The Biodiversity Project: Meet the Schwager Family
Since 2020, Country Road has proudly partnered with Landcare Australia to support the restoration of native habitats in cotton-growing regions of Australia. Working with Australian farming families, the project has planted 18,300 seedlings along 14.4km of riverbank, rehabilitating a total of 102.6 hectares of native vegetation.
This July, we welcomed our fifth family to The Biodiversity Project. Here, we meet the Schwagers, whose planting activities along the Namoi River aim to support long term biodiversity outcomes for threatened species in the area.
Through our partnership, we’ve provided over $1 million of funding to The Biodiversity Project, raised through brand contributions and sales of our famous Verified Australian Cotton Heritage Sweat.
The Schwagers
Third-generation farmer Kevin Schwager grew up in the Namoi Valley in New South Wales and currently lives and works in the area. Together with his wife Mary-Ellen and daughter Jessie, he grows food and fibre crops such as cotton, canola and wheat.
A farmer once told me, ‘I just love growing stuff’. That comment resonated with me. The mystery of plant growth, watching a seed grow into something that we will ultimately wear or eat.—Kevin Schwager
In 2021, the couple purchased Wentworth, a 550-hectare property beside the Namoi River. Threatened species such as Murray Cod, koalas and the Large-eared Pied Bat have been seen in the area around Wentworth, which the Schwagers are operating as a non-irrigated cotton farm.
In collaboration with Landcare Australia, the family has focused on infilling areas of remnant vegetation and restoring cleared areas at Wentworth. They have planted 4,000 native seedlings on 43 hectares. These locally sourced natives, including River Red Gums, casuarina species and shrubs such as sweet bursaria, will increase habitat for wildlife along the riparian corridor.
Rob Porter, environmental projects manager, Landcare Australia, says species such as small birds and micro bats require lots of little protected spaces and hollows as they move through the landscape.
Restoring the vegetation in the form of shrubs, understory and canopy species over time will help them move further, provide safe refuge and a larger variety of places to source food.—Rob Porter
Farming as custodians of the future
“Through The Biodiversity Project, we wish to demonstrate that we are responsible custodians of our land. We want to show that farming and the environment and young families can and do coexist."—Kevin Schwager
“Our grandchildren are now the third generation on our farms. There is keen interest from our grandchildren about what we do on the farms. They love the crops, the machinery and the family barbecues by the river.”
“Consumers are becoming more interested and discerning about where their food and clothes are coming from. If as farmers, we wish to be outward looking and thinking, we need to respond to a changing marketplace. Being involved with The Biodiversity Project allows us to play a part in societal change.”
