project genesis
A permaculture farming trial in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria
Can a small, zero-input farming system be profitable in Central Victoria, while rebuilding soil and biodiversity?
Since 9 June 2023, we've been trying to answer that question on a half-acre trial plot in the Macedon Ranges. The initial site conditions were less than ideal, starting out with compacted, degraded grazing pasture as the foundation for the project.
Three years in, we are now seeing clear results. In a direct comparison, our planting has achieved a plant survival rate roughly three to four times higher than a professionally installed revegetation planting, despite being established in the same soil, under the same conditions and in the same season.
So what made the difference? Carefully selected native plants, integrated in to a productive system designed for the site and its conditions. Intentionally designed to minimise input, and maximise output. The system uses no irrigation, so is only watered by captured rainfall.
Read on to find out what we did, why we did it, what worked, what didn't, and where it's heading.
The Project Genesis site before implementation - dry, dusty and heavily compacted clay soils.
Origins: Why Project Genesis Exists
I completed my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2023. I learned how conventional tillage can accelerate soil erosion and organic matter loss, while regenerative practices can rebuild soil health and biodiversity (Macray & Montgomery, 2023; Montgomery et al., 2021). Shockingly, an estimated 16% of the world's conventionally farmed soils could completely lose their topsoil within 100 years, highlighting the need for more regenerative approaches to land management (Evans et al., 2020).
My first attempt to respond to this challenge was to build a traditional permaculture system. I learned a lot from it. But I also saw its limits. It worked beautifully at homestead scale, but at commercial scale, I could see how management would be inefficient and prohibitively expensive. That search led me to Syntropic Agriculture - a framework developed by Ernst Götsch that manages farming systems by imitating and accelerating natural forest succession. It answered the commercial-scale question I'd been stuck on. I saw significant numbers of commercial farms adopting these principle in South America, Europe and Northern Australia. I was drawn to how practitioners overseas were successfully integrating Australian native species like eucalypts and wattles into these systems. That was the spark for Project Genesis: could Australian native species be used to stabilise a commercial productive system - reducing pest cycles, building fertility, and providing habitat for vulnerable flora and fauna, without cutting into a farmer's bottom line?
species and design
Before committing to a final design, we grew and trialled roughly 150 plant species directly on the property to see, in practice, what actually thrived in our specific soil and climate. From that trial, we selected a subset of support species that were proven performers for the accumulation-phase of Project Genesis (see the species table below). 210 individual plants were installed in the initial planting.
Eucalyptus (4 species):
-
Eucalyptus melliodora
-
Eucalyptus radiata
-
Eucalyptus obliqua
-
Eucalyptus rubida
Acacia (5 species):
-
Acacia melanoxylon
-
Acacia mearnsii
-
Acacia dealbata
-
Acacia implexa
-
Acacia acinacea
Allocasuarina (3 species):
-
Allocasuarina luehmannii
-
Allocasuarina littoralis
-
Allocasuarina verticillata
Other:
-
Goodenia ovata
-
Callistemon sieberi
-
Atriplex semibaccata
Project Genesis at installation
The Site
Project Genesis sits on a half-acre trial section of a four-acre property in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria. Before we started, the land was old grazing pasture. Grass and weeds, with no trees except along the rear fence line. The soil was clay, heavily compacted by several 20-tonne excavators working the site for weeks during installation of a drainage easement. This was not fertile ground by any measure.
Project Genesis swales at installation
Layout of the Project
Tree rows were laid out on contour, 6 metres apart, on constructed berms. To facilitate planting, we dug narrow trenches 800mm deep and backfilled before filling with our selected species. We dug metre-wide swales on the uphill side of each berm to harvest and slow water across the site. The swales were filled with woodchip (which has since broken down, though a top-up is planned) to double as maintenance and harvest access. The biggest lesson I learned while digging the swales: Digging 800mm trenches into pure clay carries a real risk. Deep water penetration into clay can draw salt to the surface through capillary action, causing salinity dieback. Knowing what I know now, I'd approach this part of the earthworks differently. We haven't seen salinity effects on this site to date, but it's a genuine risk that other landholders considering similar earthworks on clay soils should be aware of before starting.
The Numbers: Project Genesis vs a Grant Funded Comparison
In the initial installation, we planted 210 native Australian support species. After one year, 197 were still alive. Today, three years on, well over 150 remain alive and thriving. For a real-world benchmark, a professionally installed, grant-funded revegetation planting went in on adjoining land roughly three months before ours, using the same soil and site conditions. 450 plants were installed under that program. After 18 months, 239 had survived. Today, fewer than 50 remain - and those that have survived are visibly, significantly smaller than the equivalent-age plants in Project Genesis. The results are clear - a design combining water-retaining earthworks with successional planting produced dramatically higher survival and stronger growth than a conventional revegetation approach on the same land, under the same conditions. It's one site, not a controlled trial, so it isn't proof the method works everywhere - however a 4x survival rate is difficult to put down to chance.
project genesis vs grant funded comparison
Photographic comparison: We have matched photo pairs from the same dates -including both sites on 15 March 2025, and both sites again on 16 August 2026 - showing the visible difference in establishment and growth rate.
[Note: this is a real-world, single-site observation, not a controlled scientific trial - soil micro-variations, planting technique, and aftercare all differ between the two plantings. We present it as an honest field comparison, not a peer-reviewed result.]
2025
Project Genesis
Project Genesis, January (drought conditions). Height of most large trees over 4m — dense, multi-strata regenerative planting doing exactly what it's designed to do under stress.
2025
Grant-Funded Comparison #1
Grant-funded planting, photos taken same month, same drought. Trees under 1m, significantly less than Project Genesis photos taken at the same time.
2025
Grant Funded Comparison #2
A second section of the grant-funded planting, under 0.5m. Same drought, same season - the gap in growth rate is stark.
%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy.jpg)
2026
Project Genesis
Project Genesis, August . Canopy over 6m - we have begun to manage the trees by lifting the crown, removing the leader at 5m high and harvesting biomass to mulch the tree lines.
%20-%20Copy.jpg)
2026
Grant-Funded Comparison #1
Grant-funded planting, photos taken same month. Tree has grown, however still significantly behind Project Genesis growth rates.
2026
Grant Funded Comparison #2
Tree has grown since 2025, however still significantly slower than Project Genesis
Species & Design
These natives were planted as the first wave - building soil structure, fixing nitrogen, mining deep nutrients and water, and providing biomass for mulching the productive rows.
The Eucalypts are managed with a syntropic-style pruning regime — deliberately cutting back to trigger growth pulses and deposit fertility (via leaf drop and root die-back) around the developing crop rows. The Allocasuarinas and Acacias handle nitrogen fixation. Goodenia ovata has recently been planted as our primary biomass workhorse — it bounces back reliably from a drastically hard prune. We've trialled understorey grasses as several syntropic systems recommend, but haven't yet had success establishing them on this site. Productive layer (planted 2026) marked our first bulk planting of productive species: apple trees on MM102 rootstock, forming the high strata beneath the native emergent canopy, to be field-grafted to chosen varieties. We also have hazelnut trees which were planted before Project Genesis began, a handful of test trees (cherry, apricot) planted at various stages to gauge succession readiness, and a trial row of crepe myrtles being evaluated as a cut-flower crop.
From Accumulation to Transition
Three years in, the system is moving rapidly from the accumulation phase toward transition. The soil tells the story better than we can: this started as compacted, structureless clay. Today it supports closed canopy in places, a returning native seed bank (self-seeded wattles and eucalypts appearing unassisted), and native groundcover species we didn't plant, including Murnong (yam daisy), kangaroo grass, wallaby grass, and chocolate lily.
What's Surprised Us
Pest management, which happened almost entirely by accident. Our swales hold standing water for a large part of the year. After rain, the frog chorus at night is loud enough to be startling. When you lift a rock, it's common to see three or so frogs hop out. We've identified around seven distinct frog calls, though we can only confidently name a couple, likely including the Spotted Marsh Frog and Eastern Banjo Frog, both common to the region. Despite the standing water, we've never had a mosquito problem - the frog population appears to be managing that for us.
Project Genesis tree line after 1 year
Biodiversity
We had a mob of roughly 80 eastern grey kangaroos regularly moving through - helping keep the grass down and adding fertility as they go - plus regular sightings of wedge-tailed eagles, gang-gangs, azure kingfishers, kookaburras, tawny frogmouths, and a wide range of parrots. Compared to bare grazing land three years ago, the shift has been dramatic.
What's Next?
The next phase is to plant out the remaining tree rows with productive species, and likely fill the inter-rows currently used for grass/biomass with cut flowers. We've hosted informal tours, including visits from university groups, and are open to doing this again for anyone interested in seeing the system in person. If you want a system like this on your own property - whether that's a full food forest design, or specific guidance on integrating native species into an existing orchard or farm - this is exactly the kind of consulting work we do, and you can contact us here.
Let's talk about your land.
Tell me a bit about your site and what you're hoping to achieve - I'll get back to you personally, whether that's an on-site consultation or a remote design for wherever you're based.