A total of 70 farmers attended the Keyline Design Course run by education provider Milkwood Permaculture at UWS Hawkes- bury.

Participants came from as far as the United States, Queensland, WA and Tasmania, but the field trip originally planned to the land, formerly owned by P.A Yeomans, who developed the Keyline system of land enrichment, could not happen due to denial of access.

The participants were instead taken to two properties in the Camden area which use the Keyline system on a smaller scale.

Milkwood partner and teacher, Nick Ritar, said they had held the Keyline course at Richmond due to its proximity to the main Keyline properties at North Richmond ? Yobarnie, now owned by developer Buildev, and Nevallan, owned by Bob Peel.

"This means we won't run this course at Richmond anymore as we can't get access to the land," Mr Ritar said.

Buildev's Mark Regent said he has no recollection of being asked about access to Yobarnie, and said the Camden properties would be more relevant to the course as their Keyline systems are still in use.

The Federal-Government-subsidised course covered the principals of Keyline, and how farmers can implement it on their properties. It was the second Keyline-dedicated course run by Milkwood. The first in March 2008 had 40 participants.