Sustainable agriculture or regenerative farming have gained increased significance in the past decade as ‘buzz word’ terms touted to fix a myriad of issues from soil and biodiversity degradation to broader climate pressures of carbon emissions and water security. The broader church of sustainable agriculture has tended to be implemented by individuals or entities with an inherent desire to improve such pressures for the common good, rather than a strict profitability mandate. Whilst the gap between a profitability mandate of farming and environmental conservation has been closed by the development of several government schemes such as the Commonwealth’s Agricultural Biodiversity Stewardship Package and the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Sustainable Farming Program, the viability of these systems across a broad scale is an emerging area of study.

Environa is a property located approximately 20 kilometres from the centre of Canberra under jurisdiction of the New South Wales Government and adjacent to the suburbs of Jerrabomberra and Hume. The property has been within a family for several generations but has historical significance as the subject of development plans in the 1920s, before these plans were abandoned in the era of the Great Depression. Today, the property has multiple uses as areas of continued residential development, grass-fed cattle production, biodiversity offsetting through the NSW Government’s now-defunct ‘Biobanking’ scheme and the Wandiyali Environa Wildlife Sanctuary. 

The Work Experience: Conservation on Private Land

The landowner family generously welcomed a group of nine Australian National University students onto their property for an emersion in the natural landscape via an extensive walk as well as contributions to property management by removing tree guards from Acacia plantings in fenced-off areas of native vegetation growth. The care and intrinsic value given to the property by the owners was evident and provided context for the regenerative management of the property used for cattle-grazing.  

The BioBanking Scheme was replaced by the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme (BOS) which commenced in 2017, and BioBanking Agreements were replaced with Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements (NSW Government 2022).  The use of these Agreements on the property have provided income through the commercialisation of offsets, but have necessitated holistic management of the site and sacrifice of particular locations for conservation. 

A secondary biodiversity conservation activity on the property is riparian restoration. As can be seen in the image below, vegetation corridors along streams and rivers hold value for farming operations and are assets for biodiversity and production as well as carbon storage (Sustainable Farms 2022). 

It was evident that the landowners had invested time and capital into restoring riparian areas with a particular desire for water that left the property to be “cleaner that when it arrived.” Reductions in erosion, flow regulation and the providence of critical wildlife habitat is possible through riparian restoration, as well as improving water quality for livestock. 

Witnessing regenerative agricultural practices provided food for thought on how biodiversity conservation on agricultural land is currently likely to be introduced via an inherent intrinsic valuing of biodiversity by landowners. This suggests the need for greater education for more ‘traditional’ land owners on the inherent production benefits of a healthy, biodiverse property.

References:

Irving (2022). Images taken during work experience activity. Environa, New South Wales.

NSW Government (2022). BioBanking. NSW Department of Planning and Environment. Accessed at: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/biodiversity-offsets-scheme/about-the-biodiversity-offsets-scheme/biobanking

Sustainable Farms (2022). Restoring riparian areas. Australian National University Sustainable Farms. Accessed at: https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/on-the-farm/riparian-restoration/

Arielle Irving (u6666972). Word count: 500 words.