Father-and-son winemakers, Richard and Sam Statham, have built a permaculture paradise to share the burdens of managing a property.

Key points: Twenty-two people, on a dozen plots, live on the 140-hectare farm near Canowindra

Twenty-two people, on a dozen plots, live on the 140-hectare farm near Canowindra Rivers Road Organic Farms is a hybrid between a farming community and a strata title scheme

Rivers Road Organic Farms is a hybrid between a farming community and a strata title scheme The farm operates on organic principles, producing wine grapes, sheep, figs, and olives

The idea began in 2000, when Mr Statham senior left the wool industry for wine grapes and, in place of investors for the vineyard, his son came up with the idea of a strata title model of organic farming.

Now, the 140-hectare multiple-occupancy farm at Canowindra, New South Wales, is home to 22 people on a dozen plots united by an organic covenant and a commitment to developing their own agribusinesses.

Rivers Road Organic Farms was set up as a "hybrid" between farming community lifestyle blocks and a standard strata title scheme, sharing skills and resources — without a formal business structure.

Each producer owns their piece of land and their own home, but they've all got company, expertise and any equipment they need nearby.

Sam and Richard Statham hope to continue to grow Rivers Road Organics into the future. ( ABC Orange: Donal Sheil )

"We compare ideas and skills and share lots but we don't have a joint business together … so we can collaborate on use of equipment and even on how to grow things, but it's a separate company operation," Richard Statham said.

"It's gone well beyond anything I could have imagined."

The community operates using organic principles and practices in all enterprises, which currently include growing wine grapes, sheep, figs, and olives.

"It's been a long time since we've felt any anxiety that we couldn't go to an armoury of chemicals or other inputs to restrict or solve another problem," Mr Statham said.

"We're quite confident now that insects and weeds are here, but we have them under control or they're in balance with natural predators — something even better."

Growing organically

For Margie Crowther, being a part of an organic operation was an essential ingredient as she and her partner, Andrew Wooldridge, looked for a place to set up their wool and fat lamb enterprise.

"It had to be organic or not at all," she said.

"I'd grown up on chemical farms and the amount of exposure that I've had to chemicals … I was really unwell and still to this day if I get exposure it makes me unwell."

Margie Crowther and Andrew Wooldridge moved to Rivers Road 15 years ago and were drawn to the organic covenant that unites the community. ( ABC Orange: Donal Sheil )

Ms Crowther also enjoys the feeling of having other producers around.

"I grew up on really big properties on the western Darling Downs, some horizon-to-horizon cropping, and I knew that when I stepped back into owning a farm, I didn't want to buy that isolation," she said.

Our best stories in your inbox Subscribe to Rural RoundUp: Get our best stories from rural and regional Australia every Friday.

Moving to Rivers Road also meant a greater capacity to dedicate focus and finances on an agricultural enterprise.

"We need a tractor for about 20 hours a year, so it doesn't make sense for me to own one. But it makes a lot of sense for me to rent one from some other partners here for what I need to do," Mr Wooldridge said.

"You can jump in and evolve your business at the pace you can manage, and at the same time evolve the natural capital — soils and the pastures that you want to manipulate."

The sheep are free to graze on the vineyards at Rivers Road, clearing weeds and grass that grow between the vines.

"For the vigneron … a sheep is a slasher on the front, a microbial bug brewer in the middle, a fertiliser distributor at the back, with four little plough points underneath," Mr Wooldridge said.

"And the good thing about vineyards is they provide some really good cover for animals in cold snaps; the vineyards provide lines across the wind."

John Benfatto has just finished building his home at Rivers Road and enjoys pottering around in his garden and making prosciutto. ( ABC Orange: Donal Sheil )

Social capital

Beyond the financial benefits of a multiple-occupancy farm, Sam Statham said creating Rivers Road Organic Farms offered a built-in social support network for the residents.

"There's actually a lot of social life … It's fantastic to have these neighbours … we may not always get together but there's lots of informal small catch-ups and dinners," he said.

Residents like Herb said they were attracted to the lifestyle and shared community. ( ABC Orange: Donal Sheil )

Tough discussions have been made easier through the community's investment in interpersonal skill development, which has built what Ms Crowther calls a "sense of social capital".

"A community learns to trust itself more and more by the incidental activities that you do, but we have to learn the skills to work together because they're not skills we're born with," she said.

"We share farm tools, it made sense to share people skills as well."

At a time when many are walking away from their farming operations, the Rivers Road model presents as an opportunity to entice a new generation of growers and producers.

"Mum and Dad always said: 'Go away, don't be a farmer, do what you enjoy' and I did that and then I came back," Mr Statham said.

"I realised that farming is a great way of life and I love it."