SHANE JOYCE
Shane was born into a largely unaltered landscape. He then witnessed the modification due to tree clearing with machine and chemical. Observing the post clearing spike in production, soon to be followed by the decline in production and landscape health, inspired Shane to question the conventional wisdom of Agriculture.
Starting out on a farm on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, in high rainfall environment, Shane began experimenting with different methodologies. Gaining some guidance from his extensive readings of permaculture, biodynamics, organics, alley cropping, Yeomans, and Fukuoka Publications, and working in an environment where land degradation and noxious weeds were the norm, Shane began to find some things that worked and others that did not.
Moving then, after eight years, to central Queensland and the famous Brigalow belt (his home territory), the degradation was obvious. The challenge then was to find a way to manage the land back to “soils in best possible condition”.
Rotational resting, tree retention, and removal of fire from the landscape were wat came first. This then was followed, ten years on, by cell grazing (planned grazing). A major development of the property with water and fence infrastructure. Seven paddocks to 100 in five years, several mobs to one mob of stock and KEEPING GRAZING CHARTS!
This began the speeding up of the positive change in land condition.
Then in 2001, looking (as always) for something better, Shane started into the use of the Biodynamic methods. It soon became apparent that the biodynamics he learned, was quite complicated, and not practical in the broadacre grazing situation he was working in.
This then started his journey in innovation, and 7 simplifications of the application of Biodynamics to his situation. Now some 18 years on Shane has a desire to share his innovations, and to follow the indications of Rudolph Steiner to experiment with Biodynamics and share the successes (and failures).
From plants used to make compost preparations, combinations of all the preparations in one product, application methods and timing of applications, Shane has surely busted many of the paradigms in Biodynamics.
With his bold tree retention programme on the central Queensland property, Dukes Plain, Shane has virtually rewritten Queensland grazing land tree science.
Biodynamics has been a catalyst for Shane to move even more into working with energetics in farm and garden management.
Shane now travels extensively within Australia facilitating field days and workshops in Biodynamics and regenerative land management practices.