Who should pay for good private land management, and how?
Posted on 18 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
Connecting Country’s most recent field day (22 April) was held at Malcolm Fyffe’s grazing property at Sandon. Introducing the trip, Deirdre Slattery, CC Education Advisor, suggested that an historical perspective on private land use showed many changes have taken place in government and community attitudes to land, from wholesale clearing to protection. Malcolm Fyffe and the North Central CMA’s Geoff Park, illustrated the current difficulties and dilemmas involved in farming for a productive and healthy landscape: many of the issues they raised look rather different when seen from a farming or a nature conservation point of view.
Deirdre Slattery provides an introduction to the excursion by explaining issues surrounding historical and present day land use patterns.
The group visited a range of sites: erosion gullies, one active, another planted and fenced out and stable; grazing pastures of both improved and native species; a fenced out remnant of rather degraded bushland and a planned wildlife corridor. Finally Malcolm showed us a large block of land that he leases and runs under light stocking conditions. This site has been partially cleared, but also has partially recovering shrubby native vegetation on its steep slopes and rocky fragile soils.
At each site, Malcolm and Geoff invited the group to think about some of the choices and values that have gone into them. They led the group in exploring and debating the best ways of supporting both the public and private costs and benefits of healthy and productive farm land. Both presenters are very familiar with these matters as part of their very different working experiences in land management.
As a farmer, Malcolm wants to use his land and labour efficiently to produce healthy stock in a productive landscape. He makes choices for his own financial well being, but is also aware of his capacity to influence the landscape for wider benefits for birds, insects, plants and water. But he also thinks that the whole community should financially support these efforts, as everyone gains from the benefits of biodiversity and healthy catchments.
As a land management public servant, Geoff wants to encourage farmers to protect, restore and enhance soils, waterways and remnant vegetation as part of a whole landscape and catchment. He is interested in the off-site effects of erosion or loss of rare and declining plant and animal communities. He is aware of how limited public dollars are for the task of maintaining or restoring ecological value over a vast land area, and keen to get the best value for public money at a regional level.
Geoff Park discusses the visual aspects of land use change across the Mt Alexander region pointing out significant vegetation linkages/biodiversity corridors.
Both presenters were able to show us how Bush Tender and other land protection funding schemes had helped Malcolm to balance his own need to make a profit with Geoff’s interest in the public values of this farming landscape.
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