Future investment in landscape change in southern Australia

Future investment in Australia's countryside will greatly influence the appearance of the landscape, and the ecosystem services provided. Primarily, landowners will undertake this investment. Government investment in revegetation programs is likely to be relatively small. This paper is about research conducted on grazing properties in south-eastern Australia, and extrapolated to the region as a whole. Four strategies are reported: they involve increasing the perennial component of the pastures, fine-tuning grazing management, encouraging natural regeneration and more targeted application of fertiliser. Three of the strategies are profitable and also contribute substantially to the condition of native vegetation and to the ecosystem services it provides. The strategies are not as profitable as traditional pasture improvement, historically the main source of increased wealth. However, the availability of alternative strategies greatly reduces the opportunity cost of not pursuing the traditional pasture improvement approach. This means that incentives to adopt the alternative strategies may make good public policy sense.