Farmers Helping Farmers - Conference 2026
About
Farmers Helping Farmers…solving the real problems
CONFERENCE + FIELD DAY
September 2 & 3 | Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort
Dive deeper into real-world and real-time farming challenges to discover tried and true + new solutions.
Hear from leading Australian farmers, agronomists, soil scientists, nutritionists and systems thinkers – be prepared for robust and thought-provoking discussions!
Speakers Include:
- Dan Fox
- Cyndi O’Meara
- Tim Watt
- Anna Hughes
- Alex Grant
- Dr. Susan Orgill
Farmers helping farmers group VicNoTill will bring together some of the country’s most progressive farmers, soil scientists, agronomists and change-makers in agriculture for its annual conference on September 3 and 4.
2025 General Jeffery Soil Health Award winner Dr Susan Orgill, former VicNoTill president and Riverina broadacre cropper Dan Fox and Founder of Changing Habits and The Nutrition Academy Cyndi O’Meara are among the speakers lineup.
Also speaking are systems-thinking agronomist and rural men’s health advocate Tim Watt, beef production farmer and Create Australia graduate Anna Hughes and agronomist and ag researcher Alex Grant.
The program also includes a field day at the Burramine property of broadacre cropper Nathan Lawless who farms with his father Peter. They have a long-term trial site looking at how increasing the diversity of crop species using summer cover cropping, green/brown manuring, intercropping or companion cropping, can impact soil function and winter crop yields, as well as profitability.
ALEX GRANT - Agronomist and ag researcher
Former property manager, ‘Kisima’, Kenya
Bridging the soil gap on farms
Alex Grant is a country boy from rural Kenya with an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Science at Sydney University with honours in agronomy.
He has extensive work experience in primary industries, from farm management to research and agronomy and everything inbetween.
Alex understands how to manage and run a property from the bottom up, which is complemented by his fascination in the biochemistry of how crops and soil work and flourish.
He worked as an agronomist at Hybrid Ag for four years and is now a senior research agronomist at Riverine Plains. While being involved in research Alex also runs his own private agronomic consultancy company.
Alex’s focus is on helping bridge the gap between on-farm challenges and innovative research to enhance farm productivity, profitability and sustainability.
ANNA HUGHES - Beef producer - Regenerative farming coach
A Wild Measured approach to better land management
Anna Hughes is a beef cattle producer from Dulacca in Southern Queensland, where she has spent the past 20 years working in a family beef cattle business known for its long-term commitment to restorative soil farming and regenerative land management.
As the property’s operations manager and joint owner, Anna works and raises her three children in a farming system where regenerative land management is embedded in day-to-day practice. She is passionate about combining research, practical observation and on-farm trials to improve soil health, productivity and long-term resilience.
This year Anna completed CREATE Down Under, a globally-recognised agroecology program facilitated by Nicole Masters and Meagan Lannen from Integrity Soils. Through this program, Anna deepened her technical knowledge of agroecology and soil health and started Wild Measure Coaching. She works with farmers on their own properties to better understand regenerative soil systems and how to improve soil health, farm productivity and business resilience.
CYNDI O’MEARA - Founder of Changing Habits & the Nutrition Academy - Owner of Changing Habits Farm
Changing habits to grow real food
Cyndi O’Meara is a farmer, leading nutritionist, film maker, best-selling author, TEDx Speaker and Founder of Changing Habits, The Changing Habits Farm, The Nutrition Academy and co-founder of The Packing Company.
She is a natural problem solver and will provide a unique perspective for the conference theme of solving the ‘real’ problems in agriculture. Her direct and down-to-earth delivery of extensively researched information challenges and encourages others to ask questions.
As a nutritionist, her journey towards understanding the impact of chemical agriculture on human and animal health led to the creation of the documentary ‘What’s With Wheat?’ This awareness drove her to cultivate her own food, free from harmful chemicals, GMOs, and synthetic additives.
The farm is an education hub for others and focusses on soil health to nurture robust plants, animals, and ultimately, human health. Their farming system includes cell grazing for cattle, biodynamics, multi-species pastures, natural sequence farming, agroforestry, and regenerative chicken husbandry.
“I want to see a tsunami of change – not just a ripple effect – that will change the health of who is living now, and future generations,” Cyndi says.
DAN FOX - 5th generation farmer
Farmers Helping Farmers, The Podcast co-host
Continuous cropping systems, the ‘real’ issues
VicNoTill has put its farmer-led network at the forefront of significant changes in Australian agriculture thanks to progressive, hard-working, innovative, humble farmers like Dan Fox.
As a finalist in the 2024 Coles Weekly Times ‘Farmer of the Year’ awards and the 2018 winner of the Kondinin Group ‘Innovation Award,’ Dan runs the family farm with his wife Rachel and their three enthusiastic young children. They are also in a partnership with Dan’s parents David and Cathie.
Understanding soil health and function has been a gradual learning journey on the land that has been in Dan’s family for five generations in the NSW Marrar district.
Dan attended his first VicNoTill conference in 2017, joined the board in 2020 and was president from 2021-2024. He credits the group for helping him put the puzzle of soil systems, soil function, plant nutrition, human health and profitable farming together.
“Australian farmers are some of the most innovative in the world,” Dan says. “I am fortunate to be surrounded by people who are not about putting bandaids on problems; their focus is looking for and addressing the cause.”
“When we’re changing something in our farming system, we’re not fixing it for today, we are fixing it for the future.”
DR SUSAN ORGILL - Soil scientist
General Jeffery soil health award winner
Science to solve soil problems
Recognised for her distinctive ‘SOIL – WILL SAVE US’ shirt, and the winner of last year’s General Jeffery Soil Health Award, we are excited to bring Dr Susan Orgill to add her knowledge and expertise to ‘solving the real problems’.
Susan is passionate about working with producers and expanding their understanding of soils. A leading applied soil scientist, she is effectively bridging the gap between land management practices and science.
With over 20 years’ experience, she works closely with farming businesses to understand soils as living, dynamic systems, and to enhance soil function to support profitability.
Susan is Chief Scientist at Impact Ag Australia and a recipient of Soil Science Australia’s 2024 LJH Teakle Medal for her outstanding effort in promoting and raising awareness of soil science. She is driven by delivering real value to farmers through innovative, science-backed, market-ready soil management.
“Farmers motivate me as well as the enormous opportunity we have to rebuild soil health for productive landscapes,” she says.
TIM WATT - Agronomist - Rural men’s health advocate
Looking beyond inputs for production
Known for his down-to-earth communication style and strong farmer relationships, Tim Watt brings a systems-thinking approach to agronomy, encouraging growers to look beyond individual inputs to focus on improving overall biological function and ecosystem performance.
An experienced agronomic consultant and biological farming advocate, Tim has a strong passion for practical, resilient and regenerative agricultural systems. Through his work with Biosys Agribusiness, Tim works closely with growers and mixed farming enterprises to improve soil function, plant health, nutrient efficiency and long-term farm profitability through biologically-focused management.
His practical and collaborative approach helps farmers address common production challenges such as declining soil function, rising input costs, poor nutrient efficiency and the long-term impacts of farming system stress.
Tim is passionate about practical education, on-farm learning and farmer-led innovation. He strongly believes in the value of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and supporting producers with practical, commercially-relevant information that can be applied in real farming situations – a perfect fit for our conference!
Tim is a committed advocate for rural health, encouraging farmers to challenge the perception of being ‘invincible’ and to seek support when they need it.
“It's about the guy over the fence being able to talk to the other guy honestly,” Tim says. “We're not experts in helping people, we are just mates looking out for each other.”
More details coming soon!
Date
Wednesday 2 September 2026 7:30 AM - Thursday 3 September 2026 4:00 PM (UTC+10)Location
Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort
1 Golf Club Road, Mulwala NSW 2647
Contact Form
Farmers Helping Farmers - Conference 2026
Resend recently purchased tickets to our events to your email.
Enter email to start search
You can review the event organiser's terms and conditions here.