Byron Bay’s regenerative farming revolution

THREE regenerative farmers have been given a boost through grants from Byron Shire Council Felix Vergara from Myocum, Sean Houlahan from Booyong and Barry Morrison from Skinners Shoot will each receive $3,500 to deliver projects that improve land health, productivity and biodiversity through the council’s 2025–26 Regenerative Agriculture Small Grants program.

Over the next year, the landholders will implement regenerative grazing practices designed to enhance soil quality, protect riparian zones and build climate resilience.

Vergara said he was thrilled to receive the grant. “This project has been running basically on passion and good intentions, so having economic support for it feels great,” he said.

Originally from Chile, Vergara became interested in regenerative farming practices while working on an organic farm in Victoria seven years ago and said he committed to the cause because it made sense. He worked next door to the 30-acre property he is regenerating for four years before retired farmers Robert and Marlene James generously facilitated access to their land.

“We are breeding beef cattle in a fully organic and low-input way that is very rare in this area,” he said. “We sell our cattle to other local farmers who are looking for truly adapted, low-input animals for this harsh environment.”

Vergara plans to use the grant money to invest in a cover crop mix and a broad range of beneficial microbes to increase diversity from the underground up to the pastures. He will also invest in fencing and water infrastructure that will allow him to implement a better grazing system.

“I would like for the world to become aware that the way we grow our food is key and determines its nutrient density, allowing us to truly consider it medicine,” he said. “I would also like to be part of educating on this cause and helping people to farm regeneratively.

“We cannot afford to keep mining our soils and destroying all their biology, nor can we keep basing our diets on ultra-processed food that not only doesn’t nourish us but is also harming us with ‘ingredients’ that should not even be close to anything edible.

“For most people, once you explain it, it makes perfect sense and feels super natural, and this is because it is just based on how ecological communities work and how nature has always grown food. The climate and health crises have exponentially become more evident to everyone, and there is not really any comparable solution.”

Follow Felix on Instagram @regengraze.