Transforming the challenges of salt-affected land into a thriving enterprise, The Saline Bush Foods Project developed a complete paddock-to-plate supply chain championing plants grown with degraded saline land and water. From 2018 to 2022, the project has restored degraded land while creating environmental and economic benefits for salt affected farming areas.This presentation by Ella Maesepp of Katanning Landcare will outline how the project successfully trialled three growing systems – Wild Harvest, Plantation and Shadehouse – growing four species of saline foods, developing new harvesting machines, building a packing shed and landing our produce into gourmet food markets across Australia. Soil scientists monitored environmental changes, and a manual and training course were delivered to support other growers with salt-affected land to enter the market.Ella Maesepp also explores how the project brought together a diverse team – Landcare, a host farming enterprise, a gourmet food marketer, a horticulturalist, an engineering company, a social enterprise, TAFE, Aboriginal cultural educators and scientists – to create a holistic approach to improving saline degraded land through producing niche gourmet food.Presenter: Ella Maesepp.Powerpoint slides: Saline Bush Foods – Gourmet Food Helping Restore Degraded Saline Land.#NationalLandcareConference#LandcareConf22#FarmingAgricultureLandManagement
This project is supported by Landcare Australia, through funding from the Australian Government.Landcare Australia is proud to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we live and work. We value and respect their deep and continued spiritual and cultural connections to the land, waters and seas, and pay our respects to their Ancestors and Elders past, present and future.