The Waikato Self Assessment Scales Project

ME Wedderburn, TG Parminter, AgResearch, Whatawhata Research Centre, Hamilton

Introduction

With the advent of the Resource Management Act (1991) and the potential for increased non-tariff barriers, resource condition underpinning farming enterprises has come increasingly under scrutiny by the wider community.

Community perceptions on resource condition will define what is acceptable or not. Land users now find themselves in a position where they have to demonstrate their farming practices do not have a deleterious impact on resource condition (animal, soil, water, vegetation).

Waikato Federated Farmers formed a partnership with Environment Waikato, AgResearch and MAFPol to help put in place strategies which would result in demonstration of sustainable farm practices. This project has been ongoing since 1994 and so far the following has been achieved:

  • a farmer definition of sustainable agriculture and how it relates to their other goals;
  • a list of management practices which farmers have identified as leading to sustainable agriculture;
  • a set of indicators farmers use to describe where land, animals and water sit on a scale of sustainability.

This talk describes the development of the farmer assessment indicator scales.

Scales

Demonstrating that a farming practice results in sustainability depends on knowing the current status of the resources and monitoring the direction the resource moves.

Resource management should be improved by providing farmers with the means to evaluate the state of natural resources affected by their production system. Such evaluative tools need to be appropriate to the needs of the decision-maker, result in improved decisions, and be sensitive and precise enough to identify trends. Careful record keeping is a prerequisite for success along with interpretation of the trends which will appear.

During workshops, farmers designed indicator scales on a (0) unsustainable to (20) sustainable level. Scales for animals, vegetation, soil and water were produced using subjective observational information.

Subjective scales will be adequate when used on individual properties but will be limited when comparisons between properties are required. Also farmer beliefs about the status of natural resources will change over time and this change can only be measured if the subjective scales are quantified with objective indicators.

Scale Use

The subjective scales have been used by farmers in study groups set up to enable farmers to use resource condition as part of their farm decision making to achieve certain goals. The groups use a form of collective learning where a combination of farmer and science knowledge and experience is used to develop options for dealing with an identified issue. Farmers have used the scales to define their current status and to identify where on the scale they would like their resource status to be.

1
Efficient Farm Animals
















Scale
 0 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17 18 19 20


survival

pregnancy



improving animal condition



Production
2 Contented Farm Animals















Scale 0
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17 18 19 20


death
Acute Diseases


chonic disease

quiet and stress free







difficult to handle
stragglers in mob





contented. manageable. and active
3
Productive Vegetation















Scale 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

weeds dominant

low fertility grass species


clover
Green leafy pasture
Animal response




bare ground



High dead leaf


shelter production





dead vegetation







pasture persistence
4
Productive Soils
















scale 0  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 16
 17 18 19 20


mass erosion









sediment loss





surface water





soil structure

water holding capacity





Pugging









soil fertility
5 Clean Water
















Scale 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20


Chemical contamination

undesirable algae

diverse water life
drinkable


Stagnation





weeds,  fish





readily available


lack of biological life













recreational



sedimentation















smells










Dairy farmers have developed a scale for pugging damage with the aid of science and have used this scale to plan grazing strategies for individual paddocks. With the advent of the wet winter in the Waikato, these farmers removed their cows from paddocks faster than in previous years because of their knowledge of the impact pugging has on soil condition. In previous years, these farmers were taking only vegetation condition into account when assessing pugging damage.

The amalgamation of objective and subjective scales is currently being studied by creating indices (e.g., soil productivity, water quality) taking into account biological] processes and linking this information to user scales. This can be done at different scales, i.e., paddock, block, farm and through different time scales.

To Do

A workshop will be held with 30 farmers to develop scales related to market access, family health, rural services and control of feral pests. These were components of sustainable agriculture developed by farmers at previous workshops.

Meetings will be held with science and farmers to identify objective indicators for each of the subjective scales.

The results of use of the resource scales by farmers in study groups will be compared with scientific results to resource assessment over a three-year period.

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