The farm
Our farm ‘Staunton’ is located in Sheffield, Tasmania. Our farm operations are centred on a Certified Organic Dairy, run alongside a small ‘farmer direct’ boxed beef operation.
When we bought the farm it had been cropped conventionally for decades. As a consequence the soil was in a terrible state, both physically and biologically. There was shocking compaction, very low water penetration and very low soil organic carbon. A soil expert visited our farm and gave us a 2 out of 10 for soil condition. When it rained there were rivers flowing across the surface of the paddocks, and following the rain there were pools of water where the water couldn’t soak in. In the summer the soil was so dry it set like concrete, and you couldn’t get a tread in fence post in anywhere.
There were cattle health issues resulting from the mineral imbalances in the soil. We had terrible bloat issues and lost many cows.
Our farm today is a very different place. Together with going Certified Organic we have also been implementing regenerative farming practices and we are now Certified Regenerative.
Seventeen years later, we have no surface water runoff (other than in extreme rainfall events). There is no surface pooling of water and no washing away of topsoil.
Multi species pastures cover approx. 70% of the farm and we’re increasing this every year.
We have nearly no animal health issues and zero bloat.
All of this has been done through the gradual restoration of soil biology without the use of chemicals, tillage, or any other intensive farming practices.
From old soil tests we can see that the soil organic carbon has gone from a low of 1.9% to its current 5.6%. Assuming this has only occurred in the top 10cm of the soil (it would be much deeper) this equates to the sequestration of approximately 70,000 tons of carbon.
We’re on the right track…



Where to next for the farm?
We will continue along the organic and regenerative paths as there is still a long way to go.
The next improvements in the regeneration of our farm is to regenerate biodiversity. Not just from a native flora and fauna perspective, but also agricultural diversity.
We are a commercial farm and as such it’s never going to be a pristine wilderness, but we can improve biodiversity and provide habitat so that we can farm alongside the native flora and fauna and not against it.
To this end, we have started planting out our creeks and drainage lines with native vegetation and linking areas of remnant bush. This will be followed by the planting of trees (both native and non-native) in between paddocks, providing, shade shelter, habitat.
How we farm
Organic
We are a Certified Organic Farm. This means that we farm without using any synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides or pesticides. No GM (Genetically Modified) products or antibiotics are used in any of our produce. This ensures high animal welfare standards and environmentally responsible farming practices, providing an assurance of the quality of produce we raise.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we are striving to achieve from our farming practices and conservation aims. See the ‘Discover More’ tab to find out more.


Regenerative
We are a Certified Regenerative Farm. This means that our farming practices are regularly measured to help reverse climate change through rebuilding soil organic carbon and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown, increased biodiversity and improving the water cycle.
Discover the farm

About us
Located in Sheffield, Tasmania, we’re a farming family of 5. Together with our staff we focus on organic dairy and regenerative farming.

How we farm
