“Someone convinced us a while ago that going bigger and simpler was the metric of being a good farmer…”

“The problem with agriculture is the same thing that’s happening to society at large. Someone convinced us a while ago that going bigger and simpler was the metric of being a good farmer. That added a certain level of security for a while. But farming became a mining operation under that scenario. And the mine is starting to run dry.”

That observation comes from Wilmot Field Day 2026 speaker Dr Jonathan Lundgren, via the Farm Gate podcast. It’s one we’ve been sitting with, because at Wilmot, we’re interested in ideas that challenge the assumptions our sector operates under.

Not to dismiss what’s come before, but to ask whether the generational frameworks we’ve inherited are still fit for purpose in the world farmers operate in now.

Undoubtedly, scale and simplicity delivered efficiencies and helped many Australian families stay on the land. But amid a changing climate and shifting market expectations, it’s worth asking whether our definitions of success should also make space for restoring degraded land and building profitable, resilient food systems.

Especially when evidence suggests those outcomes don’t have to come at the expense of performance. As Jon’s 1,000 Farms Initiative shows, regenerative farms can achieve equal or better yields, higher profits, and stronger ecological outcomes.

In his session at Wilmot, Jon will share insights from his now 1,600-farm dataset, and reflect on what he’s observed on farms that are reshaping success by reconnecting ecology, economics, and people.

Wilmot isn’t about prescribing a new model or drawing lines between right and wrong. It’s about creating space for the conversations we don’t often have: about scale, pressure, fulfilment and what success actually looks like now.

Because if bigger and simpler aren’t the ticket to security and satisfaction, it’s worth asking, what is?

That’s the conversation we’ll be having at Wilmot Field Day. We hope you’ll join us.