Farm dams, creeklines, vegetation and rocky outcrops are natural assets that are essential for healthy, sustainable farms. Protecting and enhancing these elements of natural capital on farms not only supports biodiversity, but also contributes to farm productivity and to the well-being of farmers and farming communities.
Natural Asset Farming: Creating Productive and Biodiverse Farms reveals seven key natural assets and why they are so valuable for biodiversity and productivity on farms. Drawing on two decades of long-term ecological monitoring and knowledge exchange with farmers, landcare groups, and natural resource management experts, this book is a tool for building and enhancing natural assets in agricultural landscapes. In bringing together ecological science and the experience of farmers in the wheat–sheep belt of south-eastern Australia, Natural Asset Farming will help foster ideas, boost resilience, and improve the sustainability of agricultural production.
Features:
- Shows why protecting and enhancing natural assets can be a fantastic investment for a farm, delivering biodiversity, productivity, and well-being benefits
- Includes insights and experience from farmers who have undertaken natural asset management actions
- Explores the science of managing natural assets on farms
- Provides principles on how to manage natural assets on farms
- Includes images that show the key features of an enhanced natural asset.
Author(s): David B. Lindenmayer, Suzannah M. Macbeth, David G. Smith, Michelle L. Young
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 204
City: Melbourne
Cover
Half Title
Dedication
Title
Copyright
Contents
About the authors
List of contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Natural asset management on farms
1 Planning changes that make a difference
2 Enhance farm dams
3 Establish shelterbelts and other plantings
4 Protect remnant woodland
5 Protect creeks, wetlands and riparian zones
6 Protect paddock trees and grow new ones
7 Maintain native perennial grasses
8 Protect rocky outcrops
9 Manage feral animals and overabundant native species
10 Planning work to improve the natural assets on a farm
Appendix A: Plant lists for farm dam revegetation
Appendix B: Plant lists for supporting pollinators on farms
Index
