Andrew Stewart is a fourth-generation farmer. Along with his wife Jill and daughters Kristy, Hannah and Michelle, the Stewarts manage a family owned 230-hectare regenerative grazing and agroforestry property on the edge of the Otway Ranges. Yan Yan Gurt West Farm had previously been cleared of native vegetation causing gully erosion, salinity, waterlogging, ecological decline and livestock and pasture exposure.

The landscape change that has occurred since then has been formidable. More than 50,000 trees and shrubs have been established while maintaining high agricultural productivity with an annual turnover of 1600 to 1800 prime lambs and wool, value-added at times by farm forestry products.

The family’s whole farm plan, completed in 1991, has provided the mission statement and strategic guidance for this change. The property has been fenced to land classes and trees and shrubs have been planted along boundaries. Creeks, drainage lines, remnant vegetation, salt affected areas and waterlogged sites have been fenced and revegetated with multi-purpose plantings. These plantings are connected to form a web of trees meandering across the farm’s landscape providing soil, pasture and livestock protection, nutrient cycling, waterway protection, wildlife corridors, and improved wellbeing for the people who live, work, and visit the farm. One hundred and twenty bird species have been recorded on the farm.

Andrew and Jill’s interest in agroforestry has seen them trial and establish many different species of trees and shrubs, which have formed a robust biological infrastructure underpinning the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the farming system. Modelling suggests that the farm is at or very close to being carbon neutral.

The Stewarts grow banksia flowers and foliage for floral arrangements which are sold at a farm gate stall and to florists, restaurants, and function centres. The plantings were established around an eroded dam in sandy, acidic soil not well suited to livestock grazing. The dam is now fenced with a gravity fed water trough in the paddock. Other trees on the property are managed for sawlogs and other tree products.

Andrew and Jill are also active in the wider community. They have been key drivers of the Yan Yan Gurt Creek Catchment community revegetation program with 98 per cent of the 18-kilometre creek now established as a wildlife corridor connecting many farms. They participate in East Otway Landcare Group activities such as maintenance of the Bambra Wetlands.

Andrew is a founding member of the Otway Agroforestry Network, a member of the East Otway Landcare Group, has served on the Australian Landcare Council and was a recipient of a Norman Wettenhall Foundation Landscape Restoration Fellowship. He is a former chair of the Victorian Farmers Federation Farm Tree & Landcare Association. In 1999 Andrew and Jill were the Australian Forest Growers Victorian Tree Farmer of the Year.

Over the past 25 years more than 5000 people have visited the farm. Secondary and tertiary students, Master TreeGrower Course groups, politicians and local and international visitors are all hosted with generosity and enthusiasm. Andrew and Jill are leaders in natural resource management and always keen to share their knowledge on how to achieve a more sustainable future. 

According to Andrew, he and Jill have been inspired to continually improve the farm because of the enthusiasm and help of their extended family.

“Our daughters’ growing commitment to regenerative farming along with working with a great community committed to Landcare and agroforestry has kept us going,” Andrew said.