Page 10 - National Poultry Newspaper

Land use and development farming viability in a changing landscape
☛ from P8
land being retained in pro-
duction and conserve more natural beauty for society to enjoy, rather than seeing hectare upon hectare of land converted for our cur- rent housing preferences.
People are generally con- cerned with the environ- ment and enjoy the great outdoors and natural set- tings to ‘escape’ to.
Beginning a new trend where downsizing or min- imalistic living is attrac- tive, socially more accept- able, better for themselves and the environment could be marketed to people.
BASIX is a NSW plan- ning approval system, set- ting minimum standards of energy efficiency and environmental considera- tions.
Expanding this to in- clude land use would re- duce the requirement pres- sure of greenfield sites.
Redeveloping the exist- ing house and land pack- ages to medium-to-high density alternatives and allowing for greater shared green spaces would be an option.
If the sprawl of urban developments is limited, creating higher densities of population in exist- ing areas, it would allow greater investment in ex- isting infrastructure as it removes the need to spread economic resources to provide and maintain new roads, schools, water and sewage.
Engaging with the con- sumer base in a language and style that is consist- ent with modern forms of communication is an ex- pensive exercise, yet is an essential step in gaining consumer confidence and social licence to operate.
As an industry, invest-
ment in mainstream media campaigns, as was done in Denmark by the Dan- ish Agriculture and Food Council, would connect consumers to the benefits to society of Australian agriculture.
The positive message of practices using modern technology can be con- nected to sustainability, such as reduced fuel usage though the implementa- tion of GPS technology or improved animal welfare outcomes through housing design.
There is an opportunity to learn how to be visible to the consumer base from the successful campaigns run by the opposition, utilising similar crowd- funding techniques and encouraging influential people, thought leaders, to be spokespeople for the industry.
It was noted that the use of language in planning documents can support ob- jectors in their complaint process, which makes it important for industry and farmers to be involved in the periodic planning poli- cy review process.
The importance of de- veloping society’s confi- dence or social licence in agricultural systems and technology cannot be un- derstated in terms of plan- ning opportunity and flex- ibility for agriculture.
Collaborative investment by the farming sector and government to generate a database of complying de- velopment would be use- ful.
The aim would be to give community confidence by testing technologies to mitigate the impacts of de- velopment.
A database of approved technologies is required to
speed up and reduce cost of the approvals process, by giving planners confi- dence to approve develop- ments, rather than operate under the precautionary principle theory.
Consolidating the re- sponsibility of agribusi- ness development approv- als to a single national agency like the EPA would be a huge benefit to Australian agribusiness, ensuring the resources are well utilised and that a specialist team could be assembled, which under- stands the needs of agri- business.
Agribusiness is well placed in its ability to deal with land and climate change through innovative solutions.
This, however, can be counter-productive for pri- oritising current agricul- tural land, as it can re-as- sure decision-makers that food security can be main- tained with lesser-quality land or environmental conditions, hindering ef- forts to preserve quality growing conditions close to cities.
It is illustrated by the many cultural revolutions throughout history that social licence is a power- ful force, capable of dis- rupting the very fabric of society.
It is clear that manag- ing and working to bolster social licence is key to future expansions of agri- business.
Understanding and working within the social licence of an area can be a cheaper and easier option and lead to new opportu- nities.
In terms of natural re- source management and cost, the existing social licence can sometimes not
be the best option.
It is in these instances
that agribusiness must be proactive in building rap- port with communities by ensuring there are char- ismatic leaders communi- cating the benefits and im- portance of agribusiness. Final recommendations
When making develop- ment applications, farmers need to:
• Understand the local ‘social licence’ and local political agenda;
• Explore diversification of existing systems and value-adding to ensure vi- ability;
• Consider development from a complainant’s point of view;
• Employ quality repre- sentation to engage with planners and complain- ants;
• Enlist people of com- munity standing without vested interest to support development; and
• Ensure funding for le- gal defence of the applica- tion.
Industry investment co- ordinated to:
• Link consumers with agribusiness’s use of tech- nology, resource manage- ment and relevance to society using mainstream media to connect; and
• Develop display farms to display technology and common practice to the public.
Government should:
• Promote agricultural land preservation through an introduction of a tax incentive program for the retention of agricultural land in production;
• Improve agricultural land preservation though an improved approach to resource accounting and mapping;
approach to development applications, by removing the application for inten- sive designated develop- ment to specialist teams within the Environmental Protection Agency rather than local government;
• Re-evaluate the release of land for sprawling de- velopment, rather invest- ing in a more concentrated living environment for people; and
• Local government should communicate with purchasers of the rural nature and possible dis- turbances in rural areas by using the Section 149 planning certificates.
Industry and Govern- ment Collaboration is re- quired to:
• Create a database of complying development data and approved tech- nologies for use by ap- proval agencies;
• Developing trust, co- operation and collabora- tion between government bodies and industry to support growth through joint fact finding; and
• Develop a food promo- tions board.
Study author Bernadette Mortensen.
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Page 10 – National Poultry Newspaper, September 2018
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LEVUCELL SB as a tool to reduce the risk of foodborne pathogen contaminations on carcasses of broilers
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