The farming communities restoring natural water cycles — one catchment at a time

Australia has often been described as a land of droughts and flooding rains. But what we don’t often hear is that, for millennia, the land had a remarkable ability to regulate itself — through healthy ecology and the natural water cycle. Since European settlement, however, we've seen a steady decline in soil health and water-holding capacity across much of the country. The rivers don’t flow like they used to, and the land struggles to bounce back from the extremes of flood and drought. The solution is to help restore nature's ecological systems of water and nutrient cycling. In this episode, we hear from two farmers who are restoring these natural water regulating systems, rehydrating their landscapes — transforming degraded paddocks into thriving ecosystems. They’ve embraced techniques that slow, spread, and sink water back into the ground — reviving their soils, crops, and communities. And they’re not alone. Across Australia, groups of farmers are coming together to restore entire catchments. Programs like the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative are proving that when we work with nature — not against it — we can regenerate not just one farm, but the broader ecosystems they’re part of. This podcast was produced by the Grow Love Project in collaboration with Soils for Life. The Communities of Practice Project is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Mulloon Institute and Soils for Life. Sign up to the Soils for Life newsletter - soilsforlife.org.au/the-newsletter/ Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au Mentioned in this episode: Mulloon Rehydration Initiative - mullooninstitute.org/projects/mulloon-rehydration-initiative/ Danthonia Bruderhof Community - bruderhof.com/danthonia Mulloon Institute - mullooninstitute.org/ Laura Norman, US Geological Survey - Mulloon Institute Community of Practice Project - mullooninstitute.org/learning-events/communities-of-practice/ Soils for Life case study on Danthonia Bruderhof and Community of Practice project - soilsforlife.org.au/landscape-rehydration/ Thanks for listening!

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The farming communities restoring natural water cycles — one catchment at a time is an episode from Soils For Life by Soils For Life.

This episode is 00:37:31 long.

This episode was published on Jul 8, 2025.

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