EMS Newsletter - February 2007 edition

An eNewsletter from the EMS Team - Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry

• Introduction
• Fishers mentoring fishers
• Rice - environmental champions programme thrives amid drought
• EMS uptake in the Australian egg industry
• Grains—big picture database with on-farm reports
• Victorian Farmers Federation EMS project—a pathway to profitable and sustainable farming
• National Irrigation Industry Certification and Training Framework
• Upcoming events 

Introduction

The 17 industry groups currently involved in the Australian Government’s Pathways to Industry EMS programme are working hard to bring their EMS projects to a successful conclusion by June 2007.

Many projects are finishing up their activities, evaluating the strengths and weakness of their activities and getting ready to run with those things that worked under Pathways to Industry EMS.

It is useful to reflect on the origins of the Pathways to Industry EMS programme when reading about the diverse approaches taken by the projects featured in this newsletter. The programme was introduced in 2004 to support industry led EMS and Environmental Assurance, but it is just one of a number of EMS related activities supported by the Australian Government through the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) fund.

The development and roll-out of voluntary, industry driven, on-farm EMS and Environmental Assurance has been a consistent theme behind the programmes supported by the Australian Government over the last six years or so.

The EMS Incentives Programme (EMSIP) began in 2002 and provides financial reimbursement to landholders who undertake an EMS.

This programme was followed by the EMS National Pilots Programme which started in June 2003 and engaged 16 community and industry groups in trialling various approaches to EMS.

Australia’s National Framework for EMS in Agriculture was also produced in 2003.

A review of EMS programmes in 2003 revealed a low response to EMSIP, with only 28 claims being granted in its first two years. The review identified the need to kick start adoption of EMS by assisting industry involvement and ownership of EMS. The Pathways to Industry EMS programme was announced in 2004. Six industry groups began their journey to EMS in 2004, another five joined them in 2004–05 and seven more groups joined in 2005–06. In total the Australian Government has invested about $11.7 million in the Pathways programme. The work undertaken in the Pathways programme is starting to yield encouraging results.

For instance, EMS mentoring and group work are helping participants in the seafood and rice industries not only learn more about EMS but also enjoy the social interaction that mentoring and group work brings.

The egg industry is including environmental management into existing audited management systems while the grains industry is collecting data from growers to track and encourage the adoption of best management practices.

The Victorian Farmer’s Federation, on the other hand, has built its pathway on the employment of EMS facilitators, appointed to work with catchment management authorities (CMAs) and individuals in self-assessment and onground improvements which assist in the achievement of CMA targets.

Interestingly, the number of participants in the EMSIP programme has also increased significantly since 2004. By December 2006, 297 claims had been granted for activities associated with the development of EMS by landholders, with an average re-imbursement made of $2500 to successful applicants.

Aquaculture, dairy, beef, vegetable and sheep and wool operations are the main production activities receiving EMSIP funds. The EMSIP programme concludes in June 2007.

In addition to Pilots, Pathways and EMSIP, the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon Sussan Ley MP, set up the Industry EMS Advisory Group in 2004 to provide technical and policy advice to government on EMS matters.

At its last meeting, in November 2006, the group reiterated the importance of an industry led approach to EMS and recommended that the Australian Government provide funding for programmes in 2007-08 that:

• focus on communicating the outcomes of the work on EMS to date;
  
• provide an equivalence mapping of the various EMS tools available to landholders; and
  
• encourage industry and regional leadership in EMS. 

Fishers mentoring fishers

The Industry Mentor Support programme is part of the EMS Pathways to Industry EMS for the Seafood Industry project, funded through the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust (NHT).

It complements the support Seafood Services Australia (SSA) provides to industry by developing and extending Seafood EMS Resources.

The concept of the mentor support programme is simple—get people together to discuss the upsides and downsides of seafood EMSs and then answer dozens of questions like:

“Knowing what you know now, how would you have started off …?”

“What would you do in our situation …?”

The EMS mentoring programme is an extremely effective way of having fishers learn about EMS — how to do it, who to involve, and what the benefits can be. The programme has been putting fishers interested in EMSs in touch with others who are further down the line on the EMS journey.

Participants at one industry mentor session said their involvement in environmental management led to all important community understanding and recognition as well as to technical benefits.

SA marine scale net fishers went to Victoria recently to talk with Victorian Bays and Inlets fishers and returned home full of enthusiam. This is a selection of some of their comments:

“Other fishermen are in the same situation as us. We gained a lot from discussing in depth the issues facing the industry.”

“We gained a huge insight into how EMS really works.”

“This has potential to help the industry to hold its ground.”

“We still have a lot to do - fishermen have a long way to go to convince the public about the good work we are doing.”

“It was a real wake-up call into progressing the EMS further.”

Like many of the EMS successes, the mentoring programme has brought large benefits from a small investment.

Aquaculture represents the largest sector to take up the financial reimbursement that EMSIP offers.

For further information contact Adam Knapp at SSA on 1300 130 321.

Rice - Environmental Champions programme thrives amid drought

Since its introduction in 2005, the rice industry has 25 per cent of farm businesses willingly involved in the Environmental Champions programme despite tough drought conditions.

The programme has over 259 farm businesses in 32 cluster groups participating across the rice growing region and the numbers are steadily growing.

While a key aim of the programme was to demonstrate the industry’s environmental performance, it is moreover about farmers creating their own sustainable futures and building stronger communities by coming together to solve their own issues. And it’s working!

Why is it working? The programme has a number of fundamental principles behind the design of the programme. These are:

• a focus on people, addressing fears, barriers and perceptions not just content;
  
• a solid foundation with 26 stakeholders working together to achieve real on ground outcomes;
  
• ownership of the programme— it was designed by farmers for farmers which ensures every element makes practical business sense;
  
• a positive and proactive environment to tackle the challenges of the future; and
  
• farmers working together to find solutions, creating motivation, enthusiasm and support to get things done! 

One of these groups, the Golgelderie Cluster group, has been together for three years and is a great example of what can be achieved. The 10 members of the group (and partners) have adjacent farms near Leeton. All members now recognised Level 1 Champions and two of the members have recently applied for Level 2.

To achieve Level 1, each business has:

• met their irrigation company’s strict water compliance requirements;
  
• completed an irrigation training course;
  
• undertaken a biodiversity self assessment of their farm;
  
• met their Quality Assurance requirements;
  
• a current chemical users certificate;
  
• kept the appropriate chemical application records; and
  
• a compliant chemical storage facility. 

The group is now working through Level 2 and 3 which among other activity includes:

• undertaking a farm business and sub-regional SWOT analysis;
  
• biodiversity planning;
  
• meeting water use efficiency targets; and
  
• greenhouse training. 

The group has just completed linking their farms together with native tree corridors to the Murrumbidgee River. This includes 35 ha of new plantings and 51 ha of remnant enhancements implemented under a group management plan with monitoring sites.

The group is also working with Charles Sturt University looking at how the plantings assist in providing different species habitats and the benefits of the corridors to farm production systems. For example, one of the farm businesses has planted 20,000 salt bushes in a paddock that was deemed an environmental risk after completing their SWOT analysis.

The corridors were planted in partnership with Murrumbidgee Irrigation and is a prime example of how we can work together to achieve real environmental outcomes.

It has been an amazing to watch the enthusiasm and confidence of this group grow over the past three years. The Golgelderie cluster group have developed a culture of mutual trust, encouragement and support in which they can suggest and trial new ideas and innovations.

The group now gets together frequently for social events and are more actively involved in community activities—a benefit beyond all expectations.

The programme is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the priorities of individual farm business or cluster group in their aim to achieve a sustainable future.

For more information visit the Environmental Champions Program website or contact Louise Adcock, Manager, Environmental Programmes on 02 6953 0433.

EMS uptake in the Australian egg industry

In 2005 the Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL) received funding through the Pathways to Industry EMS Programme to develop and implement a system of environmental assurance for the Australian egg industry.

Initial development planning identified two major challenges to the success of an EMS for the egg industry.

• How to encourage interest and drive producer uptake in the short term?
  
• How to ensure sustainability of the EMS beyond the life of the Pathways to Industry EMS Programme? 

A strategic decision was made to incorporate the EMS within the industry’s national egg quality assurance programme, Egg Corp Assured (ECA).

ECA is the only quality assurance programme endorsed by AECL and is promoted as the premier egg quality mark in Australia.

It is a HAACP based programme and covers business practices relating to egg production, pullet rearing and egg grading/packing. Before the inclusion of the EMS component in May 2006, the programme largely addressed food safety, biosecurity, hen welfare and egg labelling.

Upgrading ECA with the EMS component initially involved the development of a hazard assessment for each sector of the industry, including egg production farms, breeder farms, hatcheries, pullet rearing facilities and egg products manufacturers. The hazard assessment identifies actual or potential effects that an enterprise may have on the environment.

A HACCP based system was used in the assessment that identified Environmental Control Points to determine Critical Control Points. The hazard assessment also identifies areas of business practice that need improving, special management and/or ongoing monitoring.

Significant modification of programme materials was necessary to incorporate the hazard assessment into the ‘physical’ elements of ECA. A review of the material is ongoing but modifications to date include:

• updating the QA Manual for egg producers;
  
• updating Auditor Training Manuals;
  
• revision and addition of HACCP tables and audit templates;
  
• revision and addition of Good Farming Practices; and
  
• revision and addition of Work Instructions. 

The breadth of acceptance of the EMS component of ECA is encouraging. Sixty-four ECA licenses have been issued since its official incorporation on 12 May 2006. This represents approximately 38 per cent of registered egg businesses and 48 per cent of the national flock.

To date 112 ECA licenses have been issued for egg farms, all of which are required to comply with the EMS component of ECA by the following annual audit to retain their ECA license.

A further 30 licenses are pending audit review and all must demonstrate compliance with the EMS component of ECA. The combined number of licenses issued and licenses pending represents 59 per cent of egg businesses and 74 per cent of the egg industry flock predicted to be EMS compliant by May, 2007.

Further information on the AECL’s programme visit their website.

Grains - big picture database with on-farm reports

The Grains Council of Australia’s Pathways to Industry EMS project focused on three main activities.

The first was to determine what demand there is for environmental assurance in broadacre industries. This has been done via three market research sub-projects incorporating grain marketers, processors and grain product retailers and, in partnership with the meat and wool industries, other audiences for NRM stewardship reporting.

The second activity was a scientific review of the environmental effects of today’s grain production practices. The review links the developments in modern farming systems and their effects on key environmental parameters such as soil, water, nutrients and energy.

The third activity, still under development, will produce a national survey of landholders and a database providing feedback to landholders on the environmental effects of their management practices. The GCA expects to create a comprehensive picture of what practices are being adopted and where. In turn the data will give a better picture of environmental management and improvements within the industry over time.

Together these three activities will give the industry a farm tracking and evaluation system that is complementary to NRM reporting and evaluation responsibilities.

While market research has shown that there is little demand for grain that has been grown ‘sustainably’, resource degradation is an issue that cannot wait for strong market signals.

The increased use of best management practices is seen by the GCA as the most practical way to address resource degradation as well as a tried and proven way to improve productivity. In the cropping industry, for example, practices like minimum tillage and stubble retention have delivered both production and soil health benefits.

The measure of ‘best practice’ adoption within defined geographic areas is expected to reveal new information about the environmental impact of cropping on any one region.

To begin the GCA collated various existing data on farm practices. This data was then organised geographically and assigned to individual shires.

GCA is now ready for individual landholders to put their own property data into this database. The result should be a comprehensive, geographically based database on farm practices.

The survey is called the National Farming Practices Survey and GCA is now calling for participants.

GCA believes landholders will find the survey relatively simple to complete because it draws on production data farmers will have easy access to.

In return for answering the 30 or so questions, farmers will be given an environmental report that compares the level of best management practices being used by the individual farmer to those recommended by industry and those of the neighbours or region.

This GCA report becomes a good record for the landholder and an incentive to find out more about best management practices. It can act as a guide to match or better the standards being practised by neighbours and those recommended by industry, while encouraging farmers to become more aware of their place in the region.

As best management practices are increasingly adopted the base benchmark for the region is raised and triggers a continuous cycle of improvement.

The database will also assist regional land managers. Aggregated data can be used to demonstrate trends in farm practices at a geographical level. This in turn may prove to be a useful tool for regional bodies and catchment management authorities.

For example, if we know that the use of a no-tillage and stubble retention system leads to reduced soil erosion, then we can use the hectares of No-Till and stubble retention within a region, shire or catchment to report a reduction in soil erosion susceptibility.

Similarly, nutrient use efficiency along with crop yield can allow a nutrient balance or ‘nutrient availability for loss’ to be presented.

It is hoped that farmers will update the database at least once a year. Inferences can then be drawn about the relationship between changes in practices and environmental impacts over time.

Are you a grains producer?

If you are a grains producer, the project would like you to participate in the survey.

It consists of an electronic (PDF-based) questionnaire that you email to a database for automated report generation. Most questions can easily be answered from memory and the survey takes around 30 minutes to complete.

In return you will receive:

• a report showing your own data in comparison to the rest of the shire, region or zone (in farming practice terms);
  
• information about the levels of environmental impacts these practices and levels have on your farm;
  
• how your practices and environmental impacts have changed over time; and
  
• a ranking of your system against the benchmarks for the rest of your region, and against ‘Best’ levels. 

Individual farmers can use the report as an environmental report of their resource management.

If you belong to a farming group the report will show how the group is performing against the general region. Amalgamated information can be used to show the national grains industry’s farming practices and sustainability credentials.

All survey data is private and confidential and will be kept secure. Please see the privacy notice and Data Protection Statement on Grains Council website.

VFF EMS PROJECT - a pathway to profitable and sustainable farming

by Greg Smith, EMS Co-ordinator, Victorian Farmers Federation

The VFF EMS project is an 'umbrella' project for EMS information and training in Victoria. It provides entry-level EMS training by the use of workbooks, such as EBMP, DairySAT, and Emapp to enable farmers to conduct the selfassessment of their environmental management, identify or confirm priority actions, and implement them.

Pathways to Industry EMS Officers

Ten regional EMS Pathways to Industry EMS Officers have so far trained over 600 farmers to EMS Stage 1 and over 400 to EMS Stage 2.

They have also trained over 50 service providers who in turn provide EMS-type training to landholders.

It is estimated that, to date, over 1500 Victorian farmers have been trained to EMS Stage 1 and over 1000 to EMS Stage 2 from the range of training providers.

EMS training makes on-ground works happen

Emapp - a Mallee EMS project getting great results

The Tyrell Basin area in NW Victoria has been targeted by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority for concerted environmental planning and on-ground action to address key issues such as dryland salinity and biodiversity decline.

Emapp (Environmental management action planning project) has successfully engaged the majority of the 120 farmers surrounding the Lake Tyrell salt pan. There is considerable merit in involving adjoining landholders in EMS training. Completion of the training and mapping exercise by the farmers qualifies them for grants to cover the cost of fencing materials and trees needed to implement their environmental plans.

EBMP has runs on the board and works on the ground

Over 1000 Victorian farmers to date have done the Environmental Best Management Practices programme.

EBMP involves completing a self-assessment workbook which identifies or confirms the priority environmental issues for action.

Farmers then specify action plans that they intend implementing based on their self-assessments.

So far, an average of 17 on-ground actions and 10 skills and technical information needs have been identified per property.

A National Landcare Programme project in the Corangamite region has enabled farmers to use EBMP as the basis for gaining grants to carry out their priority, on-ground works for 2006. Landholders applied for $234 000 in grants.

Environmental Law

The VFF EMS project has established an online Environmental Law Discussion Forum on the Rural Law Online website. Specialists respond to queries and comments that are posted by anyone in the discussion forum.

While most of the EMS related programmes and projects run by the Australian Government over the last six years or so have been funded from the Natural Heritage Trust, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is also assisting a range of industries in their pursuit of sustainable agricultural practices under the National Landcare Programme’s Sustainable Industry Initiatives. An overview of some of these projects can be found in the October 2006 EMS Newsletter. The following is a more detailed description of one project funded under this initiative.

National Irrigation Industry Certification and Training Framework

Funding has been provided to the Irrigation Association of Australia (IAA) through the National Landcare Programme (NLP) Sustainable Industry Initiatives (SII) for three years to support the National Irrigation Industry Certification and Training Framework. This project forms part of the National Irrigation Skills Initiative, a joint project between the IAA, the Australian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ANCID) and the Australian Government.

The aim of the project is to:

• develop the skills and knowledge of people working in the Australian irrigation industry to better recognise and implement best NRM practice; and
  
• provide a national framework of recognition of these skills. 

Currently, the project is establishing a programme of nationally recognised certifications. In addition to existing certifications for irrigation designer and auditor programmes, the following certifications are now available:

• Certified Irrigation Manager;
  
• Certified Irrigation Operator;
  
• Certified Irrigation Contractor;
  
• Certified Irrigation Installer;
  
• Certified Irrigation Retailer; and
  
• Certified Irrigation Agronomist. 

For further information contact the IAA (info@irrigation.org.au) or visit Irrigation Australia.

Upcoming Events

• Pathways to Industry EMS annual Forum, 22–23 February 2007, Glen Erin Retreat, Victoria.
  
• EMS National Forum, 15–17 May 2007. Toowoomba, Qld

The EMS Association is holding its first EMS National Forum. Speakers from South Africa and America will join Australian practitioners for two days of workshops and discussions around EMS. For further information visit the EMS Association website.

• 5th EMS in Agriculture Conference ‘Keep it Real’, 6–10 August 2007, Hobart, Tasmania

A range of activities are planned revolving around on-farm environmental, food safety and quality assurance issues.

The 5th EMS in Agriculture Conference is being held as part of the ‘Keep It Real’ conference, organised by Tasmania Quality Assured There will be workshops as well as the formal conference proceedings, tours and networking opportunities..

The 5th National On-Farm Food Safety and Quality Assurance conferences will also be held during this weeklong event. For further information visit the TQA website.

Next edition of EMSNews

EMSnews is posted quarterly with the next edition scheduled for April 2007.

Feedback and Contact

Email: EMS
GPO Box 858 Canberra ACT 2601