A landmark investor briefing signals a new era for landscape-scale action across the region
Wodonga, Victoria – February 2026
A gathering of some of the region’s most influential environmental and agricultural organisations came together last Thursday for the launch of New Futures Kiewa-Wodonga – a visionary 2045 roadmap that sets out to demonstrate that farming productivity, environmental restoration, and thriving communities can advance together.
The investor briefing drew representatives from Greenhams, North East Water, North East Catchment Management Authority (NECMA), the Natural Resources Conservation Trust, Alpine Shire, Landcare Victoria, Landcare Australia, Albury Conservation Company, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, and the Wettenhall Environment Trust – alongside members of the New Futures Working Group and the landholder cohort who have been at the heart of the project from the start.
The initiative, led by the Wodonga Urban Landcare Network (WULN) and Kiewa Catchment Landcare Groups (KCLG) in partnership with Regen Farmers Mutual, Landcare Victoria, Australian National University Sustainable Farms, and Farmers Mutual, represents a fundamental shift away from traditional grant-dependent conservation. Instead, New Futures aims to build diversified, self-sustaining investment pathways that align farmer economic interests with measurable landscape outcomes.
The road to Thursday’s briefing began with two completed phases of intensive work. In Phase 1, ten pilot landholders – spanning beef cattle, dairy, sheep, and horticulture enterprises across the Kiewa Valley – undertook farm-scale assessments using the Regen Farmers Mutual model, mapping their natural assets, exploring landscape interventions, and building individual carbon emissions profiles. Phase 2 produced the Landscape Action and Investment Plan that formed the centrepiece of the briefing.
The project’s Working Group – including landscape impact advisor, NRM knowledge broker, finance specialist, and media and communications advisor – ensured the plan remained grounded in the realities faced by landholders while remaining ambitious in its long-term vision.
Four Opportunities, One Landscape
The briefing presented four interconnected landscape action and investment opportunities, each designed to simultaneously support agricultural productivity, protect and restore the environment, generate new revenue for landholders and Landcare, and strengthen community connections between rural and urban neighbours.
Biochar – Circular Economy for Soil Health. By 2045, the vision is a commercially viable, biochar cooperative supplying soil amendment to farmers across the region – potentially including mobile biochar units franchised locally. Biochar improves soil health and pasture growth, increases milk yield, reduces effluent waste, supports carbon sequestration, and removes woody weeds from the landscape. Near-term steps include a North East Water partnership for a biochar accreditation program and a feasibility study for a satellite or mobile facility.
Beef Collective – Ethical Production & Circular Economy. The vision here is a valley-wide network of farmers collaborating under shared regenerative principles, producing emissions-smart, ethical beef with guaranteed fair returns. A key innovation is the rearing of bobby calves – male newborns surplus to dairy needs – into high-value beef, transforming what has been an animal welfare issue into a genuine circular economy. Regional calf rearing centres of excellence would underpin the model, with export markets providing price certainty for producers.
Farm Dams as Biodiversity Hotspots & Tourism. Eighty per cent of farm dams in the Kiewa-Wodonga landscape transformed into protected biodiversity hotspots – with crystal clear water, reduced runoff, and thriving native wildlife. The region would become a destination for birdwatching tourism, with a connected twitching trail drawing nature enthusiasts. Already ‘shovel ready’, this opportunity builds on existing momentum from the ANU Sustainable Farms program and North East CMA, with a collective pilot across 20 properties ready to commence.
Caring for the Kiewa – Waterway Restoration. The Kiewa River is described as ‘the jewel of the community’, and the vision is bold: a restoration plan to achieve a vegetated catchment, riparian woody weeds replaced with native vegetation, First Nations communities integrally involved in decision-making, and the region competing for landscape-scale investment. Waterway restoration would protect Murray–Darling Basin water quality for downstream residents and unlock environmental market revenue streams, including potential data centre offset opportunities.
Investment Sought: $385K to Ignite the Pilot Phase
New Futures Kiewa-Wodonga is now seeking strategic investment to move into the Pilot Phase (2026–2030), with an initial investment ask of $385,000 in FY2027 to activate four interconnected opportunities. The investment covers core coordination, governance and monitoring ($120K), four community opportunity champions ($20K), expert working group support ($25K), biochar research and testing ($40K), beef collective research ($20K), and the farm dams for biodiversity collective pilot across 20 properties ($80K), alongside review and extension of the Kiewa waterway action plan ($80K).
The project presents a compelling investment case: mandatory sustainability reporting requirements effective January 2026 have created immediate market demand; there are already waiting lists of farmers ready to participate; and the model has clear replication potential for other catchments across Australia.
A Community-Led Vision for 2045
What makes New Futures distinctive is its deeply community-led character. Landholders control their own participation and benefit directly from these initiatives. The initiative is guided by five core principles: community-led, landscape-scale, evidence-based, culturally integrated, and partnership-driven.
From alpine peaks to the Murray River confluence, the Kiewa-Wodonga landscape offers a unique opportunity to prove that agricultural productivity, environmental restoration and community can advance together. New Futures is extending an open invitation: join us in forging new futures for our land, our communities, and our shared environment.
Media enquiries:
Wodonga Urban Landcare Network info@wodongalandcare.org.au
Kiewa Catchment Landcare Groups facilitator@kclg.org.au