Tools and Resources
Your hub for the best support, advice and guidance to improve on-farm natural assets, while supporting sustainable and profitable agriculture.
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Ten ways to improve natural assets on a farm
Ten ways to improve natural assets on a farm
This booklet highlights ten discrete projects that farmers can undertake to improve the health of natural assets – such as dams, shelterbelts or riparian areas – on their properties.
BirdCast: Predict which birds live in woodlands on your farm
BirdCast: Indicating birdlife on farms
BirdCast is a scenario planning tool for biodiversity on farms. Using decades of data on more than sixty birds, BirdCast indicates which birds may live in woodlands on your farm in spring and demonstrates the potential for biodiversity in a range of scenarios.
Management & technical guides
Farm Dams Technical Guide
This guide provides detailed technical information to support the planning and construction of farm dams, as well as dam enhancement, in order to optimise their performance.
Managing natural assets: Shelterbelts
Planting native shelterbelts on farms is a significant act of land stewardship, one that also delivers demonstrated productivity and biodiversity benefits.
Managing natural assets: Scattered paddock trees
Stately old trees standing alone in paddocks are a familiar feature of our rural landscapes. Aesthetically pleasing, they are also important assets supporting agricultural productivity, and are critical for wildlife.
Managing natural assets: Rocky outcrops
Rocky outcrops come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from huge granite boulders strewn across hilltops, to small collections of scattered rocks in a paddock.
Fire in farm landscapes: Keep your fallen timber and dead trees
Keeping fallen timber and dead trees in the landscape is one of the best things you can do for biodiversity and landscape health on your farm.
Riparian Restoration guide
Watercourses and their accompanying riparian areas hold enormous value for farming operations and are important assets for production and biodiversity.
Planting guides
Powerful Pollinators: Encouraging insect pollinators in farm landscapes
Planting guide for North East Victoria, the NSW Murray-Riverina, South West Slopes and parts of Central Tablelands and Central West.
What to plant in and around your dam
Native vegetation in and around a farm dam has many benefits for water quality, farm productivity and biodiversity. This brochure provides guidance on the types of plants suitable for revegetating dams, and includes lists of recommended plants.
Wholesale nursery list
List of wholesale plant suppliers for use with the guide, Enhancing farm dams: What to plant in and around your dam.
Tools
See all tools BirdCast: Indicating birdlife on farms
BirdCast is a scenario planning tool for biodiversity on farms. Using decades of data on more than sixty birds, BirdCast indicates which birds may live in woodlands on your farm in spring and demonstrates the potential for biodiversity in a range of scenarios.
Sustainable Farms Field Day Toolkit
The Sustainable Farms Field Day Toolkit is for people who are organising, or partnering to organise, a field day.
Method to measure practice change. A report by Sustainable Farms for the Central Tablelands LLS
A report commissioned by Central Tablelands LLS outlining a methodology for measuring practice change.
Videos
Restoring rocky habitat on farms
On a farm near Young, NSW, PHD student Jackie O’Sullivan from The Australian National University has been investigating the impact of scattered rocks on reptile diversity. For landholder Sam Johnson from Boxgum Grazing, looking after natural assets on his farm is all part of managing an ecologically functioning farm system.
Sustainable Farms: bringing together science, Landcare and farmers
Sustainable Farms brings science to the paddock, working closely with Landcare and with farmers to understand how improving natural assets can support farm productivity, biodiversity and mental health.
Mental health and wellbeing research
Kimberly Brown, Research Officer at the Centre for Mental Health Research and Sustainable Farms, explains the aims of our mental health research stream.
Improving farm dams: a farmer’s perspective
Marcus Richardson runs a beef property near Albury in NSW. During the drought, he spotted an opportunity to protect some of the farm’s most vital assets – the dams. In this video, he explains why and how he decided to protect and enhance his farm dams for multiple benefits.
After fire comes recovery: Life in a farm dam
This farm near Batlow burnt badly in January 2020. Heavy rain followed on the bare, burnt earth, and farmer David Waters was worried that his dam – and the family of platypus that lived there – would suffer.
How to build a wildlife island on your farm dam
Ever thought about building a wildlife island on your farm dam? Artificial islands are great for habitat and refuge.
ANU long-term ecology video
ANU Sustainable Farms is based on 20 years of long-term ecological monitoring.
Books
Natural Asset Farming
This book provides practical guidance on enhancing seven natural assets on farms, bringing together the stories and experiences of farmers with the results of extensive on-farm research undertaken by Sustainable Farms.
Learning From Experience book
In this book, eight farmers connected with Sustainable Farms share their stories of land management in the woodlands of southeastern Australia. The stories are based on interviews conducted by Natasha Fijn.
Rocky Outcrops in Australia
Discover the incredible biodiversity on rocky outcrops and the importance of conserving these crucial landscape features.
Woodlands: A disappearing landscape
Australia’s little known woodlands once covered huge areas of the eastern side of our continent. Discover the often-overlooked beauty of Australia’s woodlands and native plants and animals they support.
Reports and project documents
2020 Annual Report
An account of Sustainable Farms 2020 performance against key performance indicators
Method to measure practice change. A report by Sustainable Farms for the Central Tablelands LLS
A report commissioned by Central Tablelands LLS outlining a methodology for measuring practice change.
2019 Annual Report
An account of Sustainable Farms 2019 performance against key performance indicators
2018 Annual Report
An account of Sustainable Farms 2018 performance against key performance indicators
Report for Meat and Livestock Australia
Report by Sustainable Farms produced for Meat and Livestock Australia
Sustainable Farms Baseline Evaluation Report: a snapshot of farmers within the project area
This report provides a baseline snapshot of farmers within the Sustainable Farms project area to enable measurement of progress and ultimately the long-term impact of the initiative.
Mental Health Research Report
This report provides a summary of Sustainable Farms’ Mental Health Research program and findings.
Webinars
Webinar: Planning & planting to maximise the potential of farm dams
Webinar recording: Hear about the latest research on the biodiversity and productivity benefits of enhancing farm dams, what to plant where and other practical tips for planning a farm dam enhancement project.
Webinar: Choughs, miners, and boosting bird biodiversity on farms
Join us for an online discussion about two fascinating species of birds – noisy miners and choughs. Plus, how to create the habitat that will bring back the birds we want on farms.
Webinar: Powerful Pollinators
Hosted by ANU Sustainable Farms and the Wheen Bee Foundation, join ANU Professor Saul Cunningham, Sustainable Farms’ ecologist Angelina Siegrist, and Anna Carrucan from Wheen Bee Foundation discussing native and European pollinators and their effect on grazing and cropping.
Webinar: Investing in healthy farms for the future – a policy proposal
In an era of climatic uncertainty and increasing droughts, farm improvement projects that restore degraded land, enhance natural assets and improve drought resilience are becoming ever more important. However, sustainable funding of these projects presents a challenge that requires novel solutions.
Webinar: Brilliant Birds
Join ANU Sustainable Farms ecologist Dave Smith and Birdlife Australia’s Ben Humphries for a webinar all about birds on farms!
Webinar: Designing and enhancing shelterbelts
This webinar covers Sustainable Farms research into the best way to design shelterbelts for maximum productivity benefits, and benefits for woodland bird biodiversity.
Webinar: Enhancing farm dams
Join Sustainable Farms ecologists Dr Mason Crane and Eleanor Lang, and Local Land Services District Vet Eve Hall, to discuss enhancing farm dams for multiple benefits.
Webinar: Woodlands on farms – Endangered Ecological Communities
A webinar on the management of Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs) in Central West NSW, presented by Daniel Florance from Sustainable Farms.
Webinar: Biodiversity recovery after bushfire
Join Professor David Lindenmayer from the Australian National University and Sustainable Farms ecologist Dr Mason Crane for a webinar to learn about biodiversity recovery after bushfire.
Podcasts
See all podcasts
Episode Nine: Farm planning for better biodiversity and reduced fire risk
In our second podcast on fire in farm landscapes, Sustainable Farms Ecology Research Director Professor David Lindenmayer explains that managing farms for biodiversity doesn’t necessarily mean increasing fire risk.
Episode Eight: After fire comes recovery – a message of hope
Summer 2019-2020 brought unprecedented bushfire conditions to south-eastern Australia, with millions of hectares burnt so far this fire season.
Episode Seven: Max Whitten talks about honeybees
In this podcast from Sustainable Farms, Gordon Taylor talks to Dr Max Whitten (former Chief at the CSIRO Division of Entomology) about the role of honeybees in Australian agriculture.
Episode Six: Max Whitten talks about Dieback
In this podcast from Sustainable Farms, Dr Max Whitten, former Chief at the CSIRO Division of Entomology, talks to podcast host Gordon Taylor about dieback in paddock trees.
Episode Five: Mason Crane talks about Squirrel Gliders
Join Sustainable Farms Senior Research and Extension Officer Mason Crane as he talks about Squirrel Gliders, the subject of his PhD.
Episode Four: Mason Crane talks about farm revegetation
Welcome back to the Sustainable Farms podcast. In this episode, field ecologist Mason Crane speaks to Gordon Taylor about farm revegetation projects.
Episode Three: An innovative proposal for farm financing
Many farmers are concerned that government financing schemes particularly in times of drought can lead them into unrepayable debt, and risk of property foreclosure down the track.
Episode Two: Talking about Farm Dams
How does investing in the natural assets of a farm, like shelterbelts and farm dams, enable farmers to be more resilient in drought, while at the same time help to support the biodiversity on farms?
Episode One: An introduction to the Sustainable Farms project
Director of Sustainable Farms, Michelle Young, talks about why the project has been established and its key goals and activities.