When his cattle disappear into five-foot-high grass, it's not because the place is overgrown. It is by design.

However, a frightening injury means he now has to sell and, just maybe, see a life's work undone.

Frustrated by bureaucratic inaction, the former researcher bought his own farm 22 years ago to prove a point.

"I was employed in the Department of Agriculture for a long time, we established the canola industry in NSW and did research into multi-species cropping and pasture growth," Mr Newell said.

"When they went all bureaucratic, instead of scientific, I decided to leave and do this regenerative farming research, so I have cut out all the rubbish and got the natural solution."

The decision to sell came after a ladder collapsed under the 81-year-old.

Mr Newell loves "farming" but is scornful of "agriculture". Farming, he said, builds soils and a solid, self-sustaining system, whereas agriculture slowly depletes the land of nutrients and water.

Convinced there was a better way that simply needed to be demonstrated, he put his money where his mouth was in 2000, buying 193 hectares (478 acres) at Canowindra with wife Beverley, and Misty Mountain Creek was born.

Unsurprisingly, every inch of the Newell property is managed and measured.

Where his "landsmanship" approach departs from the norm is that Misty Mountain Creek hasn't seen any money spent on infrastructure, herbicides or fertiliser during the Newells' 22 years of ownership.

"All the native grasses that I know of are there now," Mr Newell said.

Mr Newell has also sown phragmites reeds along contours to slow and retain water.

While it had taken a lot of research to repair Misty Mountain Creek, Mr Newell said landsmanship could turn ailing land around in three to five years.

Mr Newell said he was happy to mentor Misty Mountain Creek's purchaser.

He's confident Misty Mountain Creek is living proof that farming without chemicals can be successful.