Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands

Turning saline land into a profitable asset.

Dryland salinity is recognised as one of the major risks to agriculture and the natural environment in the high to medium rainfall zones of Australia. Forty-one per cent of the nation’s woolgrowers indicate they already have land affected by dryland salinity [Land, Water & Wool Best Practice Survey 2003] and it is estimated that many other landscapes used for wool production are under increased risk.

Grazing is one of the few activities that can make productive and profitable use of saline land, and also reduce the negative impacts on the environment, and on property owners and managers. The Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands (SGSL) Sub-program has helped woolgrowers better understand and manage their saline land through a range of activities.

These SGSL activities and projects helped to achieve:

• Improved production and profit from grazing saline land;
• Better environmental outcomes from saline land; and
• More pride for producers who are proactively changing their management systems to tackle saline land on their properties.

SGSL was the largest of the seven Sub-programs in Land, Water & Wool, and was supported by Meat & Livestock Australia, the Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, CSIRO and State agencies in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. Alongside the five national research projects, SGSL also uniquely supported 120 local producer network demonstration sites in partnership with woolgrower groups across WA, SA, Victoria, Tasmania and NSW.

Projects

Publications

New South Wales

Victoria

Tasmania

South Australia

Western Australia

All