Creating diversity above and below the ground: Murray Gomm on cover crops in orchards and vineyards

Murray Gomm is a regenerative farmer and winemaker based near Albany in Western Australia. With his partner Pamela Lincoln, he runs Oranje Tractor Farm, a small organic vineyard and orchard that’s become known for its focus on soil health, biodiversity and carbon-positive farming. Since the late 1990s, Murray has transformed a degraded property into a thriving, diverse landscape producing wine, fruit, and olive oil. The farm integrates cover crops, composting, mulching, and biological soil management instead of relying on synthetic fertilisers and chemicals. Murray is a long-time advocate for working with natural systems and is passionate about sharing the message that healthy soils lead to better produce and stronger communities. He regularly speaks on sustainable tourism, carbon farming, and the intersection of agriculture and ecology. In our conversation, we talk about the value of having a peer group to learn with rather than operating in a vacuum, the role of cover cropping in building diversity and unlocking crop health, soil and plant health monitoring that have helped Murray grow his best tasting peaches ever, and why he now sees himself as a ‘manager of ecological relationships’. Links and resources Oranje Tractor Wine and farm Soils for Life’s Orchard Resilience project The Orchard Underground WA program for commercial fruit and nut growers, delivered by Soils for Life and RegenWA Murray has also worked with RegenWA as a cover crop demonstration site If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions for future episodes or guests, we'd love to hear from you - reach out on social media or at info@soilsforlife.org.au.