Survey of Farmer Management of Phosphorus Application in the Hopkins River Catchment, for Use in Game-theoretic Modeling.

The 2002 audit of nutrient loads to Australian rivers and estuaries indicates total export of phosphorus within the waterways of western Victoria is estimated at 1.9 times the natural export that occurred prior to European settlement (Audit of Australian Rivers and Estuaries 2002). The Hopkins River basin, found within this region, has a high proportion of land clearing within the basin which has exacerbated the loss of nutrients to waterways through soil erosion and nutrient runoff. This has potential to increase with land use change to more intensive grazing, cropping and forestry. Although there is a move to conservation farming, increases in the amount of phosphorus applied for more intensive agriculture has the potential to caus