Imagining how a grazing enterprise could look in 10 years works best if the activity includes the whole family — children are often better at imagining the future than adults. It involves developing a personal vision for the farm and how the business will achieve profitable livestock and cropping enterprises within a framework of sustainability and personal satisfaction.
Before starting, it is important to recognise the long-term nature of some of these activities — sometimes the next generation will see more of the benefits than the existing management.
Strategic planning supports a long-term view of current activities. It also can be used to account for the personal aspirations family members may have for the enterprise into the future.
When a vision has been established, it is time to switch to operational planning to work out how to assemble the resources (time, skills, dollars, etc.) that allow the vision to be turned into a reality. Getting the strategic planning right with the whole team saves effort and time when developing the ‘how to’.
Establishing the goal posts — setting the vision
It is important to develop a long-term vision for a grazing enterprise. Without a longer-term vision, it is difficult to know if individual day-to-day actions on the farm are heading towards or further away from the ‘ideal’ outcome. It is also difficult to involve the family or team in achieving a vision if it’s only one person’s vision, or the vision is only recorded in someone’s head. There is no ‘right way’ to develop a vision for how a farm might look in 10 years, but if everyone is going to work towards the vision, then everyone needs some ownership of it.
Develop or revisit the business plan developed in MMFS Module 1 Plan for success and make sure the vision for the farm’s natural resources is captured in the plan, including:
- soil
- water
- vegetation, including native pastures and remnant vegetation
- weeds and pests
- native and vertebrate pests.
Several tools in MMFS Module 1 Plan for success can make it easier for to involve a team in the strategic planning process.
- Developing shared values and personal and business goals contains a set of ‘starting questions’ to help farming teams imagine what the farm could look like in 10 years.
- Discussion starters for imagining the future is a fun technique that lets everyone who is old enough to hold a camera (or to instruct someone to hold it for them) have an equal input into the farm vision.
Document the vision and plan
As the planning progresses, it is essential to document the vision and plan to some degree. An early and simple step, and one that fits well with the strategic planning approach outlined in MMFS Module 1 Plan for Success is to work on an aerial photo or farm map.
A digital farm image or laminated aerial photo of the property, and information layers or overlays, will let everyone share their vision for the farm and build on contributions from other family members. This ‘bird’s eye view’ will provide extra insights, such as where vegetation corridors might best be located, as well as providing a clear snapshot of ‘day one’ of the 10-year plan. Revisit the plan annually to stay focused and on track.
Plan for multiple benefits
Resources are scarce on every farm and must be allocated carefully. Environmental outcomes often have long lead times, making it hard to justify the inputs unless they also improve enterprise profitability. The concept of ‘multiple benefits’ seeks to improve environmental values in ways that boost production, and conversely, ensures production-focused activities also deliver environmental outcomes.
Some examples of multiple benefits are:
- A fence constructed primarily to protect vegetation, can, if planned that way, increase subdivision and therefore increase grazing management and pasture utilisation options. Fencing for vegetation corridors can also provide the basis for separating different soil types which require different management or even incorporate a laneway system to facilitate stock movement.
- Fencing off a bare hill and mid slope and allowing them to revegetate may simplify decision making, allowing more inputs (e.g., fertiliser, labour, etc.) to be applied in areas offering better returns.
- Revegetation to provide a corridor between remnants might also deliver more shade and shelter for livestock, improve water use efficiency to prevent the spread of dryland salinity, or allow for commercial opportunities such as firewood, sawlogs or wood chips.
- Remnant vegetation and other conservation areas need to be fenced off and managed primarily for their environmental value but can be a valuable part of the farm feed supply and offer shelter in bad weather.
- Dams constructed for water supply can incorporate design features (e.g. an island for water birds to safely roost) to improve biodiversity.
- Pasture cropping (oversowing winter crops into summer-active, perennial pastures without killing them) provides the benefits of a crop and enhances pastures via resting from grazing and improved year-round production of feed.
Case studies of sheep producers managing farm waterways, native vegetation and pastoral country on their properties for multiple benefits provide practical examples of managing natural assets as part of a profitable grazing enterprise.
Firm up and resource the plans
Mark all the relevant patches and paddocks on the aerial photo or farm map with a permanent pen and mark any plans with a non-permanent marker.
When the vision has been drafted onto an aerial photo, the next step is to ensure the plan is attainable and practical. This is the switch from ‘strategic’ to ‘operational’ planning.
A network of regional natural resource management (NRM) authorities is responsible for investing in land management practices that achieve community and environmental benefits.
These authorities are called Local Land Services (LLS) in NSW, catchment management authorities (CMAs) in Victoria, Regional NRM councils in WA, NRM Boards in SA, NRM Regional Committees in Tasmania and Regional NRM Bodies in Queensland.
Contact the relevant regional authority and get in touch with the Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF) to help assess the options and outline what support they might be able to provide. Depending on the regional NRM authority and RALF, this support might include:
- Providing connections to local Landcare groups or producer groups tackling similar issues
- Assistance with the planning
- Advice on incentive funding
- Support to complete an application for incentive funds
- Visits to farms that are a few years down the track (i.e. just properly started) and 10 years down the track (to see the sort of progress that could be expected in 10 years)
- Funding assistance for protection of high-value assets
- Advice with conservation covenants for current and future protection of areas with high conservation value.