Garry Kadwell is the owner of Kadwell Potato Co, a progressive and productive seed potato farm where conservation and profitability go hand in hand.

Garry Kadwell's vision is to produce healthy seed stock potatoes for some of Australia's largest growers. As well as seedstock production, Garry's other enterprises include fat lambs, gourmet potatoes, and lucerne and hay fodder production. He has undertaken significant revegetation work across portions of his land and has proven that conservation around growing areas can benefit the productivity, profitability and resilience of a farming operation. Part of his mission today is to show other farmers not just the importance but also the significant benefits of revegetation.

Snapshot

Farm/Enterprise Name: Kadwell Potato Co

Farm/Enterprise Location: Crookwell, New South Wales, Australia

Type of Enterprise: Seedstock potatoes (20 different varieties), fat lambs, lucerne and hay production

Primary Markets Served: South Australian commercial potato growers; specialised potato direct to chefs/consumers; Fat lambs to sale yards / national supermarkets;

Staffing: 6 full-time / up to 15 casual depending on season

Property Size: 2,000 acres

Property Elevation: 887m

Average Annual Rainfall: 861.4mm

Climate: Temperate

Soil Types: Clay loam

Farm History

A lifelong love of soil and spuds.

Garry Kadwell is a fourth-generation farmer. His family have been farming in Crookwell for over 120 years. 'The men in our family have always been ministers or market gardeners,' says Garry. 'My brother became a minister, so it was only right that I carry on the tradition as a market gardener.'

When Garry's great-grandfather came to Crookwell in 1901, he established an orchard with a horticultural market garden in between fruiting seasons. Garry's grandfather and father continued the orchard and market garden, as well as establishing around 4-5 hectares of potatoes.

As Garry got older and began working alongside his father, he became aware that continuing the orchard was not going to be financially viable for much longer due to their small scale and inability to compete with larger operations. Strategically, while his dad was on holiday one year, Garry removed the orchard in favour of building out their potato crop. Though sad that the orchard was gone, his dad knew it was the right decision and was glad that Garry had made that call.

By the time Garry took over the operation entirely, his dad had left him 147 hectares. He has since built that up to over 800 hectares by purchasing neighbouring and nearby properties over the years. Today, Garry primarily produces seed stock potatoes but has also diversified to produce lucerne and hay, as well as fat lambs, having joined 3,500 first cross ewes in 2022.

Over the years, his dedication to revegetating the land has led to around 35% of his land being in conservation.

While Garry's minister brother serves his community spiritually, Garry's environmental work has taken on a spiritual quality of its own. He began tree planting on the property in the 1970s with his grandfather, but over the years, his dedication to revegetating the land has led to around 35% of his land being in conservation.

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Preserving remnant vegetation and creating new habitat corridors benefits all species, both native and introduced.

Challenge: Maintaining profitability while increasing conservation

Biodiversity

The Kadwells have long had a dedication to conservation. Some of Garry's earliest memories were of planting trees with his grandfather and learning about their role in a healthy farming ecosystem.

He has learnt ... how to effectively revegetate areas of his land to maintain and even improve the operation's productivity and profitability.

Since taking over the operation, Garry has built on the methodologies he learnt from his father and grandfather. He has worked to conserve much of his land, encouraging the rewilding of remnant native bush and carrying out conservation plantings. He has learnt much over the years about how to effectively revegetate areas of his land to maintain and even improve the operation's productivity and profitability.

Solution

One of the main ways Garry has been carrying out his conservation work is by protecting and encouraging remnant vegetation. These areas are made up of several species of eucalyptus, native grasses, native orchids, acacia and bracken, which Garry has fenced to keep out his livestock.

In addition to preserving remnant vegetation, Garry has conducted significant conservation plantings. He has built these out strategically to link stands of remnant vegetation and provided habitat corridors so native wildlife can safely traverse the landscape within protected areas.

As well as supporting local wildlife, this conservation work has significant benefits to the health of the growing areas. Using topographical maps, Garry allocated these plantings to mostly areas that would not be suitable arable land anyway.

Outcome

Garry recently planted a 50-metre wide corridor along a rocky and exposed ridgeline in one of his grazing areas. Once these trees mature, the grasses through the rest of the field will be protected from the wind and frost, thereby growing better and enhancing livestock production. In addition, the tap roots of trees increase the land's moisture retention, which creates better resilience during dry times. Finally, during Crookwell's harsh winters, these treelines provide warmth and protection to lambing ewes, meaning that Garry loses far fewer lambs.

Our conservation practices have compounding benefits for all aspects of the operation

Additionally, protected stands of native bush near growing areas encourage populations of beneficial insects. Essential pollinators transfer pollen between flowers, resulting in fertilisation and successful seed and fruit production for plants. Other beneficial insects include predator insects, which keep populations of crop pests at bay.

These are just a few examples of the benefits revegetating has had on the productivity of Kadwell Potato Co. 'It's not rocket science: they are simple, small changes, and they all add up. Our conservation practices have compounding benefits for all aspects of the operation,' says Garry.

Challenge: Rehydrating the landscape

Hydrology

Early on in his farming career, Garry started learning about the importance of the land's hydrology and its impact on the productivity of a growing area. Australia has a unique hydrology system that is dependent on wetlands and floodplains. In many areas, there has been widespread drainage and reclamation of wetlands, which impacts the whole ecosystem.

Wetlands are critical to the health of the environment and the productivity of an agricultural operation.

Wetlands are critical to the health of the environment and the productivity of an agricultural operation for many reasons, including reducing water flow rates in flood events, preventing erosion, absorption and retention of water, causing better resilience during drought, and provision of high-nutrient value fodder for grazing animals, which is especially important during dry times.

Garry started learning about this critical interdependency between healthy wetlands and agriculture. It was from this learning that he decided to construct wetland systems on his property to rehydrate the landscape and kickstart nature's systems once again.

Solution

Creating wetlands a key to land health and profitability.

Garry started this re-establishment of the land's natural hydrology by gleaning information from some of the leading practitioners in the field. He studied Natural Sequence Farming, a farming system established by Peter Andrews that focuses on restoring the natural water cycles that allow a landscape to survive drought conditions. He also observed the work of John Weatherstone, a grazier who undertook tree planting to establish drought resilience.

He then went about creating wetlands on the property to slow the flow of water and enhance the property's biodiversity. He started by constructing leaky weirs, which aim to slow flood waters down, causing them to seep into floodplain alluvial areas and soak into the soil. He also dug wide shallow pools for the water to flow into and be stored in. When water moves slowly through floodplains and shallow pools rather than quickly running into major river systems, essential nutrients and sediment is deposited and kept on the property rather than being washed away. This is known as a 'chain of ponds' system.

Leaky weirs trigger the natural regeneration of the landscape and become part of the living, growing system.

Leaky weirs are erosion control structures made from natural materials such as rocks, logs, earth and vegetation. They are designed to raise the water level of a stream or creek, cause the water to soak into surrounding areas, rehydrate the floodplain and rebuild vital aquatic and riparian habitats. Leaky weirs trigger the natural regeneration of the landscape and become part of the living, growing system.

Outcome

Since the work Garry has carried out in creating these wetlands, he has seen a massive increase in the land's drought resilience and biodiversity. Over time, he has witnessed a growing abundance of endangered birdlife and other wildlife in the wetlands. 'I knew we were creating something special when one day I was looking out over the wetlands and saw a splash,' says Garry. 'When I looked closer, I realised that it was a platypus. How far over dry land must that platypus have walked to find our wetlands! That was when I knew that we were doing something significant.'

Today, water is stored in floodplains rather than running off quickly and carrying valuable nutrients with it. He also uses the water stored in these wetlands for irrigating crops. Overall, they have had considerable conservation benefits and also significant improvements to productivity and yield. Across his property, a total of 19 hectares is now protected wetlands.

Future plans

Garry's leaps and bounds in conservation are not at the expense of an extremely profitable and productive farming operation. He is particularly focused on the health of his soil, and his farming practices revolve mainly around maintaining and improving soil health. He uses one-pass tilling methods so as not to disturb the soil any more than is necessary, thereby keeping its structural and biological makeup intact.

Garry's leaps and bounds in conservation are not at the expense of an extremely profitable and productive farming operation.

Central to his soil health methodologies is the principle of rest. Garry rests each field for at least five years in between potato harvests. During these periods, he rotates lucerne and pasture grasses, which generate income as well as provide ground cover, return nitrogen to the soil, and improve soil structure with deep tap roots.

For inputs, Garry applies compost annually and lime to regulate pH levels when required. As well as conducting soil testing, Garry also sends plant samples to AgVita Analytical in Tasmania for sap testing. The lab tests the sap within 48 hours and sends the results to Garry in real time. To amend any nutrient deficiencies, Garry applies foliar sprays directly to his crop, which correct plant nutrient deficiencies quickly and in a highly targeted manner.

Conservation is becoming a financially viable farming method not just for its benefits to land and soil health but also because of the increasing natural capital benefits.

Garry hopes to continue his conservation efforts while maintaining his productive and profitable farming operation. He has big dreams of eventually running a farm-to-table experience on the farm. Garry points out that conservation is becoming a financially viable farming method not just for its benefits to land and soil health but also because of the increasing natural capital benefits. More and more banks are recognising the environmental value of revegetated or protected land and allowing farmers to use that as equity to build up their operations further.

Industry recognition

Australian Government Innovation in Agriculture Land Management Award 2020 delicious.

Harvey Norman Produce Awards － Producer of the Year 2020

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