Attitude to risk and uncertainty
Incentive scheme design
Landholders who saw themselves as risk takers with respect to new grazing practices have a higher rate of adoption of rotational grazing, adjustment of stock to pasture condition and early destocking for drought( Greiner, Patterson, & Miller, 2009).
Insufficient labour resources and feelings of risk related to variable climate conditions were significant impediments to conservation practices in general for Burdekin landholders. These plus uncertainty about tenure, uncertainty about the industry, loss of productive capacity on property, lack of broader community support and insufficient information about optimal management practices were impediments to adoption more generally( Herr, Greiner, & Stoeckl, 2004).
In studies broader than the Burdekin or GBR, contract design has been listed as a barrier to conservation practice adoption. Contract features such as the duration of contracts, the influence of a contract on land security and the ability to exit a contract all affect uptake( Greiner, 2015; Whitten, Reeson, Windle, & Rolfe, 2013).
Greiner( 2015) found that higher payments, shorter contracts, flexibility within contracts and the ability to use external monitoring providers all increased participation. Whitten et al.( 2013) also highlight the need for high payments, stating that this may help overcome the barrier imposed by the difficulty to trial many conservation activities. Greiner( 2015) also notes that there is great heterogeneity across landholders in terms of their properties, management styles and motivations and a conservation program made for the average will attract very few landholders.
Other components of the LDC design process( see Waterhouse et al., 2017) have allowed graziers to express what they see as barriers to adoption of land management practice change and what is needed to overcome these. These are summarised in Table 3.
Table 3 Graziers perspectives on barriers to land management practice adoption and strategies to overcome these
Grazier perspective of barrier to land management practice change
BBB landholder perspective on ways to overcome adoption barriers
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Complexity of decisions due to the need to consult other family members;
Operational and financial constraints( especially those caused by climate variability and uncertainty surrounding the future);
Lack of science or information, lack of skills on property and lack of local leadership;
Lack of motivation due to landholders being unaware of the decline in land condition, ignorant of better management and comfortable in their current situation; and
Perceived( more cattle = more money) and actual financial barriers( need to service high debts, lack of funds and resources in terms of labour and equipment).
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Education( about the impact of farm management on biodiversity – see Greiner( 2015) discussion on this in terms of identifying the richness and uniqueness of biodiversity), training, extension and research including technical and applied management courses, environmental management courses, on property demonstration sites and more research;
� Property management planning;
� Financial incentives – rate and rent relief, grants, subsidies, stewardship payments, farm management deposits;
� Regulatory approaches and cross compliance arrangements; � Catchment groups; � Targeted( 1 on 1) extension and mentoring; � Business planning; � Critical thinking skills to help identify priorities; �
Case studies and cost benefit analyses; and � Demonstrations.
Landholders driving change: Exploring new incentives | 17