About Better Biology - Woodford SE Queensland

From School Camps to Soil Health — The Story Behind Better Biology

I am a first-generation farmer. That probably sounds like it should come with a romantic origin story — a family property handed down through generations, a grandfather who taught me to read the land. It does not. My path to farming was longer, less direct and, I think, more interesting for it.

I studied agriculture at university and then spent the next 25 years doing something completely different — running school camps across SE Queensland, working with more than 5,000 students a year, building resilience and life skills in young people through outdoor education. I built a business that genuinely changed the way outdoor education was delivered in this region. It was meaningful work and I gave it everything I had.

But the land kept calling.

When the opportunity came to return to agriculture — properly, practically, on the ground — I came back not just with a university foundation but with 25 years of experience building programs, educating people and running an operation that had to deliver real outcomes for real people every single day. Those skills do not leave you. They just find a new purpose.

That purpose is Better Biology.

The Property — A Place Built to Educate

Better Biology operates from a 60-acre property at Woodford in SE Queensland's Somerset region — and this property has a history that matters to us.

This is where we ran our school camps. We know every corner of it. We have watched thousands of young people discover something about themselves here. The infrastructure built for that work — the accommodation, the commercial kitchen, the demonstration spaces — is now the foundation of the Regenerative Training Centre, a working farm and education facility for adults, school groups and farming communities across SE Queensland.

The property also carries a 30-acre conservation agreement protecting regionally significant ecosystems — remnant vegetation, wildlife corridors and the kind of biological diversity that reminds you every day what healthy land actually looks like and what is worth fighting to restore.

See More about The Regenerative Training Centre

Why I Started Better Biology

SE Queensland farmers are caught in a trap.

Input costs keep climbing. Soil keeps declining. The advice on offer usually comes from the same companies selling the products — which means the advice almost always points back to more product. More fertiliser. More herbicide. More fungicide. The farmer pays, the soil gets weaker and the chemical company gets another year of margin.

I started Better Biology because I believe farmers deserve better than that. They deserve advice that is genuinely independent, grounded in science and focused on building a system that works for the farmer — not for the input supplier.

The goal is simple and it does not change: help SE Queensland farmers break the dependency on synthetic inputs, rebuild the biological systems their soils depend on, and put the farmer back at the front of their own decision making. Not the chemical rep. Not the agronomist on retainer. The farmer.

That is what every product we make, every consultation we deliver and every course we run at the Regenerative Training Centre is designed to do.

The Science Behind the Practice

Better Biology is not built on intuition or ideology. It is built on a rigorous understanding of soil biology, soil chemistry and the relationship between the two — developed through formal study and continued learning under some of the leading minds in regenerative agriculture.

I have studied Dr Elaine Ingham's Soil Food Web methodology, whose work on soil organisms and nutrient cycling has fundamentally changed how progressive agronomists understand soil health worldwide. I have studied soil nutrition and plant health with Nutri-Tech Solutions, Graeme Sait is one of Australia's most respected voices in biological agriculture. I have studied Regenerative Soils with Matt Powers. I have also studied Natural Sequence Farming with Tarwyn Park Training and Holistic Management with Inside Outside Management. So I'd say I have a well rounded understanding of the theory and the practice on my own property.

This combination — Soil Food Web biology, balanced soil chemistry, practical regenerative systems — is the foundation of everything Better Biology produces and recommends.

Every dry amendment blend is made on-farm in our ribbon mixer using our own biologically dense compost produced to Soil Food Web methodology, quality worm castings and precisely measured mineral inputs. Every compost extract and worm extract is brewed fresh, assessed under microscopy and delivered locally. Every farm consultation combines chemical laboratory analysis with biological microscopy assessment so farmers get the full picture of what their soil is doing — not half of it.

A One-Person Operation — With Serious Intentions

Better Biology is, at this stage, a one-person operation. It is me — Todd — supported by my wife and adult son, who keep me honest and keep me going in equal measure.

I make no apology for that. The farmers I work with are not paying for a corporate structure or a sales team. They are getting direct access to someone who has spent years studying this discipline, who makes every product on-farm and who has a genuine personal stake in whether the biology in your paddock improves.

As the Regenerative Training Centre develops — with courses for adults, programs for school students and an expanding demonstration site — the team will grow. But the approach will not change. Independent. Science-based. Farmer-first.

If that sounds like the kind of support your farm needs, I would like to hear from you.

Contact Todd directly on 0476 002 033 or email admin@betterbiology.com.au

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