for demonstration and training purposes.

Ms Earl said HM involved practical decision making to integrate the social, financial and environmental facets of management.

The aim is to empower land managers and their families to set their own priorities and improve productivity through more long term, effective and environmentally sound practices.

“A lot of you have probably heard that holistic managers get more rain,” she said. “I can tell you it’s true. They get more effective use of any rainfall because their soil sustains higher groundcover, more plant available water results in more grass growth which leads to more soil carbon and more profitable grazing enterprises. The grazing plan ensures that stocking rate is matched to carrying capacity which increases sustainability.

“It sounds pretty much like common sense but so often we make decisions based on short term outcomes most commonly influenced by finances without considering the social or environmental consequences or the long term effect on people, land and money.”

New England Mutual’s Bill Miller welcomed guests to the first Guyra Business Breakfast under the New England Credit Union’s new brand name. He said recent mergers with Hunter Mutual and the Orana Credit Unions had highlighted the community’s desire to retain a local identity.

“We’ve had a great response to the change with our overall group rebranded as The Community Mutual Group and the three regions to be known as New England Mutual, Hunter Mutual and Orana Mutual,” he said. “We are now the largest inland credit union in NSW and remain very committed to retaining decision making and autonomy at local community level wherever possible.”