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MOUNT EGERTON, VICTORIA (5 JULY 2023)—Nonprofit certifier A Greener World (AGW) has announced Manna Hill Estate as the first producer in Australia to be Certified Regenerative by AGW. This innovative certification provides a whole-farm assurance of regeneration and sustainability, measuring benefits for soil, water, air, biodiversity, infrastructure, animal welfare, and social responsibility.
As public interest in sustainability continues to increase and broaden in scope, the demand for rigorous, meaningful assurances of responsible farming and processing practices has grown. Building on its successful family of leading labels, A Greener World’s Certified Regenerative program is a whole-farm, plan-based regenerative certification—giving farmers, consumers, and buyers confidence in reliability and impact.
Campbell Mercer owns Manna Hill Estate, a small, family run, dry range olive grove in Mount Egerton near Ballarat, situated in the beautiful countryside of the Central Highlands in Victoria, Australia. Mercer produces and manufactures award-winning Certified Regenerative by AGW and certified organic extra-virgin olive oil, table olives, soaps, and skin care balms made from around 2,500 olive trees planted at Manna Hill Estate.
The farm management practices at Manna Hill Estate are focused on improving soil health through applying biological methods, such as compost, biochar, creating biofertilisers, extensive mulching, and cover cropping. These practices also help to increase the water-holding capacity of the soil and to minimise evaporation, which will become increasingly important as climate change takes hold.
Manna Hill Estate was a participant in AGW’s inaugural Certified Regenerative pilot cohort, made up of a group of over 50 farms across the globe that spent the last two years in partnership with A Greener World, evaluating farm standards, plans, and auditing procedures for Certified Regenerative by AGW, which have been under development since 2017.
Certified Regenerative by AGW ensures farms are meeting initial rigorous sustainability standards, but also continually improving. Recognising every farm is a unique part of an ecosystem, the core of Certified Regenerative by AGW is a farm-specific, steward-led Regenerative Plan where producers assess risks, set goals, and track progress toward their own meaningful milestones with support from qualified experts in agronomy, biodiversity, water quality, and other fields. Plans are reviewed, approved, and then audited on an ongoing basis by A Greener World, offering farmers and consumers a third-party source of accountability for each farm’s regenerative progress.
Campbell Mercer of Manna Hill Estate says,
“Here at Manna Hill Estate, we are passionate and committed to producing healthy organic food and skincare products, using farming methods that care for our environment. Our focus on regenerative agricultural techniques helped us to win consecutive Gold Medals in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Australian International Olive Awards competition.”
“We chose to certify with A Greener World because they have a global footprint, and their robust certification offers a transparent, independent, third-party validation of our farming techniques and processes. Although the concept of regenerative farming is currently not well known among Australian consumers, we anticipate that this will rapidly evolve, and that our hard-won Certified Regenerative by AGW logo will become critical to our marketing success. It provides customers with the comfort and assurance that we really are farming how we say we are.”
A Greener World UK and Europe Executive Director Wayne Copp says,
“We know the collection of farming practices described as ‘regenerative’ has huge potential to put the brakes on — and even reverse — many of the negative impacts associated with intensive agriculture. We are proud to work with Manna Hill Estate, the world’s first Certified Regenerative by AGW olive producer, and we are delighted that Campbell has chosen us as the logo his customers can trust to deliver genuinely positive outcomes: on the farm, at the table, and for the planet.”
For more information about Manna Hill Estate’s Certified Regenerative by AGW products, visit mannahillestate.com.au. Follow the Manna Hill Estate on Facebook and Instagram. Contact Campbell Mercer at (+61) 0457 581 632 and mannahill.estate@outlook.com.
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