Soil/Land Resource

Programme Delivery

The Northern Rivers CMA Soil/Land Resource programme is about maintaining and improving the condition of the regions soil, with the aim of facilitating sustainable farm management practices for the regions 6500 landholders.

Projects are delivered across grazing, horticulture and cultivation land uses and areas of land degradation and high soil loss sub-programmes. In 2007/08 the programme invested in development of industry best management practice guidelines, sustainable grazing training workshops, soil erosion incentive projects, coastal floodplain and acid sulfate soil amelioration projects and targeted land rehabilitation and salinity projects.

Other areas targeted are soil health projects in the intensively farmed volcanic plateaux of Dorrigo, Alstonville, Comboyne, Cudgen and Acacia Plateau. In cooperation with local governments we are implementing a soil loss on roadsides strategy and a Soils Baseline project which is aiming to benchmark the regions soils condition.

Clients, stakeholders and engagement approach

The programme engages a number of consultative groups such as the North Coast Soils Advisory Council and Floodplain Network that include representatives from state agencies, local government, universities, non government agencies, Landcare, consultants and practitioners to communicate and develop ideas from the conceptual stage through to project development and implementation.  The soils programme team meets twice yearly with stakeholders through the Soils North Coast Council and Coastal Floodplain network and holds a display at the annual Soils Expo at Wollongbar each year.