Sustainability is the key term nowadays used in farm and catchment planning. Sustainable agriculture is an umbrella concept, and it is far easier to describe farming systems that are not sustainable than ones that are. A truly sustainable farming system is one in which the effects of conservation practices equal or exceed the effect of degradation processes.
Whole Farm and Catchment Planning are very useful tools for developing sustainable farming systems. The integrated whole-farm planning approach carried out through landholder workshops is an excellent framework for farmers to assess the natural resource base, plan new farm layout and farm management strategies to ensure that production goals in the short term are not achieved at the expense of the productive capacity of the land in the longer term.
Sustainable agriculture is a set of goals or objectives for agricultural systems. It is about maintaining the land with a healthy ecological balance and a sensitivity to the land's capabilities, using technologies and practices which have minimal environmental impact whilst maintaining farm production and profitability. (Fillery & Gregory 1991).
Agriculture is the one field of human endeavour in which the concept of sustainability can have the most impact. A broader definition of sustainable agriculture is:
Sustainable agriculture is both a philosophy and a system of farming. It has roots in a set of values that reflects a state of awareness of ecological and social realities and of one's ability to take effective action. It involves design and management procedures that work with natural process to conserve all resources, minimise waste and environmental impact while maintaining or improving productivity (Anonymous)
Whole Farm Planning is a very useful tool for farmers to develop more sustainable farming systems.
Whole Farm Planning is a process that assists farmers to analyse their farm operation from a bio-physical, ecological, economic and social perspective and integrates these perspectives in redesigning the farm layout and management in order to ensure more sustainable production and profitability.
Farm planning requires consideration of the total assets of the farm - soil, water, trees, livestock, pastures, crops, vegetation and wildlife and how to make best use of these resources on the farmer's particular property. This physical component of the farm plan is then integrated into the farm financial budgeting and marketing strategies and developed with personal goals and aspirations of the farmer in developing a comprehensive property management plan.
The whole farm plan could be an invaluable planning and management tool for tree and nut producers. The high capital cost of developing tree and nut enterprises and the importance of maximising returns over each hectare of the property are critical and require a management plan to ensure sustainable, profitable production.
The whole farm plan assesses the physical aspects of the farm - the soils, drainage, erodability, slope, aspect, micro-climate and land capability. This physical stock-take of the farm is then the basis of the farm design and layout. This may cover infrastructure development such as packing, storage or cooling sheds or capital improvements such as water supply and irrigation together with orchard layout and erosion mitigation works. All these capital improvements are huge outlays. It is therefore imperative to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of the development and to have a financial budgeting and marketing strategy for your farm enterprises to ensure economic sustainability.
Farm planning commenced in Australia in the 1950's. These plans were primarily aimed at soil erosion control and utilised the US Department of Agriculture's eight class land capability classification. These plans were prepared largely by government extension officers with varying input from farmers and focused on physical erosion control works and to a lesser extent, property layout, water conservation, tillage methods and pasture and crop development and tree planting programs.
During the 1980's farm planning had a renaissance due partly, and not insignificantly, to the Potter Farmland Plan.
The project, funded by the Ian Potter Foundation and the participating landholders established 15 demonstration farms in western Victoria that aimed to show how ecological considerations could be incorporated into farm planning so as to improve productivity and re-address land degradation.
The project was based on the following key assumptions:
Farming for the Future is the catch-cry for the New South Wales component of the National Landcare funded Property Management Planning (PMP) campaign.
The program's objective is to assist farmers and their advisers to improve their skills in Property Management Planning, risk assessment and drought management and to allow producers to develop and implement their own whole farm plans.
The goals of the program are to facilitate farmers towards sustainable and balanced management of the "whole" property in the long term and encourage farmers to develop risk management and drought management strategies as a means of increasing landholder self-reliance and viability.
The concept, not unlike the Potter Farm Plan Project, attempts to integrate the needs of the farm family through a holistic approach by meeting the personal, financial and physical planning needs of the farm family.
The delivery of the program is through landholder workshops which are targeted at groups of farmers. The program facilitates groups of farmers to participate in workshops or, more often, it targets existing Landcare, NSW farmer or producer groups.
Workshops that have been conducted with groups of farmers on the North Coast have covered topics on physical farm planning, soils, conservation on the farm, introduction to computers, planning for retirement, financial and taxation workshops. Also seminars have been held on drought and risk management and transfer of the family farm for landholders, as well as workshops for extension staff, consultants and agribusiness. The workshops have attracted over 800 farmers participating in 70 workshops over the past eighteen months. The feedback from farmers attending workshops has been overwhelmingly positive with the workshops obviously meeting some of their farm management and planning needs. The workshops also act as a catalyst for bringing rural communities together to socialise and discuss issues and problems facing farming families on the North Coast.
A couple of the landholder groups have embraced the program's 'big picture' concept of linking physical, financial and personal circumstances into whole farm plans and have participated in physical farm planning, soils and computer workshops and plan to attend financial and taxation workshops in the future.
The success of the workshops can be attributed to the following reasons:
Farming for the Future has been an outstanding success. The 800 or so farmers have participated in the workshops because they have seen the program as an opportunity to manage change.
The family farm in the nineties is facing enormous environmental, financial, marketing and technological challenges. Farmers who have participated in workshops are better equipped to improve, enhance and develop new skills and are in a sound position to take control of their farming destiny in an ever changing world, in striving towards a sustainable future.
Lawrence G, Vanclay F, Furze B (eds) 1992. Agriculture, Environment and Society Contemporary Issues for Australia. MacMillan. South Melbourne, Victoria
Campbell C.A. 1989. Bridging the Gap Between Conventional and Sustainable Agriculture - The Role of Whole Farm Planning. Australian Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Vol. 2. No. 2.