Realisation dawns late on the land

Farm development is coming at a cost, with a background of poor knowledge of the environment, according to the McFadden report released recently. Only 35 percent of the cleared farmland is considered stable with about 40 percent requiring soil conservation measures to control water and wind erosion and a further 25 percent needs special attention to prevent wind erosion. Many problems stemmed from the unsuitability of the land released in the first place, a parliamentary inquiry into rural hardship found earlier this year. A report to the State Government recommends taking positive steps where agricultural use was threatening severe land degradation. Des O'Connor who helped prepare the Primary Industry Association submission on the issue, says there have been many mistakes with some people losing money, as well as blood, sweat and tears. This article contains an image of Peter Grainger next to his tractor. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide a public view of this newspaper article as the copyright is held by the publisher of The West Australian. If you would like to obtain a copy of this newspaper article for research purposes, please ‘request a copy'. This article is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection