The game changer for fifth-generation farmer, and Rural Aid board member, Erica Halliday was the drought and the bushfires of 2019.
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For the New England based stud cattle breeder, three natural disasters in one year, made her and her husband Stuart Halliday take a long hard look at their farming and livestock management practices.
That means today their number one aim, at their Ben Nevis Angus stud at Walcha, is to get carbon back into the soil.
"No matter your opinion on climate change, as farmers the best place for carbon, is in our soils not in the atmosphere," said she.
"That statement is a no brainer because lifting soil carbon increases your farm's productivity and therefore the farming enterprises overall financial sustainability in an every changing market."
Erica accepts there are farmers who deny the existence of climate change but for her the industry is better to work on finding common ground and pursuing research and best farm practices to remove atmospheric carbon.
According to a survey conducted by the farm charity Rural Aid the majority of farmers are investing their own time and money to make their farms more sustainable.
The charity surveyed its registered farmers, with 62% of the survey respondents confirming they were currently undertaking sustainability and resilience practices.
Erica said it's a figure that might challenge a few stereotypes.
"Sometimes as farmers we feel we're being blamed for climate change, when no one has more at stake than farmers," she said.
"I don't know a single farmer that isn't trying to do the best by the land. We're living and learning, but if anyone's going to make a real difference, it's actually going to be us farmers."
It's a sentiment backed up by Rural Aid CEO John Warlters, who said no one feels the impact of a variable climate more than farmers.
"Our farmers are the building blocks of what happens for us every single day because their efforts and their energies translate to food on the plate.
"We've seen a real change in the nature of requests for help from Rural Aid, and a lot of it is driven from what has been occurring with our seasons as disaster events become more frequent and severe."
The environment, and leaving the land in a better state for future generations, is something Erica said all farmers strongly believe in.
"We're working on cattle for the future that have less methane emissions both genetically and through management, as well as meat quality, and efficiency, and making sure they've got a kind temperament," Erica said.
One of the big changes on their property has been a 70 per cent reduction in the use of herbicides and replacing synthetic fertilisers.
"During the last drought we had a paddock sprayed ready to be sown with improved pastures but of course that never happened due to no decent rainfall," Erica said.
"We kept spraying the paddock when weeds emerged, but when the rain eventually arrived, our bare topsoil ended up in the neighbour's paddock.
"So we don't want bare earth again and that type of production system based on high inputs is not where are futures lies."
In addition to increasing the soils carbon levels the other priority is to have as much microbe and fungal activity in the soils.
"Better, healthier soils produce better healthier livestock and in our case more nutritious meat. We want to debunk the myths about meat because grassfed beef can be one of the best sources vital minerals such as iron," she said.
The current journey at Ben Nevis is vital but also exciting as the Hallidays trial new pasture mixes, new livestock management practices and at the same time receive plenty of advice when one of their innovations is considered a failure.
"We are often told something we did was a failure but we don't view it that way as it is part and parcel of finding the right way to achieve our end goal of having a sustainable and profitable farm," she said.
"And we plan to continue our work and sharing our knowledge with other farmers. At the end of the day we can all do the right thing for the right reasons."
With Rural Aid's Mates Day approaching on 20 March, John said they were encouraging people from across the country to understand the fundamental role agriculture plays in sustaining our communities and give, where they can, to help farmers when conditions move beyond their control.
"With every meal, we're typically dining on amazing food grown by an Aussie farmer. And when we go into the supermarket, it's the same story - just about everything on shelves is the output of what's occurred on a farm," John said.
Erica said Mates Day was a great opportunity to donate to the work Rural Aid is doing to support farmers through challenging times.
"Sometimes, particularly in those stressful periods, it can get very lonely and very isolating being a farmer," she said.
"Mates Day is a really important time for people to acknowledge and appreciate farmers and what they do. Because when you get that steak on your plate, you don't realise it's taken five years and the trials and tribulations, to get it there."