SANTFA - South Australian No-Till Farmers Association

www.santfa.com.au

The South Australian No-Till Farmers Association is a non-profit farmer driven organisation led by a committee of volunteer farmers.  SANTFA formed in 1998 and has over 1150 members across South Australia.  SANTFA has successfully raised the profile of the benefits of no-till farming systems and conservation farming in general. 

SANTFA aims to promote the role of no-till systems as economic and environmentally sustainable farming practice, and to facilitate the sharing of information between farmers on applying successful no-till cropping systems.

WANTFA – Western Australian No-Tillage Farmers Association

See About WANTFA.

 Vic No-Till - Victorian No-Till Farmers Association

www.vicnotill.com.au

The Victorian No-Till Farmers Association formed in 2003, after farmers in the Wimmera region of Victoria identified the need to promote no-till farming as a farming system that is both economically, and environmentally sound. These farmers had been practicing and trialing various forms of minimum and no-tillage farming systems for 20 years. The benefits they saw on their own properties during the 2002 drought, compared to conventional crop systems which experienced severe forms of erosion, convinced them that it was time to share their experiences with the wider farming community.

Farming practices have come a long way in 20 years, but it is still apparent, that even with the adoption of new cropping systems and technologies, the industry as a whole, is still grappling with the most suitable cropping systems to use, given the fragile nature of the soils, and the varying climatic conditions.

 CFI - Conservation Farmers Inc

www.cfi.org.au

Conservation Farmers Inc is a farmer group formed in 1979 from three landcare groups in the Dalby region of the Darling Downs. The group covers the northern grain region of New South Wales and Queensland. The group’s focus was on zero tillage and the development of tillage equipment to handle and manage stubble at planting time and to share ideas between growers. In 1999 CFI amalgamated with Moree Conservation Farmers Association and currently maintains an office in Moree servicing members in northern NSW.

CFI seeks to be a highly regarded network that develops and extends information to farmers. CFI provides farming systems information and adds value to information through the integration of research results and farmer experiences. CFI exchanges information at the leading edge of profitable and sustainable farming.

 CWCFA - Central West Conservation Farming Association

http://www.confarming.org.au/

The Central West Conservation Farming Association is a leading farmer driven organisation committed to supporting its members and regional communities in the understanding and improvement of soil health. The association formed in 1994 and serves members in Central New South Wales with a common goal of improving soil health.

While the early information drive was for evaluation of conservation farming seeding machinery and components to improve soil health, the interest has grown to include stubble management, application of crop and pasture protection chemicals, controlled traffic farming, crop rotations, precision agriculture and pasture management. In parallel with the evolution of the Association, there has been a growing recognition of the critical importance of ‘soil health’ for both agricultural production and natural resource management.

 NZNTA - New Zealand No-Tillage Association

The New Zealand No-Tillage Association represents a wide range of stakeholders in the industry of no-tillage including farmers, scientists, consultants, local body representatives, farm input-supply industries and farm output industries. In New Zealand no-tillage is seen as a valuable farm management and conservation tool.

The Association’s early efforts created five focus farms throughout NZ under sponsorship of the Sustainable Farming Fund administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. This project, together with recent improvements in management expertise and machinery capability, have done much to increase the percentage of no-tillage within NZ's million hectares of annual seeding, from about 4% in 2000 to around 15% currently, and growing. Emphasis on NZNTA activities in the near future is likely to be on finding ways of capturing the carbon credits produced by no-tillage and marketing these internationally.