Dairying Better 'n Better for Tomorrow
Farm Management System
Background
Adopted by the Subtropical Dairy Program (the regional delivery arm of Dairy Australia) and the Queensland Dairyfarmers' Organisation, Dairying Better 'n Better for Tomorrow is recognised as a standard industry approach to addressing on-farm natural resource management.
The program is designed as an on-going farmer review process, to encourage farmers to continually assess and re-prioritize their NRM management into the future. Farmers are also encouraged to consider how their management practices affect local and regional catchments.
The program consists of an industry managed approach, which involves small sub-catchment groups of farmers (10-15 enterprises) working together with support from a local facilitator and a local farmer advocate.
What's it about
Identifying and prioritizing NRM issues at a farm and catchment scale using the Dairy Self Assessment Tool (DairySAT). A series of workshops on high priority topics is organized for each group, and a priority based Action Plan is developed to assist with on-farm improvements. The continuous improvement phase (On the Moo've) consists of a local farm walk every 6-months (on topics decided by the group) to learn more about the factors influencing the sustainable & profitable production of milk.
Benefits
- Catch up with your neighbours
- Interesting, relevant topics (as decided by you)
- Information about funding opportunities for on-farm work
- Help the dairy industry to promote a positive image for sustainable milk production
- Keep up with industry news and events
Farm Management System Overview
Key Elements
- DairySAT, on-farm natural resource management Self Assessment Tool
- Local support for farmers through local farmer advocate who acts as a champion for farmers and project
- Identification and prioritisation of natural resource management issues for each farm
- Local group workshop series focusing on tools and local farmers sharing knowledge and experience
- Farm Management System Action Plan for natural resource management improvement, documenting natural resource management issues, priority areas, action steps and monitoring and evaluation
- Establishment of an on-farm monitoring process
Key Benefits
- Links with national dairy industry initiatives including DairySAT, Dairying for Tomorrow and EMS
- Farmer owned process
- User friendly for farm and industry context with industry developed resources
- Cost efficient to manage and deliver with a high level of farmer ownership and action implementation
- Data collection is efficient and confidential with regional and group aggregation possible
- Farm Management System Action Plan is straightforward and consistent with on-farm needs
- Support of whole of industry framework
- Research indicates the program increases awareness and action, while generating a positive approach to NRM issues among dairy farmers
Partner Organisations
- Dairy Australia
- Condamine Alliance
- Southeast Queensland Catchments
- Burnett Mary Regional Group
- Burdekin Dry Tropics
- Fitzroy Basin Association
- Terrain NRM
- Qld Farmers Federation, through Pathways to EMS
- Regional Groups Collective