Local farmers have turned to their community in a grassroots quest to position Macedon Ranges as a centre for excellence in regenerative agriculture and land stewardship.
The organisers of GROW Festival went back to the drawing board to redesign the event for 2026, even after the bumper success of the first GROW in 2025.
This year, the all-day program on Friday February 20 at the Kyneton Racecourse will feature more than 40 workshops, demonstrations, talks and discussions.
It is based on community need and interest: the content is effectively crowdsourced and the event is crowdfunded.
Tickets are a pay-what-you-can contribution towards the cost of putting the day on.
The action will take place across four themed stages or learning hubs: plants, soil, animals and people. Plus there will be a full day of practical demonstrations and workshops in the ‘GROW Paddock’ on adjoining Rock House Farm.
The sessions will be short, targeted and in smaller groups to make presenting more comfortable for a broader range of contributors and to help make asking questions feel less daunting for the audience.
The volunteer organisers – members of the not-for-profit Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group – are describing this regenerated GROW as an “unconference”.
GROW Festival’s Donna Coutts said that by empowering the community to create the curriculum and to attempt to crowdfund the event, GROW 2026 would be a true test of what the community wanted and could support.
“We were more interested in collaboration and community consultation than trying to create another commercial agribusiness conference in a crowded events calendar,” she said.
“Regional Victoria and farmers, in particular, have had a challenging few seasons and we wanted above all to be inclusive, relevant and accessible.
“It’s a sensitive time to ask people to put their hands in their pockets for a pricey day out.
“We wanted to bring everyone along with us on the journey; for this event to grow from community need rather than for it to be imposed on or sold to its audience.
“Everyone who farms or looks after land or thinks deeply about how their food and fibre is grown is a stakeholder both in GROW and in the future health of our food systems and landscapes, rather than customers of a commercial enterprise.”
There was a consistent theme to feedback about the first GROW. The almost 600 visitors from all over Australia rated highly the social and networking opportunities and the peer-to-peer knowledge sharing that happens in healthy communities of practice. They also reported feeling a shared sense of responsibility to bring everyone along with them towards success in agriculture and improved resilience.
“We reckoned that was worth listening to,” Ms Coutts said.
The community-first ethos hasn’t limited the talent on the program – in fact, quite the opposite.
US filmmaker Peter Byck – famous as the creator of the Carbon Cowboys – is continuing as part of the GROW family and will be an important part of the day.
“Like so many people who’ve said yes to GROW 2026, Peter wanted to contribute again specifically because of our grassroots ideas.”
The lineup features other leading international and national experts in sustainability and agriculture, as well as award-winning innovators and practitioners from closer to home.
Presenters are giving their time and sharing their expertise as an in-kind contribution to the festival. Community groups are exhibiting and demonstrating free of charge and commercial exhibitors have made financial donations or given goods and services for an auction of promises to seed fund GROW 2027.
GROW tickets are available now until sold out at www.growfestival.au
