Get to know Colin Seis, his journey, the history of Winona + the fire that brought him to change. Then dive into the origins of Agriculture, where we went wrong, and how the green revolution turned Agriculture away from nature to a more-on system.

In this chapter, we take a deep dive into grasslands & the mechanisms of how plants create soil through their life cycle. Colin speaks on Grasslands and the importance of diversity, how grasslands are the perfect model for a healthy farm ecosystem, and how we can heal our Grasslands. Learn about C3 & C4 grasses, C3 & C4 Photosynthesis, forbs and herbs, the soil food web, and how soil is created. 

Colin teaches everything grazing and the key methods that work best for pasture cropping teaching you how the integrate livestock into your pasture cropping enterprise successfully. He touches on Holistic Livestock management, the history of grazing, early pioneers in the space and their lessons, how livestock graze an area, how to implement better grazing methods, property design, and grazing management. 

By now we have all heard someone say that the most important thing on your farm is your soil, if you haven’t then we will say it again and in this chapter Colin teaches us why it is soo important and how it’s actually another universe. You will learn the relationship between healthy soil and healthy plants, how healthy soil drives plant nutrition, be introduced to amazing Soil microbes, learn about carbon, AM & VAM Mycorrhizal fungi, briefly dive into Quorum sensing then see the amazing soil health improvements at Winona.

So now you have due context and know the importance of soil health, plant health, and plant diversity, it’s time to dive into the on-farm Pasture Cropping techniques. Colin run’s through each stage of the pasture cropping season and teaches you about: preparing the crop, sowing the crop, in crop management, grazing the crop, harvesting the crop, post-harvest, tools for transitioning farmers and strategies for farmers in dryland climates. This will ensure all students can pursue Pasture Cropping both profitably and regeneratively.

Learn how to integrate multi-species cover crops into your Pasture Cropping program, either for fodder, building soil carbon, or enterprise diversification. There’s so much talk about cover cropping nowadays but what a lot of people don’t realize is that pasture cropping is actually perennial cover cropping. That being said Colin emphasizes that we can use different plants & mixes of plants to solve different problems on the farm. Learn what crops are best for Winter and which are best for Summer, which plant mixes build soil carbon and which build better animal health.   

Once you have balanced out your farm ecosystem, restored the nutrient cycle, and weened off artificial inputs going 100% organic is not hard at all, but if you have a farm still hooked on NPK then going organic too early can be detrimental. In this chapter, Colin talks further about organic pasture cropping and teaches techniques for managing your organic system, including how to manage weeds in an organic system, natural fertility, & how to scale to a fully organic system using Pasture Cropping.

If we have been destroying our farm ecosystem for a prolonged period ie (ploughing, tilling, herbicide, fungicide, artificial inputs) then you can’t expect to change things overnight. This is why Colin has written this chapter including step by step tips & practical tools, to ensure the transition to a more regenerative system is successful and supported.

In this chapter is one of the most important lessons of all, Enterprise Profitability. Colin talks about stacking enterprises and creating ecological & economical resilience. He also discusses the finances on Winona, and how switching to Pasture Cropping now saves him over $100,000 AUD per annum. This chapter also houses the supporting studies, course references, natural capital, and further learning.