{"id":305054,"date":"2021-09-01T16:38:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T06:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=305054"},"modified":"2021-09-01T16:43:14","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T06:43:14","slug":"pilot-plan-to-pay-land-stewards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/09\/01\/pilot-plan-to-pay-land-stewards\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot Plan To Pay Land ‘Stewards’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Agriculture Minister David Littleproud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 1, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Farmers in the Burnett-Mary natural resource management region have been invited to apply for “stewardship” payments to improve remnant native vegetation.<\/p>\n

The Burnett-Mary region is one of six across Australia which will be taking part in the Federal Government’s pilot “Australian Farm Biodiversity Stewardship” program.<\/p>\n

The pilot aims to\u00a0pay farmers for management activities which will improve the condition of existing native vegetation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers have been managing biodiversity on their farms for decades and it\u2019s time they were paid for it,\u201d Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to lock up land, we want this work to go hand in hand with a productive farming enterprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese pilots are about creating a credible system to attract private investment in biodiversity on farms.<\/p>\n

“Over time I want to roll these pilots out to more farmers, making them widely available and fuelled by private sector investment.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of the pilot, the Australian National University has created processes and protocols to measure and reward farmers for undertaking the projects.<\/p>\n

ANU Professor Andrew Macintosh said management protocols could include activities such as fencing, replanting and weed and pest control.<\/p>\n

In some projects, farmers may choose to undertake small areas of planting to provide wildlife corridors and connectivity across the landscape.<\/p>\n