Sustainable Agriculture
The Sustainable Agriculture program supports landholders to explore, trial, adopt and measure the success of sustainable agricultural land use practices. Driven by community and stakeholder consultation, the program builds resilient and profitable farming systems by improving soil health for greater productivity, restoring unproductive landscapes to productive grazing systems, and reducing feral species. The team employs Sustainable Agriculture Facilitators (SAF) under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program sub-program of the Natural Heritage Trust. This is a central contact for landholders, industry and community groups to support climate-smart agricultural practices in the Avon River Basin.
Projects
Talkin’ Soil Health (TSH)
A biennial conference since 2013, unites landholders, community, industry, and research to share knowledge on soil health issues, successes, and challenges. It highlights soil science advances and champions landholder experts.
Next event: 13 March 2025
Red Card for Rabbits and Foxes
A coordinated community predator management program delivered across the Southwest Land Division.
Funding open now.
Restore – Recovering Wheatbelt Landscapes after Fire
Aiding victims of the 2022 bushfires in Wickepin/Corrigin, where years of Landcare efforts were lost. Wheatbelt NRM supports landholders in restoring burnt landscapes with fencing, revegetation, and feral animal management.
Collaborative Catchment Approach to Wheatbelt Regenerative Agricultural Practices.
For over 30 years, the Gabby Quoi Quoi Catchment Group has led landcare in WA. Partnering with Wheatbelt NRM, they’re reassessing water management strategies and utilizing resources to tackle salinity.
Collaborative resources available.
FutureCarbon4 - Assessing the potential of Saltbush to Sequester Carbon in WA Southwest
This innovative project explores saltbush’s potential to sequester carbon in the Wheatbelt, contributing to the region’s net zero emissions goal by 2050. It compares new and long-established plantings for carbon impact.
Corella Management Project
Wheatbelt NRM, in partnership with CBH and AROC (Victoria Plains, Goomalling, Toodyay, Northam, York), employs a coordinator to manage corella impacts. Long- and short-term management methods are being developed.
Forage for Nature
Building on the Optimising Fodder project, partnering with Avon River Basin farmers to create biodiverse forage systems that boost productivity, protect soils, and enhance biodiversity demos and workshops showcasing a dual approach.
Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) Community Impact Grants
The Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought program is the social resilience arm of National Drought Hub funding. Wheatbelt NRM leads the project in the Central Eastern Wheatbelt with various local partners.
WA State Environmental Asset Framework
This project, partnering with all 7 WA Natural Resource Management groups, is developing spatial prioritisation tools for managing threatened species by collating on-ground data for future investment.