Drought-proofing the paddock: CSIRO puts regenerative farming to an $8 million (about $5 million) Australian test

Regenerative farming — intercropping, using legumes to feed the soil instead of relying only on synthetic fertiliser, resting fields under pasture — has strong results in Europe's younger, wetter soils. Australia's grain country is older, drier and far less predictable, and nobody knew if the same tricks would survive it. CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, has begun a five-year, nearly A$8 million (about $5 million) programme called STRAP to find out honestly: trial plantings this season across South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, run with ten partner organisations and funded through the government's Future Drought Fund. Lead scientist Mark Farrell's point is simple — Australian growers deserve evidence from Australian paddocks, not imported promises.

SDG 2 · Zero hunger — Mechanism: institutional program