Grazing Enterprise Support and Training project
(November 2024 – November 2027)
Aims of the project
- to accelerate the adoption of best land management practices to improve the condition of grazing land in the Suttor Catchment;
- to provide extension and other services to help graziers adopt best-practice land management to exceed minimum standards under the reef protection regulations;
- provide pathways through planning, education, mentoring and peer-to-peer support for graziers to be able to achieve their goals in land management;
- through these measures, reduce the risk of sediment run off to the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon;
- develop infrastructure plans for each property;
- collaboratively develop grazing plans and plan infrastructure to support them;
- complete natural capital benchmarking to enable natural capital assets to be monitored and tracked; and
- encourage participants to increase their enterprise resilience by exploring alternative income streams such as environmental markets.
GEST aims to equip graziers with knowledge and tools to adopt grazing regimes that increase resilience in their enterprise, at the same time improving the quality of water that flows from their land into local waterways and into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
Graziers in the Suttor catchment have a great opportunity to get support to make their business more resilient and their land more productive at the same time combating erosion and sediment runoff.
NQ Dry Tropics’ Grazing Enterprise Support and Training (GEST) project will run for three years beginning in November and is a part of the $6m Grazing Practice Change Program funded through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program.
The project encourages grazing land management practice change that benefit graziers through improved land condition as well as the Great Barrier Reef through less sediment being washed down local waterways into the reef lagoon.
Graziers who get to participate in the project will find they’re provided with an exciting array of tools, mentoring and courses all aimed at benefiting their business.
Participating graziers will be supported to develop grazing and property plans and set off on a collaborative program of training, education, coaching and peer-to-peer mentoring to stimulate and enable grazing practice change.
Two people from each property can participate, so the job of learning and applying that knowledge to their particular situation can be shared.
Participants can expect:
- development of a full property plan, including infrastructure mapping and satellite ground cover reports;
- funded attendance at a Resource Consulting Services (RCS) Grazing for Profit School;
- access to dedicated RCS coaching (one-on-one consultant, as well as peer-to-peer) for the duration of the project to help grow their business and improve the long-term productivity of their land;
- access to key benchmarking tools to support business decisions, including land condition assessment and soil tests; and access to Natural Capital Accounting frameworks.
Project manager Senior Grazing Project Officer Cameron Sims said there was, at this stage, only room for 10 properties to be involved in the GEST project.
“It will be a case of first-in, first-served, so please get in touch with me quickly if you’re at all interested,” Cam said.
Contact him by email E: cameron.sims@nqdrytropics.com.au or give him a ring on M: 0456 015 772.
Soil tests and Land Condition Assessments are some of the many land management tools that will be made available to project participants.
Keep In Touch (KIT) days will help to showcase successes and demonstrate effectiveness of the land management practices adopted by participating graziers.