The Dirt — Tasmanian Farming News March 2025

Welcome to the March 2025 edition of our monthly newsletter, The Dirt. Get the latest Tasmanian farming news from our community and beyond!

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CEO UPDATE

As I write this, we have just wrapped up our first weekend of the 2025 Sprout Producer Program!

What a blast!! It is always such a pleasure to be in a room with a collection of farmers, and this weekend was no exception. We took them through some pretty challenging content, where we encouraged them to work on discovering their values, building their quality of life statements and then diving into life design. The things that stood out for me from the weekend were the way everyone engaged with the activities, and were able to be vulnerable, to share their stories what matters to them.

We all come to these situations with our own inner dialogue, and our own idea of what expectations others will have of us. But in the end, really, it is quite a relief to discover that actually, no body expects you to be something your aren’t; that sometimes this weight of expectation comes from within.

Well done to all the SPP 2025 cohort for getting started on your program. We can’t wait to see you grow and thrive over the course of your time with us, here at Sprout.

Our advocacy work continues this month, with meat processing, leafy veg standards and egg accreditation all on our radar.

The meat processing is particularly top of mind, as we are heading into a meeting this week that should really help to work out how to problem solve the challenges for small scale farmers in setting up micro abattoirs.

We have also welcomed two new staff members –

Calum Jacobsen – who is taking up the Administration and Communications Officer role.

and

Dom Bowen Butchart – who is taking up the Producer Liaison Officer role.

Welcome to them both!! We can’t wait to see them put their stamp on their roles and help Sprout thrive. Proper bios and introductions coming soon.

As always, if you have any thoughts, please get in touch.

Until next time!

Jen

Are you coming to Agfest?

Sprout is super excited to be attending our second Agfest! 1st, 2nd and 3rd May!

Last year was an excellent opportunity to engage with a wide array of ag-folk and champion the work we do.

This mammoth agricultural field day is back from May 1st to 3rd, hosting over 700 exhibitors and 60,000 patrons! As with last year, we will be sharing a tent with other fabulous organisations that are part of the broad ag and seasonal, local food scene.e table with the Product Integrity Team at Biosecurity Tasmania in the coming month.

Food relief to food resilience – have your say!

The Tasmanian State Government is renewing its Food Relief to Food Resilience plan and has engaged 3P Advisors to assist with the process.

As part of this, they have been holding open conversations with various industry stakeholders from across the state, including Sprout, Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania, 24 Carrot Gardens, Eat Well Tasmania and more

However, as many of you know, some of the best insights come from direct community feedback and conversation. To get the full picture, they need to hear from you—the community. They want to understand your needs to ensure their approach remains relevant and connected in a place-based way.

Head to the 3P Advisory website here, to learn more about the review of the plan and to share your thoughts.

Find your values and skills align – are you Go Steward’s newest employee?

Have you heard of Go Steward? If you were at Grounded Australia Festival and saw Mike and Lauren from Felds Farm talking to Bridget from Go Steward, then you will have some idea of the amazing work the are enabling.

Go Steward is funding the growth of regenerative agriculture. Steward’s community-lending platform empowers individuals to support ecological and economic regeneration. They have predominantly been supporting farmers in the USA, but have now begun their expansion into Australia, supporting Felds Farm as their first Australian borrower.

They are looking for someone special to kick start their Australian based team, and boy do we think this is the opportunity of a lifetime for the right person. This position is providing on-the-ground support to help with financial underwriting.

Click on this link to find out more about the position.

Brand Tasmania – storytelling workshops

From March to June, Brand Tasmania is hosting a series of workshops designed to help you tell your uniquely Tasmanian story. These workshops will be held across the state—in Hobart, Launceston, St Helens, and Devonport—to ensure easy access for everyone.

Each three-hour workshop will focus on one of the following topics:

The Art of Brand Storytelling
Using Your Brand Story for Sales Success
Phone Photography for Service and Tourism Businesses
Phone Photography for Product-Based Businesses

Find out more below:
Brand Tasmania Workshops

A big circular day of living

Sustainable Living Tasmania’s Festival of Sustainable Living is back for 2025! Saturday 22nd March.

Hosted in South Hobart, this year’s event will focus on circular living and how easily it can be incorporated into everyday life.

There’s something for everyone, with a range of speakers, panel discussions, and workshops covering topics such as:

Urban biodiversity
Sustainable transport
Waste reduction, recycling, and the circular economy
Water and energy saving
Going all-electric

If keynotes aren’t your thing, don’t worry! There will also be live music, art exhibitions, kids’ activities, auctions, and roving entertainers, to name a few.

Check out the growing list of exhibits and activities here:
🔗 Festival of Sustainable Living

Two Metre Tall Brewery Cellar Tour

One of our favourite funky beer brewers, Ashley Huntington, is hosting a very limited run of Cellar Tours in 2025! On March 29th, join him for The Art & Science of Fermentation, where he’ll guide you through his unique approach to wild fermentation, including an exploration of barrel aging and the blending process.
The tour will run for approximately three hours and includes light snacks to complement the barrel samples, along with tastings of current and museum releases.
🎟 Tickets are limited, so get in quick!
🔗 Book your spot here

Huon Valley Market Gardeners and Community Garden Members

Gardeners Bay Farm is hosting a free Resilient localised food production workshop Friday 14th March! The focus is on ‘Sustain the Good Bugs’ and will be hosted by the following speakers:

Dr. Yolanda Hanusch from NRM South will give insight on which insects are helping pollinate our crops and how we can sustain those and other pollinators and beneficial insects in our gardens.

IPM Technologies – Dr. Paul Horne and Rebecca Addison will share insights on Integrated Pest Management, looking at pest and beneficial insect identification, lifecycles, and control measures.

Please note that this event is for Huon Valley Community Garden Members and HV Market Gardeners exclusively. For more information please see the link.

🔗 Event Registration

Produce call out!

We were very successful with our call out last month getting bucket loads of chilies into the Hamlet Cafe kitchen for their preserving needs!

This month we have a call out from Head Chef Martin at Sylvie Hobart! He is on the hunt for farmers to work with, specifically he is keen to find growers of the following fruits:

Figs
Green Gages
Mulberries
Blood Plums

Please reach out to Martin directly if you are keen to connect.

Martin at Sylvie Restaurant

0468 932 209

Whole farm budgeting workshop

Tuesday 11th March the Resilient Farming Tasmania program is offering a lunchtime webinar on budgeting and planning. If you don’t think you can make it live, still register and we’ll send you a recording afterwards.

Whole-Farm Budgeting and Planning (11th March)

Building on the foundation of gross margins, this webinar will explore how to integrate individual enterprise data into a comprehensive whole-farm budget.

Liver Flukes Research Request – University of Melbourne

Calling All Livestock Farmers!

We’ve received a request from Athar, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, who is currently developing comprehensive guidelines on liver flukes in livestock. They’ve asked us to share their survey with our small producer network!

The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete and will contribute to a greater understanding of liver flukes in Australia. The goal is to significantly reduce production losses caused by this parasite.

Your participation would be greatly appreciated!

🔗 Complete the Survey

Bird Flu Preparedness

We are incredibly lucky here in Tasmania. While large parts of the world have been grappling with the H5 Avian Influenza outbreak since 2021, we have remained largely unimpacted. However, that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down!

The Department of NRE has developed the Tasmanian Avian Influenza Readiness and Response Plan, outlining how the department will respond to an outbreak and providing guidance on how you can prepare.

While we cannot prevent infectious wild birds from migrating to Tasmania, we are still at risk. That’s why it’s imperative to notify the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline at 1800 675 888 if you notice any sudden or large numbers (more than 5) of sick or dead birds or other animals.

Stay vigilant and prepared!

That’s it for our Tasmanian Farming News this month. As ever, do get in touch if you have any questions or issues. We’re always here to help.

Thanks as always,

The Sprout Team.