Land

Around 70 percent of the Region’s 5.4 million terrestrial hectares are under some form of primary production.

The predominant farming systems in the Region are cropping and pasture establishment, as well as more than 125,000ha under timber plantations and around 4,000ha under viticulture and other forms of horticulture.

Cattle, dairy farms and other enterprises like inland aquaculture, cut flowers and native seed production, organic and biodynamic farming are also supported across the Region.

We know the major risks in the Region are salinity, wind erosion, water logging and subsurface acidity, along with excess nutrients entering our rivers and waterways.

There are social and environmental concerns, such as climate variability, along with issues of competition with the mining and construction industries.

South Coast Natural Resource Management Inc. recognises the importance of protecting and improving soil and land resources.

Healthy soils contribute to healthy waterways and marine environments by reducing erosion, nutrient export and sedimentation.

NRM priorities are focusing on developing and managing sustainable farming systems so primary production, including agriculture and forestry, can continue in the long term.

We are working with the community to promote the uptake of sustainable primary production practices, together with strategic revegetation and surface water management, that offer the best potential to restore environmental balance.

South Coast NRM Assets

Land

061127_MG_1922.tif Healthy soils support our biodiversity and our primary production industry. Around 70 percent of the Region’s 5.4 million terrestrial hectares are under some form of primary production.

The development and widespread uptake of sustainable primary production practices, together with strategic revegetation and surface water management, offer the best potential to restore hydrological balance.

Many achievements have been made in this area.

Perennial based agricultural systems are being developed through partnerships with industry.

Results from the Identifying Key Limiting Factors project are guiding development of new sustainable agricultural systems.

The Land Potential project, through the Options 2020 workshop, initiated partnerships with industry for future farm industries.

The Sustainability Indicators project is enabling individual farm businesses to evaluate change options.

Improved monitoring networks are in place to determine impact on resources.

Workshop processes in which more than 250 farm plans were developed in the priority subcatchments are now being implemented by farmers.

Co-investment is occurring despite adverse seasons resulting in significant land use and practice change in many priority subcatchments.

CatchPlan, a GIS database which enables mapping and analysis of planned and implemented catchment action, has been rolled out.

Ongoing research and development with industry and farmer groups confirms planned action will deliver to the catchment groups’ objectives of containing NRM risks.

In the area of Invasive Species, some examples of the key partnership projects underway are:

the Eradication of Gorse project
the Eradication of the Starling Invasion project in the Central and Eastern South Coast
strengthened support of the community based model of feral pig control and other invasive species. Support for this project comes from subregional groups.