Winner announced - Queensland Landcare Awards 2026
Kieran Richardt - WINNER of the QLD 2026 Australian Govt. Sustainable Agriculture Landcare Award
Amiens orchard journey brings Queensland Landcare recognition
Early picking seasons at Messines Farm meant sleeping in a swag, harvesting fruit into trailers and taking the crop to the Gold Coast to sell. For Kieran Richardt and his family, taking on the Amiens orchard was a practical lesson in the demands of farming. That work has now earned Kieran the Queensland 2026 Australian Government Sustainable Agriculture Landcare Award, announced on 10 October at the Queensland Landcare Awards. Granite Borders Landcare Inc. hosted the local celebration in Stanthorpe.Speaking at the Stanthorpe celebration, Member for Southern Downs James Lister highlighted the importance of local knowledge and community effort. “Without the people doing the work on the ground, with the local knowledge and the local drive to enhance and preserve their environment, this sort of stuff wouldn't happen,” Mr Lister said. The award story begins with an established orchard, a family willing to learn, and a question familiar to many regional landholders: how can a farm produce good food while improving the condition of the land that supports it?
Putting ideas into practice at Amiens
Kieran is an environmental scientist and director of Natura Pacific, an environmental consulting and education social enterprise. Buying Messines Farm in 2020 gave him a place to put the ideas he had been teaching into practice.The farm grows apples, pears, plums and apricots. It also includes a market garden and native bushland, which occupies about one third of the property.Kieran treats those areas as connected. Flowers and groundcovers in the orchard are part of his efforts to support pollinators and beneficial insects, while bushland provides habitat alongside the productive land.“We use biodiversity to our advantage,” he said.Under the fruit trees, mulch and compost are part of the work to improve soil condition. Diverse plants grow between the rows, and livestock are brought through at selected times.The changes bring everyday challenges as well as ideas. Moving mulch takes time, animals can pull it out of place, and the family keeps considering how to manage weeds and moisture with the labour available.In the market garden, rolled cardboard above irrigation tape is one method being tried to reduce hand labour. Compost and biochar trials are also continuing.
A sign of change beneath the trees
One of the farm’s most memorable moments came during a visit from the former orchard owner.Kieran showed him earthworms beneath the fruit trees. The visitor recalled not seeing earthworms on the property since childhood.The story captures why gradual changes matter to the family. Improving soil condition is ongoing work, with observations helping guide what they try next.Kieran is equally interested in making that learning useful to people beyond the property. Videos, documentaries and screenings—including Messy: Regenerative Agriculture—share the farm’s experience.“I want to show other people the things that we’ve had wins on and the things that we’ve made mistakes on,” he said.That openness is part of what makes the story relevant to other growers. People can see the questions being worked through, from soil management to the practical demands of running an orchard.
The people behind the work
Kieran credits his wife and children, the Natura Pacific team, neighbours and the family who previously owned the orchard with helping make the work possible.The former owners shared how they had managed the farm. Neighbours have contributed advice and local knowledge. The property has also provided opportunities to work with other scientists on its native plants and habitat.For Kieran, these relationships sit alongside a lifelong interest in plants and animals. As a child, he brought home stray creatures and tried growing plants; the farm has become another way to pursue that interest and share it.He is now developing opportunities for visits, workshops and professional learning, so people can exchange experiences and see the work at the farm.The Queensland Landcare award celebrates a local effort with lessons that reach beyond the Granite Belt. At its centre is a family orchard, the people supporting it, and a willingness to keep learning about the land. Find out more about Messines Farm and its regenerative agriculture documentaries CLICK HERE
