Cary and Roberts, Improving the environment in Australian agriculture IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE: THE EXPERIENCE OF GOVERNMENT POLICY INITIATIVES WITH REFERENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

This paper broadly examines the efficacy of government-supported programs, including encouraging the use of market-based instruments, to encourage improved management of land and water systems associated with agricultural land in Australia. Evidence is presented from a specific case assessment of a program to promote adoption of environmental management systems (EMSs) to improve biodiversity and ecosystems in agriculture. Data are presented on reported EMS activity and the perceptions and experience of selected groups of broad-acre farmers in central Victoria and dairy and beef farmers in Gippsland. The farmers were participants in a project designed to encourage more sustainable catchments through actions on individual farms. The pro-environmental behaviours of farmers were mediated through encouraging the voluntary adoption of government and industry sponsored EMSs, often with the provision of financial incentives and other support. This program was developed within a policy framework favouring market-based instruments. There were three significant findings from the study. First, voluntary adoption of EMS practices with sufficient public benefits to justify government investment was unlikely at sufficient scale for significant catchment impact. Second, more targeted investment is required to protect the highest value ecosystem assets. Third, there were different comparative advantages for EMSs for different agricultural industries. There are implications for government intervention where the complementarities for ecosystem improvement and private benefit are not clearly understood. Key words: environmental management systems / market-based instruments / behaviour chang