In Australia, the work being carried out on sustainability indicators has
become an industry on its own. This paper firstly provides an introduction
that reviews the literature on indicator development and use, particularly in
relation to agricultural production systems. A number of reasons for the
limited use of indicators by farmers are mentioned. Secondly, a focus group
study involving farmers from two dryland cropping areas in Queensland to
investigate sustainability indicators and sustainable farming systems is
presented. The indicators the participants identified during focus groups
included indicators that reflect (i)farming system components, (ii) the
management of these components, (iii) the management of all components and
their interrelationships at the systems level, and (iv) the external factors
that influence and interact with this systems level. Focus group analysis also
showed that the participants perceived sustainability as an on-going process
and a sustainable farming system as dynamic and emergent in nature. The
implications of these findings are discussed. Three key issues were raised (i)
the value of farmer knowledge with respect to the development of indicators
has often been ignored; (ii) there are links between indicators developed
through traditional science and those being used by farmers; and (iii)
off-farm indicators used by farmers may be very useful in policy development
at a variety of levels (e.g. catchment, regional, national, global). The focus
group method involving farmers provided a useful way to gain insights about
farmer perceptions and for farmers to learn from each other during the
research process.
Runoff, soil loss, and nutrient loss were assessed on a Red Ferrosol in tropical Australia over 3 years. The experiment was conducted using bounded, 100-m2 field plots cropped to peanuts, maize, or grass. A bare plot, without cover or crop, was also instigated as an extreme treatment. Results showed the importance of cover in reducing runoff, soil loss, and nutrient loss from these soils. Runoff ranged from 13% of incident rainfall for the conventional cultivation to 29% under bare conditions during the highest rainfall year, and was well correlated with event rainfall and rainfall energy. Soil loss ranged from 30 t/ha.year under bare conditions to <6 t/ha.year under cropping. Nutrient losses of 35 kg N and 35 kg P/ha.year under bare conditions and 17 kg N and 11 kg P/ha.year under cropping were measured. Soil carbon analyses showed a relationship with treatment runoff, suggesting that soil properties influenced the rainfall runoff response. The cropping systems model PERFECT was calibrated using runoff, soil loss, and soil water data. Runoff and soil loss showed good agreement with observed data in the calibration, and soil water and yield had reasonable agreement. Long-term runs using historical weather data showed the episodic nature of runoff and soil loss events in this region and emphasise the need to manage land using protective measures such as conservation cropping practices. Farmers involved in related, action-learning activities wished to incorporate conservation cropping findings into their systems but also needed clear production benefits to hasten practice change.
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