What is the Australian beef industry doing to meet these challenges?
There has been considerable growth in organised land management groups in recent years. These various groups address the sustainability of agricultural land use by examining issues such as land degradation, water quality, salinity, soil fertility and feral animal control on a local basis. The Prograze program, jointly developed by NSW Agriculture, the Meat Research Corporation, now the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) in 1994. PROGRAZE uses a series of organised courses run by state department officers and other accredited deliverers such as agricultural consultants. The courses concentrate on setting and achieving livestock and pasture production targets using skills in assessing livestock and the quality, quantity and stability of plant species within the grazing system. A survey undertaken by ABARE in 1996-97 (The Australian Beef Industry, 1998) found that beef producers who are members of a land management group such as Landcare: • are more likely to have a farm plan • participat
