soil-conservation-people-religion-and-land.pdf - South West NRM

aspect of sustainable production should be evaluated before
planning of banYs, waterways, trees, and tillage methods are
combined in a cc,plementary range of land care techniques.
PLANNING BY GROUPS
In Australia several states including Queensland, have
inherited the British planning system based on land capability
and land classes. This system which has much in common with
the North American approach, has relied heavily on the mapping
of physical resources and attributes, as the basis of farm
planning. Over time it became clear that many farm plans were
not used as a basis for on-going improvement of management -
in fact the farm plan was often no more than a prized picture
on the property office wall.
Seldom did the physicdl plan form a basis for management
and economic decision-making. In many cases, the fact that
the farm plan was only a resource inventory, was not made
sufficiently clear and as a result, evidence now shows that
the standard of management is little different on planned and
unplanned farms. In addition, a recent survey by the Soil
Conservation Service of New South Wales shows that of a sample
of 2000 landholders whose farms had been planned by SCS over
the past two decades, only a small proportion actually used
their plan to any extent in their management and development.
The present situation reflects a response to producer
organizations* desire to both take responsibility for, and
give the initiative in, ltwhole farm" planning. This starting
point alone, gives vmfanner-ledlf planning a better chance of
success than the previous departmental approach. However,
several other differences between old and new strategies must
be exploited if real progress is to ensue.
Three basic questions require consideration:
1. Who should do the planning?
2. What level of precision is required in mapping and
description?
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3. HOT&- should management and financial decision-making be
integrated with physical planning?
Wherever possible, landholders should take the lead in
evaluating the potential and hazards of each section of their
properties. his should be followed by the landholders own
mapping and decisions on a land use programme which meets the
objectives of sustainable production. This should be done on
the basis of orthophoto maps, using transparent overlays and
wax pens in the initial stages in which alternatives are
considered. Group sessions in which individuals can be
assisted and queried by their peer group could ensure that a
range of alternatives are compared.