There’s no room for failure. If the Landholders Driving Change project and other similar initiatives fail, the Queensland beef industry could be in all sorts of strife.
That’s why graziers are in the driver’s seat, we bring local knowledge to the table because we know our country.
We’re also highly motivated to develop farm management capacity, grow property production and profitability, and improve land condition.
An added advantage is that as the project unfolds we can share new found knowledge and a practical land management toolbox in how to tackle erosion with the broader beef industry.
It’s about educating and filling knowledge gaps and providing tools to improve land condition.
Graziers want to dispel the view that they rape and pillage their land. But landholders also need to take responsibility for erosion on their properties and take proactive action to fix it.
Specifically, Landholders Driving Change is tackling troublesome gullies to reduce sediment runoff.
I’m working from the premise that if sediment is running off your property, you’re losing valuable ground. You paid for that country, don’t let it wash away. There’s scope to take a holistic approach and not just be seen as treating the symptom, an eroded gully. We also need to address the cause. On Strathalbyn, we have some gully problems and I intend to dramatically increase my ground cover so I don’t get run off into the erosion area.
Once that’s done, I’ll then fix the erosion.
If I fix the erosion area and not what’s caused it, it’s going to keep eroding. This of course is done in conjunction with spelling country, rotating, and time-controlled grazing, among other things.
To succeed we need science and practice to come together. Science provides credibility to the outcomes, especially if scientists stick up their hands and say we’ve gone on the journey with these graziers, we support what they’re doing and we’ve got proof that they’re keeping soil on their land.
Graziers, scientists and government appear to be odd bedfellows but it’s crucial that these groups come together to come up with a commonsense approach that will result in practical on-ground works to keep soil on the land.
We also need governments to recognise that long-term targeted funding is needed to improve tangible economic and ecological outcomes for the Great Barrier Reef. Sensible funding and incentive models should be developed to motivate and assist graziers to make long-term change.
This project supports graziers in the Collinsville/Bowen area to improve land condition and water quality. Bristow is one of five graziers sitting on a Project Panel, alongside scientists and technical experts. They are designing projects for implementation over the next three years.
