REGRARIAN Open Consultancy (RAC) with Darren Doherty
If you are serious about doing design work for clients or applying design to farmland, you don’t want to miss this course! Darren is one of the world’s most experienced
Permaculture Design professionals. One who has designed and developed over 1600 properties. The focus of his career has been broadacre landscapes and he is the foremost expert in keyline design.
WHAT is a REGRARIAN?
Regrarian, a portmanteau of Regenerative Agrarian, is a term first coined by HD’s Darren J. Doherty in 2013 to describe those who are actively undertaking the serious & timely process of regenerating, restoring, rehabilitating, rehabitating, rekindling (etc.!) & rebooting production landscapes across this planet.
Regrarianism as a philosophy and methodology per se is ultimately an expansionist and self-determined reflection ofHD’s Charter and is therefore not just about regeneration, but also rehabitation, rehabilitation, restoration, recolonisation (not neocolonialism!), recycling and so on. I purposely took out the A in Agrarian, not just because Reagrarian doesn’t roll off of the tongue and I wanted to take AG out of it, and for a reason: I believe that Agriculture has been an atrophic exercise and I didn’t want to have it in my word.
REGRARIAN PEDAGOGY
For any methodology to be successfully transferred it needs to have pedagogy that is locally adaptive, strategic, incremental & capability-building in its output whilst being participatory and self-determined in its approach. Humans have always been creatures who have been guided by stories and the wisdom of those past whilst being infused with the adaptive creativity of those current to take them and their communities forward. In our ‘reboot’ we have developed an initial set of learning models to address the current challenges and opportunities.The
REGRARIAN OPEN CONSULTANCY (RAC)
Regrarian Open Consultancy (RAC) is a dynamic 2 day program designed to involved participants directly in the delivery of an integrated farm planning and development consultancy.
Led by one of the world’s most renowned & experienced farm planners, Darren J. Doherty (AU), the RAC is all having participants work to understand the 10 step process logic involved with the Regrarian Platform which methodically covers each and every element of farm planning and development. In short the RAC is a Professional Development (PD) for primary producers when it comes to production landscape & enterprise planning & development. The RAC
experience will result in participants understanding some of the process behind re-booting their own farming enterprises with a step by step approach that is highly adaptable to their own circumstances.
RAC PROGRAM
DAY 1
A – 1. Climate (25 mins)- Discuss the client’s Holistic Concept (including Financial Plan)
A – 2. Geography (20 mins) – Go over their pre-prepared Aerial Photo/Contour Base Map pointing out specific geographic features
(If we dropped the Regrarian presentation then we’d make the Climate & Geography sessions 60:30 or 45:45 mins respectively).
B – Farm Walk n’ Talk
Walk the farm and point out specific areas of concern – good to do after lunch however its good to get this out of the way early so that people can get the fresh context of Climate & Geography….
C – 1. Debrief from the morning (15 mins)
2. Geography (10 mins) – any additions to the Base Map from the walk?
3.
Water (65 mins) – Design the Water layer – A. Catchments, B. Harvesting & Storages (continue session D)
D – 1. Water (45 mins) – Design the Water layer (continued) – C. Reticulation D. Irrigation
2. Access (45 mins) – Design the Access layer – A. Roads B. Tracks
DAY 2
A – 1. Debrief from the Day 1 (20 mins)
2. Forestry (70 mins) – Design the Forestry layer – A. System Identification B. System Layout
B – 1. Buildings (45 mins) – Design the Building layer – A. Building types B. Placement
1. Fencing (45 mins) – Design the Fencing layer – A. Fencing types B. Placement
C – 1. Debrief from the morning (15 mins)
2. Soils (90 mins) – A. Determine the various soil treatments for respective systems B. Introduce the HM Grazing Plan & Aide Memoire
D – 1. PolyMarketing (60 mins) – Discuss the options for A. Processing, B. Logistics, C. Marketing
2.
Energy (30 mins) – What energy production systems are appropriate and where?
3. – Closing (30 mins) – A. Overview of the process and outputs B. Where to from here?
DAY 3
Regrarian Practicum (RAP)
Keyline and Fertility Farming
*Learn Keyline Geometry in the field
*Survey and Layout Keypoint and keyline patterns
*Identify strategic placement of dams/ponds
*Learn how to use a keyline plow
Two days of Professional Development Training in Regrarian Series plus one full day of Regrarian practicum!
REGRARIAN PLATFORM
1. CLIMATE
Concerns the various climates of an enterprise, be they Human or Biospheric. Effectively these climates create ‘the rules of the game’ in the application of the Regrarian Platform.
2. GEOGRAPHY
The ‘board game’ in the Regrarian Platform. The Geography of a place implies it place in the region along with the physical elements with which it interacts and includes topography, demography & geology.
3. WATER
The water an enterprise has available to it is relatively fixed. We
should be concerned with how we make the best use of what’s available and use the Climate & Geography (& capital) as best we can in order to maximise the use of this critical resource.
4. ACCESS
Roads, Tracks & Lanes are very permanent features in landscapes. Their placement defines our movement and should integrate the all of the elements we use these connective pathways with.
5. FORESTRY
Perennial woody plant systems are vital, productive & overarching elements in any landscape. Their assemblies can be complex in their outcomes & their placement is critical to support & provide for other systems.
6. BUILDINGS
An array of structures on any holding are necessary to make the artificial sedentary production systems that humans call agriculture possible. Placement and design should follow that of other elements especially Climate, Geography, Water & Access.
7. FENCING
How we subdivide our landscapes should follow the lines of other more permanent elements. We should concentrate our efforts on using the most flexible of fencing infrastructure in order to accommodate the changing opportunities and yields that occur in the landscape.
8. SOILS
Easily destroyed and fortunately easily created, soils are the foundation to the economy of life. Management is the critical to the development & maintenance of soils. The soil’s protection is enhanced by considering other elements, particularly Water, Forestry & Fences.
9. MARKETING
The analysis of the market & access to it has never been easier. The difficulty remains in the terms of trade, particularly with regards compliance, though slowly the tide is turning as humans are incredibly enterprising, adaptable & difficult to quell.
10. ENERGY
Nothing is as fleeting as a photon of light and the primary role of humanity must be to enhance photosynthesis at every opportunity & encourage its positive side-effects, with nearly all energy system that humans access originating from the sun.
Course will be held at The Farm Community in Summertown, Tennessee
Tuition: $500
First 20 to sign up get free indoor/outdoor camping space. Meals will be provided with meat options at dinner time.
About Darren Doherty
Darren J. Doherty has extensive experience across the world in
project design, development, management & training. A career-long focus on the profitable & regenerative retrofit of broadacre landscapes has seen Darren acclaimed as a pioneer in this important & often overlooked field.
Darren is a 5th generation Bendigo farmer, developer, author & trainer and has been involved in the design & development of over 1600, mostly broadacre projects across 5 continents in more than 45 countries, ranging from 1 million hectare
cattle stations in Australia’s Kimberly region to 110,000 acre Estancia’s in Patagonia, EcoVillage developments in Tasmania to Public:Private R&D Agroforestry & Education Projects in Viet Nam, Novel AG Machinery development + Family Farms across the globe with a range of private, corporate, government & non-profit clients.
A true ‘integrationalist’, Darren has more recently been the originator of the Keyline® Design,
Carbon Farming, Carbon Economy & Regenerative Agriculture (along with RegenAG®) course series across Europe, North & South America and Oceania. This wide experience has created an international reputation of achievement plus and enviable & expansive network that integrates many disciplines. Globally many of Darren’s alumni of over 5500 people are at the cutting edge of the movement towards regenerative agriculture & living systems.
Darren is the originator of the Regen10 process which outlines a strategic & logical process to the development of regenerative agricultural systems, central to which is another innovation ‘IntegriPasture’ which provides a integrated framework for multiple species pastoral and localised processing, logistics and marketing.
Darren is married to Lisa Heenan & together they have three children, Isaebella (20), Pearl (13) & Zane (11). Darren & Isaebella are both Directors of HeenanDoherty Pty. Ltd, a family biz delivering Consulting, Events, Development, AG Products & multi-award winning Media from the family farm in the Bendigo region of central Victoria, Australia.
