KARE Project - Sustainable Farms
NetWaste, in Partnership with the Central West Catchment Authority (CMA) successfully obtained funding through the Forging Partnerships, Natural Resource Advisory Grant Funding Program.
The focus of our project was to increase knowledge of what 'sustainability' means, to raise awareness about the types of changes that an average rural family or individual can make easily to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle, and to develop skills that can be used by a family or individual to gain a better understanding of their ecological footprint.
To achieve this we linked in with the Central West School Farm Planning Program, which is a very successful program coordinated by the CMA.
The Program consists of High School students attending a day on a local farm and learning about soils, perennial pastures, salinity, hydrology, grazing management and farm planning. Our involvement resulted in the inclusion of a Sustainable/Ecological Agriculture session that encouraged students to think about the future of agriculture and focused on alternative systems such as large scale vermi-composting, composting, innovation and holistic design elements such as multifunctional species and observation of systems. Students were encouraged to consider the reduction of external synthetic inputs and increase internal/local natural inputs. Schools were also provided with an Eco - Kit to support their learning and to encourage them to implement systems at school/ and or home. Students were also provided with an individual kit to take home.
NetWaste has committed funding to continue our support of this program over the next three years.
