Management Target:
Sustainable Agriculture Management practice carried out by 50% of landholders by 2016.

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Sustainable Grazing and Farming

The condition of pastoral lands in the Western Catchment has improved over the past fifty years. To maintain the productivity and stability of these pastoral lands, grazing practices need to be implemented that ensure that the required cover levels and plant species diversity is maintained.

The voluntary adoption of industry developed sustainable grazing practices will increase the amount of vegetative cover which will, in turn, reduce soil erosion, groundwater recharge, soil structural decline and enhance the habitat values for the pastoral lands.

Simultaneously, improved cover levels will see an increase in plant biomass, palatable plant species composition, soil biological activity and increase the probability of long term viability of the pastoral lands.

Old style, traditional farming practices may have resulted in a bare soil surface for up to nine months at a time. During this time the risk of soil movement through both wind and water erosion is greatly increased.

It is widely recognised that the adoption of conservation farming practices such as stubble retention, reduced tillage, direct drilling, controlled traffic and chemical fallow will maintain groundcover at or above target levels. This, in turn, reduces the risk of soil movement through soil erosion, improves soil biological activity, soil carbon and nutrient status and minimises soil structural decline. Click here to view a series of fact sheets about sustainable farming in the Western Catchment.

In the irrigated farming areas additional activities relating to water use efficiency, irrigation design and recharge management will be incorporated into best management practices.

Activities that will help achieve this management target include:

• Training to improve grazing management practices
• Implementation of grazing systems that allowing regeneration of native pasture
• Training and implementation of minimum till farming systems
• Fencing off water-points to address Total Grazing Pressure control