Fire, farms, food and inspiration

In support of everyone affected by the recent Victorian fires, we’re extending our EARLY BIRD and CORANGAMITE COMMUNITY discounted ticket offers until 14th February. View the ticket options here.

Greetings fellow Grounders,

It’s been a minute since we last spoke and there’s a lot to report, with most of our speakers now booked and farm tours organised – see below. But first we need to talk about the Otway Ranges fire.

Otway Ranges fire near Yan Yan Gurt West Farm, Deans Marsh

It’s been a particularly brutal season for extreme weather events in regional Victoria, with the fire in the Otway Ranges coming very close to Deans Marsh and the Stewart family’s Yan Yan Gurt West Farm where GROUNDED Festival will be taking place in April. A real white knuckle ride for everyone, anticipating risk and trying to mitigate damage as the fire raged out of control.

On the worst day last week, the Stewarts maintained a 24 hour roster monitoring the Victorian Emergency Site, trucked 500 lambs off the farm out of the fire zone, moved several other mobs to the safest farm paddocks and Hugh Stewart, a professional forester, modelled the Fire Danger Index throughout the night.

Afterwards, expressing relief as conditions improved, Andrew Stewart, 2020 Bob Hawke Landcare Award recipient, said;

“We are glad to have a 23 km interface of multi-purpose plantations meandering throughout the farm to provide wonderful shade and wind protection to livestock and native animals.” 

Andrew’s neighbour and co-member of the Otway Agroforestry Network is Rowan Reid, renowned agroforestry expert, conservationist and fellow GROUNDED speaker. Rowan agrees that tree belts provide important wind and temperature breaks, but he cautions that species selection and site sensitive management are key to risk mitigation, while the increasing intensity of fire events necessitates the need for greater coherence in getting the balance right between land conservation and management. Along with others, Rowan will be touching on this at GROUNDED – more about that below.      

Fortunately, this fire didn’t break out of the Gerangamete zone to reach Yan Yan Gurt West Farm or Rowan Reid’s Bambra Agroforestry Farm. But many others were directly affected and it’s been a tough time for everyone.

With this in mind, we’re extending the Early Bird ticket pricing and the Corangamite Community discounted ticket offer by two weeks until the 14th of February.

We’re also offering free GROUNDED tickets for people directly affected by the fires. Please email us directly to enquire.  

RISK, RESILIENCE, HOPE AND OPPORTUNITY AT GROUNDED

No one in rural Australia is a stranger to fire, particularly in Victoria where the effects of Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday still reverberate. But every year now breaks records for heat and intensity, challenging fire modelling and conventional wisdom for preparation, management and conservation, while extreme storms and flood events are also becoming more common.

At GROUNDED Festival, we bring together diverse experts with complimentary and thought-provoking perspectives and tools, offering new ways for everyone across our food systems to consider and address these challenges.

Along with Rowan Reid and Andrew Stewart, here are some of the excellent people who’ll be speaking directly to these issues at GROUNDED in April.

• Carolyn Hall; CEO of Mulloon Institute, expert in balancing biodiversity values with flood mitigation.
• Dr Jack Pascoe; Yuin man, academic, researching fire and the ecology of apex predators with a focus on restoring productive local systems.    
• Graeme Sait; author, educator, and founder of Nutri-Tech Solutions. 
• Dr Susan Orgill; Chief Scientist at Impact Ag Australia, specialist in improving farm resilience, natural capital, and climate outcomes.

We’ll be sending through an update of all speakers shortly, it’s going to be a fascinating two days.

GROUNDED LOCAL FARM TOURS

We’re offering pre and post-festival farm tours for GROUNDED attendees. Tickets are selling fast, just saying…

BAMBRA AGROFORESTRY FARM TOUR

• Tuesday 21 April, 2.00–4.30pm
• $55 per person / limited to 50 / available to GROUNDED ticket holders only.
• Tickets on sale now
• Follow Rowan Reid (forest scientist, educator and author of Heartwood) as he presents his ‘lecture in the paddock’ tour of this famous tree farm.

YAN YAN GURT WEST FARM

• Friday 24 April, 9.00-11.30am
• $20 per person / limited to 30 / available to GROUNDED ticket holders only.
• Tickets on sale now 
• Starting at the historic 1888 Yan Yan Gurt Woolshed, the Stewarts will guide you on a tour incorporating the farm plan, the Carbon Accounting Study, plant species and the brilliant way the local farming community have worked together to develop a contiguous wildlife corridor across multiple farms. 

BRAE RESTAURANT KITCHEN GARDEN

• DATE & TIME TBC
• $30 per person / available to GROUNDED ticket holders only.
• Tickets on sale soon
• The Brae kitchen garden has always been an integral part of the award-winning restaurant and head gardener, Jo Lawson, works in lockstep with owner and chef, Dan Hunter. As they say:“The produce we grow becomes the food we serve, while immersion in our landscape nourishes the creativity and care that shapes the restaurant.” 

2025 GROUNDED PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE!

Want to hear more pearls of wisdom from the experts? Tune in to the GROUNDED Live podcast on and listen to all the presentations from GROUNDED Festival 2025 in Western Australia. Stream on Spotify or Apple.   

TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW ABOUT GROUNDED!

• We want every farmer and every eater joining in the better food revolution.       
• Read the latest Media Release.
• Special ticket offers for locals, students and groups.
• Coming back for more? GROUNDED returners get a discount… 
• Check out our previous speakers and programmes. 
• Find out more about the GROUNDED 2026 location and region.

SUPPORTERS AND SPONSORS

• GROUNDED FESTIVAL 2026 is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.
• GROUNDED FESTIVAL 2026 is presented in partnership with the Upper Barwon Landcare Network and the Central Otway Landcare Network.
• This event is supported by the Victorian Government through the Victorian Landcare Grants.
• Upper Barwon Landcare Network
• Central Otway Landcare Network
• Corangamite Catchment Management Authority
• Sustainable Table
• Stone and Wood