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![Working together: From 2013 to 2016 Queensland’s NRM groups worked with 890 land managers to establish BMP across 3.3 million hectares. Working together: From 2013 to 2016 Queensland’s NRM groups worked with 890 land managers to establish BMP across 3.3 million hectares.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5SkCeiSuxMpUaGXwYhDSWL/98050d42-ab38-4172-a1ff-f65280ff4b9d.JPG/r0_0_3264_2448_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The number and importance of producer partnerships with Queensland’s 14 natural resource management bodies is destined to increase as the unambiguous effects of climate change bite further into the bottom line of the State’s agriculture.
This is the view of the Queensland’s Regional NRM Groups Collective (RGC), the peak body currently working with producers, industry and governments to ensure sustainable use of natural resources and more resilient and productive ecosystems.
“Unfortunately the predictions of climate scientists are becoming reality with producers already feeling the impacts of climate change,” said RGC CEO Andrew Drysdale. “We’re already seeing less reliable rainfall, more extreme weather events, and greater heat, with producers having to adapt to survive.”
“The key to that adaptation is to make the ecosystems that support our agricultural production as resilient as possible, and our farming practices truly sustainable - that’s where the RGC and its member bodies come in.”
NRM Regional Groups around the State partner with producers, community volunteer groups, researchers, academics, local governments, agencies and industry groups to deliver projects that give the environment the health to bounce back from setbacks and enable agricultural production to be more sustainable.
Over the past 15 years, the regional groups have engaged tens of thousands of producers in projects such as management practice change, erosion control, nutrient reduction, information sharing, post-natural disaster rehabilitation, water quality improvement, weed control and many more.
“I’m an ex-producer, so I speak with some experience,” said Mr Drysdale. “We’ve got to acknowledge that our adapted European methods of managing this environment and its productivity have, in less than 250 years, caused immense change and, in large areas, damage.
![Queensland’s land managers have modified management practices to better suit the conditions and landscapes in which they're conducting their farming operations in. Queensland’s land managers have modified management practices to better suit the conditions and landscapes in which they're conducting their farming operations in.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5SkCeiSuxMpUaGXwYhDSWL/4351ccfd-c5a4-4ef2-95e7-0feb00c784c5.jpg/r0_0_3200_2400_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
“To become truly sustainable, and to cope with the day to day challenges of agriculture, let alone climate change, our production practices have to be refined to the point where we can confidently say ‘using these management practices this land will still be productive in a thousand years’.
Mr Drysdale believes many of the State’s land managers have modified their management practices significantly to better suit the conditions and landscapes they are farming.
Recently released figures show that the State Government’s $12 million investment in sustainable agriculture for the 3-year period 2013 to 2016 saw NRM groups working with 890 land managers to, among other things, adopt best management practices across 3.3 million hectares.
While the NRM groups are busy working with land managers to improve the sustainability of production systems, the Regional Groups Collective, sometimes referred to as the ‘Peak Body for NRM’, represents the interests of its 14 member groups at a State and National level.
“We advocate for funding and policies to support a strong agricultural sector, a healthy environment, to promote our collective interests and work with other peaks to get the best environmental, social and production outcomes for the regions,” Mr Drysdale said.
For information on the RGC’s latest programmes please visit the website.