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Summary of full report
by Genevieve Carruthers, Environmental Systems Specialist, NSW Agriculture
Publication Number: 03/121
Foreword
The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) has
prioritised research on Environmental Management Systems (EMS). In 1999
the Corporation provided most of the funding for a national workshop on
EMS in Agriculture held at Ballina, NSW. RIRDC was also a major sponsor
of the National EMS in Australian Agriculture Conference, held in November
2001.At the workshop, delegates said they wanted to know how a farmer might
develop and implement an EMS, and to learn how such implementation might
provide benefits for the farm business.
They wanted to know what the environmental outcomes might be, and whether using the EMS process would actually help address the many environmental issues facing Australian agriculture. Consequently, RIRDC funded these case studies to begin to answer these and other questions.This publication records interviews conducted with 40 farmers and farm managers in Australia and New Zealand. Some had adopted a recognised EMS process using the specifications of the internationally recognised Standard for EMS, ISO 14001.
Others used less formal approaches. Benefits and costs were diverse, as were motivations for adopting environmental management approaches. All had made progress in addressing the environmental issues faced in managing their farms. A second publication by the author will provide an analysis of these case studies. As EMS adoption is in the early stages worldwide in agricultural industries, this study provides an important benchmark for future EMS implementation on farm. It also provides a number of important pointers for support of farmers who wish to utilise EMS as a management tool in the future.
This project was funded from RIRDC Core Funds provided by the Federal Government and is an addition to RIRDC’s diverse range of over 1000 research publications. It forms part of the Resilient Agricultural Systems R&D program, which aims to foster the development of agri-industry systems that have sufficient diversity, integration, flexibility and robustness to be resilient enough to respond opportunistically to continued change.
Managing Director
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
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