Put in a GRASS plan to improve areas of poor land condition

After 12 months

In the first  year of GRASS 2, NQ Dry Tropics has completed:

  • 33 GRASS plans covering 667,800 hectares of Burdekin grazing land 
  • Contracted 17 projects worth $244,258.32 in grant funding
  • Funded and delivered 5 workshops covering property mapping and vegetation management

The Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions (GRASS) program supports graziers with areas of poor (C) or degraded (D) land condition to develop and implement a tailor-made action plan for land management.

This plan provides graziers with the latest tools and information to identify, improve and maintain  land condition with a specific focus to improve ground cover and reduce soil loss. 

Graziers who participate in GRASS  may be eligible to apply for incentive funding for works identified in their action plan for land management. Examples of work that may be eligible include small to medium scale gully remediation and riparian and hillslope fencing. 

Support is also provided for graziers to understand their obligations, to access support to meet the reef regulations and have the opportunity to be acknowledged as low priority for compliance audits. 

This program aims to support graziers to improve productivity while helping protect the reef by reducing soil loss from properties and supporting jobs and services in the cattle grazing sector. 

It is an acknowledged practice change program and has been designed to support graziers in the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary regions. 

The GRASS program is funded through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program and is delivered by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), Burnett Mary Regional Group, Fitzroy Basin Association and NQ Dry Tropics.

To find out more about the program contact:

CARLEIGH DREW 4799 3592 or carleigh.drew@nqdrytropics.com.au

Participating in the GRASS program helped graziers Sam and Genevieve Clarke to rejuvenate their paddocks and they quadrupled their stocking rate as a result. The paddock pictured above is a good example, taken just two years apart.

Nothing better in nature than a good rest

Burdekin graziers Stacey Kirkwood and Ian Collins (above) are reaping the benefits from giving their land a rest through the GRASS program. They improved a scalded area from D condition to B condition in 18 months. Click here to read their story.