A Revolution in Land Use

Summary

No land-use option rates highly in every respect for relevance, effectiveness, robustness and profitability. Whereas certain land-use options in the right location and in expert hands can satisfy these four criteria, we do not yet have viable landuse systems capable of controlling leakage over the Basin as a whole.

The most obvious need is for a wider range of commercially viable, deep-rooted perennial plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. The second need is to refine land assessment techniques to pinpoint the best locations for agroforestry and high-value annuals. The third is to develop ways of rotating and mixing perennial plants with current crops and new agricultural plants, and to invent tools for land managers to monitor leakage and change land use accordingly.

Many of these components do not yet exist. The revolution in land use that is required to control dryland salinity in the Basin cannot happen without a well-targeted program of research, development and innovation that supplies new land-use solutions designed specifically for the Australian landscape.

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