� Property mapping and planning; � Erosion and other land management planning; � Financial services including succession planning; and � Grazing management training e. g. DAF or commercial services.
The different engagement pathways( extension, demonstration and cluster groups) offered by LDC as part of the Grazier Support program are appropriate to facilitate wide access to LDC support and resources.
Collecting and interpreting information about BBB enterprises( RECOMMENDATION 2) will allow the LDC team to consider how different pathways and different services are accessed by different cohorts of growers. Evaluating‘ what works for who’ can help improve the program( targeting of incentives) and identify lessons that may have wider application.
Recommendation 3c: LDC refine current grants scheme to reward on-ground change and improve the maintenance of benefit over time
Grants should be used to facilitate adoption of improved practices, where the public benefit reflects the public cost, but not to meet regulatory‘ duty of care’ obligations. Improvements to the current grants program are recommended, incorporating tailored( individualised) grants and staged payments. While there isn’ t sufficient time within the LDC project for NQDT to trial a stewardship payment scheme based on payments for outcomes such as groundcover, shifting the grants program to one where staged payments for outputs occur over time moves towards a stewardship-type scheme, which should be explored as an option in the longer-term.
Landholder agreements for grants need to be strong and binding, with clearly articulated responsibilities among the parties involved, including monitoring for compliance within the agreement and a focus on the follow-up assessment of outcomes achieved. The current grants process has the potential to generate greater outcomes with small changes. It is recommended that the LDC refine the current grant process to:
� Incorporate longer term management agreements( ideally attached to title, although landholders suggested this would not be well received);
� Include staged payments focussed upon the achievement of key input or outcomes milestones
( landholders suggested that this is reasonable and acceptable); � Include follow up monitoring( acceptable to landholders); and � Require that grant selection be based on the return on investment( public benefit / public cost).
It is also recommended that the LDC trial the use of a tailored grants approach with these characteristics, and in the longer term( beyond current LDC funding) trial targeted stewardship payments as an extension of this approach.
Referring to the public: private benefits framework( section 3.2.1 and APPENDIX A), it is recommended that financial payments only be considered when a landholder is operating above the duty of care( above C in
Figure 6) and relative to the estimated public benefit of potential land management change( sediment reduction) / public cost( based on information collected in RECOMMENDATIONS 1 and 2).
Landholders driving change: Exploring new incentives | 45