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The challenge for Australian agriculture…
build agro-ecosystems to match flows of water, nutrient, carbon with the hydro-geochemical cycles
requires fundamental redesign of agriculture in the landscape
Redesigning agriculture in the landscape
1. become landscape literate
2. cure the drought delusion
3. pay for ecosystem services
4. remove hidden subsidies
5. replan the paddock
6. build new industries, not just new crops
7. use native flora & fauna
8. create new partnerships & knowledge
9. unlock tools for change
10. test the whole package
1. Becoming landscape literate change in scientific & technical
services for agricultural sector
recognition that ecosystem processes differ on every farm
there are no experts - only students
giving landholders time to conduct a study tour of their own back paddocks
application & experimentation at the farm level
understanding how actions integrate into the ecological & hydrological function of landscapes
2. Curing the drought delusion
there are droughts, and there are dry climates
stop growing things in areas that result in:
• soil & water degradation
• loss of habitat & species
sustainable agriculture must cope with decade long dry sequences
rethink our fundamental values of water & landscape & our relationship to them
April 20, 2023 5TYPE IN PRESENTATION NAME
Annual Flows In Lachlan River at Forbes
Annual Flows in Lachlan River at Forbes
Annual Flows in Murrimbidgee at Wagga Wagga
Tasmania Annual Rainfall-anomaly
Tasmania Annual Rainfall-high rainfall years
Tasmania Annual Rainfall-low rainfall years
CSIRO LAND and WATER
Loxton SA: Annual Rainfall 273mm
2002- 106mm (Decile 1)
2002: -Excessive Cultivation
-no stubble protection
-crop lost this year
-soil and nutrients lost
-major restoration required
Courtesy David Roget of CSIRO
CSIRO LAND and WATER
Waikerie SA: Annual Rainfall 252mm
2002- 110mm (Decile 1)
2002 :-Intensive Cropping with Zero Tillage
-some crop (cash flow)
-stable soil (this years crop and last years stubble)
-ready to crop next year
Courtesy David Roget of CSIRO
6 November 2002Riverina
6 November 2002Riverina….10 minutes later
3. Paying for ecosystem services
agriculture needs to manage the whole
landscape to produce ecosystem services
for urban societies
pay for the maintenance of ecological
functions & services essential to urban
societies
need new & old agricultural enterprises
to:
• yield food & fibre
• provide ecosystem services with a present value
new markets for ecosystem services are
needed
(Credit: Dinah Johanson. Modified from Wayt Gibbs, Scientific American, 2005)
The future form of
sustainable agriculture
4. Remove hidden subsidies
cost of food doesn’t include cost of maintaining natural resource base
regulatory framework to ensure food production minimises damage to natural resources & environment
need an Australian standard for sustainable agriculture for local & imported products
‘Australian Sustainable Agriculture Standard’ must include whole life cycle analysis of energy, water, land & biodiversity inputs into production
5. Replanning the paddock take stock of what is really needed on a
catchment scale
vegetation as a tool to ensure biophysical landscape processes
link to spatially robust catchment vegetation plans
Figure out:
Image: Hawkesbury Nepean CMA
• what species & structural complexity is needed
• where can regeneration of remnant vegetation be beneficial
• what’s already lost: don’t throw good money after bad
6. Building new industries
strategy to build new industries &
prospective land uses - economic & ecological
benefits
new catchment based trade arrangements,
eg cooperative arrangements for carbon
trading
production of unfamiliar commodities
accompanied by marketing efforts
demand needs to be created
7. Using native flora and fauna
use of native flora & fauna needs to form
an increasing part of rural production:
• bush foods
• native wildflowers
• essential & other oils for pharmaceutical or
industrial chemicals
8. Creating new partnershipsand knowledge
no experts in redesigning agricultural systems
new partnerships:• scientific & technical skills embedded in regional
culture
• between communities, biophysical scientists, conservation biologists, sociologists & economists
new science within rural communities facing environmental, social & economic changes
9. Unlocking the tools of change
To redesign paddocks farmers need:
capacity to measure/model/predict water, nutrient, carbon flows in agro-ecosystems & relate these to flows in landscape
access to new land assessment tools to predict/model/map best locations for:• trees & other perennial plants
• high-value annuals
• native vegetation
coordinated access to data to enable access to new technologies
integrated, decentralised information services relevant at a catchment scale
10. Testing the package
use volunteer farms in NRM regions as demos:
use working farms that remain viable after redesign
test paddock layout, land uses, vegetation, etc
if it works – it’s a model for the region
if it doesn’t - can avoid making new problems
support existing model farms to share
experiences
Can we get it right?Can we get it right? it requires a commitment from
everyone to:
• rethink their approach
• re-envisage the farm
• re-engage with each other to learn from the land itself
this is the challenge as well as the opportunity
““The future is not some place we are The future is not some place we are
going to.going to.
It is a place we are creating. It is a place we are creating.
The path to the future is not found. The path to the future is not found.
It is made.”It is made.”
Peter EllyardPeter Ellyard
‘‘We still have time to make the necessary We still have time to make the necessary
changes to our lives, but we need to take changes to our lives, but we need to take
stock now and be clear about where we stock now and be clear about where we
are going in the future.’are going in the future.’
David SukukiDavid Sukuki
But Climate Change and Access to Energy is
going to make it moredifficult
The Rural and Coastal Landscapes and their Communities are under
Transformation Image: © Fiona McKenzie 2008