Abstract - Agriculture and ecosystems are tipping toward collapse due to land use and climate extremes. Irreversible feedbacks in the land system can lock in food insecurity, biodiversity loss and a hot house world. However regenerating agro-ecosystems is possible and can be profitable. It will take human labor and ingenuity on the scale not seen since the recovery from last global depression. Fortunately we have the technological capacity to map, measure and model the problems and the solutions at a local (farm) scale where direct action can have impact on land and livelihoods. In this talk, Prof Justin Borevitz will introduce the components of precision landscape regeneration, linking genotype, phenotype and environment, and the outsized role Australia can have in the world. DECRA fellow Helen Bothwell will then present Landscape Genomics methods in Eucalyptus foundation species to rebuild agro-ecosystems. Postdoc Wolfram Buss will present methods for boosting soil carbon with microbes and management. Integrating and scaling these land based solutions can build planetary health and resilience.

Biography - Professor Borevitz leads a grand challenge project - Land Based Carbon Drawdown to Enhance the Earth System. DECRA Helen Bothwell did her PhD at Northern Arizona University in 2016 on landscape genetic modelling. Dr Wolfram Buss did his PhD in Edinburgh in 2016 on biochar and soils.