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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 47(3)

Benefits, threats and getting started with Environmental Management Systems: views of primary producers and catchment managers in Victoria, Australia

E. J. Seymour
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Department of Primary Industries, Primary Industries Research Victoria, RMB 1145, Chiltern Valley Road, Rutherglen, Vic. 3685, Australia. Email: eloise.seymour@dpi.vic.gov.au

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47(3) 303-311 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA06022
Submitted: 12 January 2006  Accepted: 16 August 2006   Published: 12 February 2007

Abstract

In Victoria, as in many parts of Australia, there is a mixed understanding of what comprises an Environmental Management System (EMS), particularly among professionals in government and industry and landholders. To help overcome this issue, the Victorian government (then Natural Resources and Environment) and the Victorian Farmers Federation formed a partnership in 2003 to promote EMS adoption and coordinate EMS activity on a statewide basis. The Natural Resources and Environment and Victorian Farmers Federation partnership held a series of 11 workshops for catchment management authority regions across Victoria. The purpose was to seek advice from primary producers and catchment managers about how EMS might realistically be implemented and promoted. This paper explores the issues raised at these workshops and the implications they have for EMS adoption and promotion in Victoria, with regard to: (i) potential benefits of implementing EMS on farms; (ii) potential threats to the implementation of EMS on farms; and (iii) how to get started with EMS. A total of 213 people participated in the workshops including 144 landholders. There were some important regional differences in the response data. Improved community perception was seen as a major benefit of EMS (13% of all responses), as were possible market benefits (12%). The major threats to implementation included perceived ‘regulatory creep’ and suspicion of government (14% of responses) and that EMS was a political instrument (13%). Primary producers and catchment managers thought that building on existing schemes and groups was an ideal way to get started with EMS. These results provide a useful basis for how EMS is promoted in Victoria. Ensuring that EMS is driven by industry without being government-heavy is perceived as very important. Better coordination between stakeholders, the provision of practical EMS products and the use of existing groups is a sensible way forward, but in practice this will be difficult to achieve.


Acknowledgements

I am very grateful for the support and guidance of Anna Ridley (Department of Primary Industries, Rutherglen) in the development of this paper. I would also like to thank the 213 participants, especially the 144 primary producers for their time and effort. The focus group workshops were funded jointly by the Department of Primary Industries, Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Victorian Farmers Federation. I am grateful to Greg Smith (VFF), who was the facilitator of the 11 workshops. I also acknowledge the assistance of the ten Catchment Management Authorities across Victoria who hosted the workshops.


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