Conservation pays

There is now general recognition that farming and other land practices have extensively damaged the environment. Everybody agrees that something should be done, but the cost of conservation measures is often seen as a reason for not changing our ways. It may come as a surprise to know that conservation can, in fact, make good economic sense. This applies especially in agriculture, where a healthy environment is absolutely crucial for the production of plants and animals. So farmers are finding that conservation measures pay.

Growing lucerne can help reduce the spread of salinity and thus help to conserve farmland. This pasture plant is a deep-rooted perennial that can use much more of the rainfall than annual pastures. Rising water tables are a major cause of salinity. Watertable levels under lucerne pastures are lower than those under annual pastures. Lucerne pasture uses up more rainfall that leads to less recharge to the ground water.

Stubble-retention systems are another example of profitable conservation. Stubbles retained from harvested crops protect the soil from wind erosion and keep the farmers valuable ferilisers from blowing away.

Soil structure decline To stop soil structure decline, farmers are turning to conservation tillage practices. This means disturbing the soil as little as possible, by reducing the number and severity of cultivations. This limits the danger of loss of structure and soil erosion. Profits under these systems compare well with conventional practices.

Profitability of conservation strategies on one farm

Priority	Strategy	Benefit: Cost Ratio
1	Fodder Crop (for example, tagasaste)	$1 returns $3.10
2	Liming for acidification	$1 returns $1.77
3	Earthworks	$1 returns $1.71
4	Saltland revegetation	$1 returns $0.74
1996 Low Wool Prices

This table shows that Fodder crop, Liming for acidification and Earthworks are profitable strategies. The farmer in this example will get a good return on his expenditure. There are also other benefits, for example, increased water use, an increase in the value of his property and aesthetic value.

However for Saltland revegetation, the farmer gets back only 74 cents for each $1.00 spent. This is not a rational investment when cash flow impact alone is considered. These figures reflect the low wool/sheep prices of the time (1996). Should sheep and wool prices rise then revegetation becomes an economical proposition. But if there are other benefits to justify it, for example, a greener landscape for tourists or a created wildlife habitat, the revegetation might go ahead, on the understanding that the penalty in cash flow is more than made up in environmental benefits.

Tourist Accommodation In an effort to reduce on farm costs due to rising prices and reduced profits by falling wheat and sheep prices, many farm and station owners are offering hosted accommodation to paying guests to supplement their farm incomes. This farm and station tourism is a relatively new industry in rural Australia and has many positive impacts:

Advantages of Tourism

• Farmers have another source of income, often with little initial outlay as many existing facilities can be used;
• The interaction between rural and city residents is increased, offering each an understanding and appreciation of the other;
• Farm and station tourism can add to the diversity offered overseas tourists, making Australia a more attractive holiday destination;
• The multiplier effect in regional communities can aid economic sustainability.

Cut flowers and foliage The cultivation of Western Australia's native plants for cut flowers and foliage is an expanding export industry. More than 50 Western Australian native species are now cultivated for their flowers, foliage or nuts, in addition to species from other parts of Australia. The range of selections, cultivars and crop varieties is becoming more extensive, particularly for crops such as kangaroo paws and Geraldton wax.


Aquaculture Fisheries Western Australia is dedicated to helping farmers diversify into aquaculture. Yabbies, marron, trout and silver perch are currently being farmed for commercial purposes in Western Australia. Black Bream is also being considered. Yabbies are grown in farm dams. Returns are fairly low but farmers are finding yabbies to be very profitable because of the low capital investment. Marron are native to the south west of Western Australia and are currently being cultured in purpose built ponds and farm dams. Silver Perch are cultured in farm dams and purpose built ponds. There is interest in growing silver perch for the table market, and recreational fishouts.

There is enormous potential for good recreational fishout farms. Black Bream are a native fish species found in most south west river systems of Western Australia. Black bream are estuarine, which means that they are able to cope with a range of differing salinity levels changing significantly between river mouth and inland tributaries. Trout are an introduced species to Western Australia and have been widely stocked in rivers of the south west, since 1942, for recreational fishing purposes. There is also a commercial aquaculture industry, based in purpose built ponds, round tanks and raceway culture.

Eucalyptus is a versatile genus, which we are only just beginning to appreciate for its decorative value. Amongst the hundreds of species, there are many with unusual juvenile adult foliage, buds, flowers, or fruits, which can be used in fresh or dried arrangements. They might be used fresh to provide backing for traditional cut flowers such as roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums, or they may be processed (preserved in glycerine, dyed) in various ways to complement mixed arrangements of native flowers or South African proteaceae. Eucalyptus foliage is sold primarily on the domestic market.

Sandalwood Western Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum), naturally occurs in the medium to low rainfall areas from just north of Carnarvon through Shark Bay and Kalbarri down to just above Albany. It can be used for revegetation purposes to increase the amount of deep rooted vegetation in agriculture, and at the same time produce wood that may give an economic return in the future.

Olives have potential as a crop for almost anywhere in the south west agricultural area of Western Australia. The similar climatic conditions experienced in its natural distribution along the Mediterranean coasts of Syria, Israel and Iraq, make it ideal for the south west of Western Australia. With world demand for table olives and olive oil predicted to increase, there exists an opportunity to establish a viable olive industry in Australia. The olive oil market shows the most potential for Western Australian expansion, with some opportunity for value adding.

Jojoba can be grown in southern Australia in medium to low rainfall areas and has promising commercial prospects. It is well adapted to the subtropical regions of Australia. Plant selection and management research has increased potential yields to the stage that profitable production is possible in more temperate regions

The examples above show that conservation can pay and can be a practical alternative to those systems farmers use that cause damage to soil and water. Conservation in rural areas means more than planting trees.