Joel Salatin Workshop

Join 'the world's most innovative farmer' (TIME Magazine) Joel Salatin for a unique one-day workshop looking at how to make your small farm more ethical, profitable, and deeply integrated with your local community. Joel Salatin is a third generation 'beyond organic' farmer and author whose family owns and operates Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. He is known and respected world-wide for his family's innovative and effective farming techniques that allow them to produce 'beyond organic' produce effectively, in a way which regenerates their farmland while making them a profitable right-livelihood.
Joel's passion for regenerative agriculture is apparent in every aspect of PolyFace Farms systems. In the time his family has stewarded their farmland, they have actively regenerated its pastures, creeks and forests using forethought and intelligent design, with a heavy focus on animal systems' ability to build topsoil and boost nutrients and diversity when used correctly.
The farm produces salad bar beef, pigaerator pork, pastured poultry, forage-based rabbits and direct markets everything to 4,000 families, 40 restaurants, and 10 retail outlets. Processing many of these products on-farm in their open-air production unit, they sell from their on-farm shop and through their innovative 'buying club' system. Following on from his wildly successful 2010 RegenAG tour, this workshop is an opportunity for anyone thinking about farming, or already on the land, to learn how to create themselves a livelihood through a profitable, regenerative farming enterprise which benefits their family, their soils and their community.
This one day workshop will cover PolyFace Farms animal systems, including pastured poultry, salad bar beef, forested pigerator pork and the main-frame design of the farm. Also covered will be PolyFace's 'relationship marketing' techniques where the farm interfaces directly with consumers, cutting out the middle men and keeping things clean, honest and real. Joel will also cover how his farm approaches their internship program, providing young people with a chance to learn PolyFace's techniques, while providing the Salatin family with an enthusiastic labor force which further benefits the farm.

• PolyFace Farms in FRESH (video)
• Joel Salatin interview on ABC Canberra with Genevieve Jacobs – mp3
• Joel Salatin public talk on ABC Big Ideas – video

About this workshop:

This workshop will be held at the Beerwah and District Community Hall, located in the beautiful township of Beerwah, at the foot of Mount Beerwah, one of 13 volcanic peaks along the Glass House Mountain range.

Registration for this workshop includes lunch and morning tea, lovingly prepared by Amy and the Food Connect team. Food Connect utilises local, in-season and organic produce sourced from farms in the region. RegenAG® is proud of its association with Food Connect in providing healthy, nutritious, local food for our events in South East Queensland.

The Food Connect Foundation's vision is to grow healthy communities by catalysing local food systems through the design, development and deployment of replicable, scalable and sustainable systems.  We aim to improve consumer and producer access to ethical food distribution, increase demand for ethical food, reward farmers for production of ethical food, improve farmers’ access to peri-urban farmland, address skills shortage in new farmers, and contribute meaningfully to the growing global concerns for food security.

The Beerwah and Sunshine Coast regions have a wide range of accommodation options available for those coming from afar. See below in the venue details for more information on accommodation options during the workshop.

This workshop will be a jam-packed day of essential knowledge, and a chance to meet other like-minded folks from across QLD who are passionate about local, clean food and creating on-farm livelihoods.

About the Teacher:

Joel Salatin of PolyFace Farms is a world-leading example of how a small family farm can become an extremely diverse and profitable Local Food producer, and how the benefits of Local Food Systems can create resilience, stability and abundance for both local farmers and the wider community. Featured in Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and in the films FRESH and FOOD, Inc., Joel and his family at Polyface Farms exemplify successful small-scale farming and the growing relocalization movement. Joel's website.

A note to attending producers:

Co-operative Support:

As QLD conveners of RegenAG®, FreeRange Permaculture works closely with regional Natural Resource Management groups and Regional Councils in providing; opportunities for farmers to access world-class experts in regenerative agriculture and ongoing support in putting knowledge into practice, post course. We are proud of our association with Sunshine Coast Council and South East Queensland (SEQ) Cathments in bringing you this one -day Local Farms & Communty workshop with Joel.

Sunshine Coast Council's vision is to be Australia's most sustainable region. A region that is vibrant, green and diverse.  Supporting RegenAG Local Farms & Community workshop with Joel Salatin provides an opportunity to work with the community across all three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.

SEQ Catchments is helping to develop a sustainable community that cares for and values its natural resources and biodiversity, and that also recognises the impact of personal and collective actions on the environment. Mobilising and involving the community is an essential part of our work, helping us to set local and regional priorities that address environmental issues and guiding us in the identification of projects and partnerships to deliver tangible, on-ground solutions.
We encourage government and business investment in these community-driven programs and coordinate implementation to achieve successful completion. We also provide technical advice in the areas of data collection, mapping, vegetation management, soil conservation, water quality and Property Management Planning, project management and community engagement.
SEQ Catchments works closely with the Queensland Government to promote a balanced resource management approach to agriculture, land development, infrastructure planning and economic growth via the award winning SEQ NRM Plan, a key implementation document for the SEQ Regional Plan.

Book into this workshop:

Door Sales - $150 (Cash Only)

Registraion from 8am