How to apply guide

The information in this document is provided to help you prepare your application for a Caring for our Country Innovation Grant. Each part refers to a corresponding section in the application form. This information is not exhaustive and you may also use data and information from other sources to support your application.

There is further information in this guide on projects that aim to address native vegetation and agroforestry which applicants may find useful.

Please note, this document does not replace the guidelines.

1

Section Four in the application form

Question Number 4.2 -4.4Which of the following five year outcomes does your project address and what number will be increased?

To inform your application you must estimate the number of farming entities that will increase their practices.

For agriculture, on farm land management practice change is being monitored using the biennial Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Agricultural Resource Management Survey which surveys 33 000 of Australia’s 135 000 agricultural businesses, and where available, data from the ABS 1995–96, 2000–01 and 2010–11 agricultural censuses, which surveyed all agricultural businesses.

The state/territory level factsheets for the broadacre cropping, dairy, horticulture and grazing industries show trends in the adoption of practices that influence soil loss through wind and water erosion and rates of soil acidification. The data include the percentages of farmers currently using particular practices, and where reportable, the area over which these practices are used in each NRM region. Copies of these factsheets are available at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website.

Information in the factsheets does not cover all innovative practices for each industry. A spreadsheet identifying the number of agricultural businesses (farmers) in each natural resource management region and the number producing each commondity is available at the How to Apply section of theInnovation Grants part of the Caring for Our Country website.This information can be used to help estimate the likely number of farmers undertaking an innovative practice.

Question Number 4.5 What natural resource management issue(s) is your project planning to address? What is the magnitude of the issue (s)? How have the particular areas to be addressed been identified? What evidence do you have to support these claims?

Adoption Models

Adoption models should also be considered in developing the number of farming and fishing entities and area affected. This is required to achieve accuracy in setting the contribution to the five year outcomes.

There are a variety of ways to develop target numbers based on underlying assumptions and analysis methods. Some key factors that need to be considered include:

  • the practices and activities that will be promoted and/or undertaken, particularly if innovative
  • constraints to adoption in your region, and leverages opportunities to encourage to change such as introduction of new crop or pasture species, opportunity to work with a farm group that has a high level of engagement with district farmers
  • the current level of knowledge and/or capacity of the proponent and farmers/fishers
  • the risks of practice change? and possible mitigation strategies.

You should draw on national, state and local data (where available) to assist in describing the natural resource issue.

The Caring for our Country website provides a summary about each Natural Resource Management (NRM) region, including their specific NRM issues and regional plans. You will also find information below on the current state of the natural resource for a number of industries which will assist you in describing the natural resource issue.

Fisheries

The resource base refers to the overall marine environment that is essential to provide for a productive and sustainable fishery.

Aquaculture – water quality

The resource base refers to improving the quality of water within which the business operates or discharges.

Soil

The following provide information to assist you to describe the following issues in your region:

  • Map 2.6.1 - Soil pHprovides indicative locations where improving soil and land management practices to manage soil pH will provide the biggest benefits.
  • Map 2.6.2 - Soil Loss from Wind Erosion provides indicative locations where improving soil and land management practices to reduce soil loss from wind erosion will provide the biggest benefits.
  • Map 2.4.4-Indicative locations where improving soil and land management practices to reduce soil loss from hillslope (sheet and rill) erosion will provide the biggest benefits. The state trends in land management practice facts sheets for broadacre cropping, dairy and horticulture contain maps and tables identifying industry areas at risk from acidification in each natural resource management region.
  • Wind erosion histories- See long term annual dust histories map for Bureau of Meterology stations in your NRM region. Use the regional erosion map to indentify months most affected by wind erosion.

Information about the role and importance of ground cover management in reducing soil loss through wind and water erosion is availableon the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s website.

You may also wish to read the short papers to further inform your application. These papers provided information on the impacts, extent, management, and monitoring of Soil Acidification, Soil Phosphorus, Water Erosion and Wind Erosion across Australia. This information can be downloaded from the ‘How to Apply’ section of theInnovation Grants part of the Caring for our Country website.

For further information on the Condition of the Soil Resource refer to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website.

Native Vegetation

Sustainable use of native vegetation should focus on benefiting production and the environment. For example, assisting farmers adopt practices that improve productivity and increase the growth of native grasses to reduce soil erosion and the loss of soil nutrients. The Australian Government’s Biodiversity Fund helps farmers manage native vegetation on their property to improve biodiversity outcomes and protect Australia's valuable environmental places.

Weeds and PestsWeeds and pest animals contribute to land and water resource degradation and agricultural productivity loss in Australia. More effective and/or more socially acceptable methods of controlling weeds and pest animal are developed, but not always widely adopted for a variety of reasons – technical, economic or social.

Research and development is a source for innovation in weed and pest management. You are encouraged to consider the strategies and outputs of national research in these fields. A good starting point to public information on national weeds research is through the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and on national pest animal research through the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre.

While the focus for applications must be on the adoption of innovation in weed and pest management methods, you may find information on the distribution and density of weeds and pest animals in Australia useful in describing the context for your proposal. Key sources of such information include:

  • Atlas of Living Australia maps public records of weeds of national significance and provides links to further information
  • Feral.org.au provides a series of national maps showing occurrence, abundance and distribution of significant pest animals.

Agroforestry

Funding will be provided to groups to assist farmers integrate agroforestry into their farming system. The proposal should indicate how agroforestry will address one of the natural resource requirements – soil, sustainable use of native vegetation and/ or water quality.

The establishment of agroforestry is eligible where there is a very high public benefit such as protecting sheet and gully erosion which is affecting soil and water quality. As there is likely to be a private benefit in the future by producing a product for commercial sale a cost share is expected. For the establishment of agroforestry management plans are compulsory activity and will be required to outline how the agrofestry will deliver the natural resource outcomes into the future.

Thinning practices need to minimise the impact on surrounding native vegetation including the understorey of conventional plantings. The felling of significant areas of trees where the trees have been planted to address a natural resource issue must be replaced in the future. The plantings do not have to be in exactly the same species, recognising that climate, land use change and/or research might affect planting design in future years.

Question Number 4.7What does the innovation practice or technology relate to? What is the innovation and how it it proposed to address the natural resource management issue you identified above?

The proponents can choose the type of innovation that will address the outcomes in an efficient, effective and appropriate way.

Sustainable practices and systems maintain or improve Australia’s capacity to produce food and fibre while enhancing the capacity of agricultural lands to deliver other ecosystem services, such as clean air and water and healthy soils. Some example of innovative practices can be found at Attachment A.

Question Number 4.8What is the current adoption rate ofthis innovation? What evidence supports this: qualitative or qualitative?

The same data can be used to determine the contribution to the five year outcomes (Q4.2 – 4.4).

Question Number 4.8What is the expected adoption rate of this innovation at the completion of the project? How has this been estimated? What is the expected adoption rate into the future (5-10yrs)?

Adoption Models

Adoption models should also be considered in developing the number of farming and fishing entities and area affected. This is required to achieve accuracy in setting the contribution to the five year outcomes.

There are a variety of ways to develop target numbers based on underlying assumptions and analysis methods. Some key factors that need to be considered include:

  • the practices and activities that will be promoted and/or undertaken, particularly if innovative
  • constraints to adoption in your region, and leverages opportunities to encourage to change such as introduction of new crop or pasture species, opportunity to work with a farm group that has a high level of engagement with district farmers
  • the current level of knowledge and/or capacity of the proponent and farmers/fishers
  • the risks of practice change? and possible mitigation strategies.

Section Five in the application formQuestion Number 5.3 and 5.4

Explain why you have chosen these activities and how they will contribute to improvements towards each selected outcome.
What scientific, case studies or other evidence supports the technical feasibility or appropriatness of the activites selected for your proposal.
A national survey of Australian broadacre and dairy farmers was conducted in 2010 to ask about farmer motivations for adoption of sustainable farm practices, and their sources of information (ABARES, 2012, Drivers of practice change in land management in Australian agriculture). The survey asked farmers if they had adopted or considered adopting selected sustainable farm practices in grazing, cropping, and management of native vegetation and Weeds of National Significance. For broadacre and dairy farmers, adoption rates for the selected practices ranged from 23 to 59 per cent. A pilot survey of horticulture farmers was also conducted in 2010.

The surveys then asked farmers the relative importance of financial, environmental and personal motivations, and availability of support, in influencing decisions to adopt the selected practices. The results of the survey may help you in designing communication and capacity building for your project, for example considering what information to provide to farmers, and how to provide it.

Some key findings from the survey were:

  1. Most farmers consider a range of motivations in the decision to adopt a sustainable farm practice, in particular financial and natural resource management. Financial information is a key motivator for adoption of sustainable soil and land management. Personal motivations were less influential on adoption decisions relative to financial and environmental motivations. The availability of support is lower important in influencing the decision to adopt and theories suggest that people seek support once the decision to adopt is made.
  2. Desire to protect the natural resource base was a personal motivation of high importance for farmers. Farmers considered that improved soil quality, reduced soil loss, and reduced water run-off are key environmental reasons for adopting sustainable cropping and grazing practices.
  3. Lack of funds, time and workload were the main reasons why farmers did not adopt the selected practices.
  4. Extension, communication and engagement activities should include information relevant to all three motivational areas—financial, environmental and personal. For example, farmers considering adoption of land management practices would find the following information useful in their decisions:
  • potential for increased returns, reduced costs or increased land value, and other information about financial benefits of specific practices (for example, the value of native vegetation in providing shelter)
  • potential for increased soil quality, reduced run-off and soil loss and potential for improved habitat how undertaking the practice will support people’s environmental stewardship goals andprovide positive reinforcement, including being recognised by others in the community, and how the practice can support or improve lifestyle goals (other than financial).
  1. A large proportion of farmers in the broadacre and dairy sectors attended a training event in the two years prior to the survey. Field days, training courses/workshops, trials and agribusiness events were the most important sources of management practice advice, in that order. Farmers said that training events influenced them to change their management practices but the uptake varied.
  2. There is a range of methods of providing information.

More information on the 2010 surveys can be found at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website here.

Question Number 5.6
How will you monitor and evaluate the project outcomes?
Do you consider that your project will require more than 10 per cent of the funding requested for monitoring and evaluation? If so, explain why this is required and what it will achieve.
All successful applicants are required to include Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) activities that will contribute to the program evaluation. There are standard MERI requirements for each applicant.

For Innovation Grants further monitoring and evaluation activities may be required to test the outcomes of the innovation. The activities required will depend on the type of project; activities with currently very low levels of adoption are likely to require more robust evaluation.

This type of monitoring and evaluation is to ensure that the impact on the natural resource base, is understood, and adapted where necessary to avoid adverse effects and to maximise outcomes. Where existing monitoring approaches are available or have been developed, it is recommended that the project proponent use these methods. This could include engaging experts in the project to assist with monitoring and reporting.

To fund these types of monitoring and evaluation activities the budget can range up to 10 per cent of the total annual budget costs. Applicants implementing incremental innovations or to increase uptake of practices that are already widely adopted (above approximately 15-20 per cent adoption levels) are unlikely to require extra monitoring and evaluation.

Table 1 below lists examples of the types of Monitoring and Evaluation methods that you could include.

Table 1: Examples of Monitoring and Evaluation Methods

Type of outcome / Monitoring and Evaluation methods
Agriculture
Groundcover / When a farm practice aimed at improving ground cover levels is being trialled, the nationally agreed and adopted methods for monitoring ground cover should be used and data collected by regional or state agency staff trained in these techniques. This information can be found here.
Aquaculture
Water quality / Monitoring should take place at the point of discharge.
Fishing
Marine / An appropriate monitoring program would need to be in place, and would depend on the area, fish and species involved. In the case of protected species, approval from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities approval may be required.
Weeds and pests / For innovative projects where reducing the impact of weeds or pest animals is a component, the project should be continually reviewed to ensure that the approach is consistent with and supportive of any changes in environmental response, community expectation or scientific knowledge.
Pest animals:
State or territory requirements legislation for animal welfare must be adhered to and Codes of Practice for the humane treatment of a pest species must be considered. These can be found by searching
http: for ‘model code of practice’
Guidelines and principles for managing pest animals can be found here. Monitoring may also need to consider specific indicators such as
  • Pest animal activity level (dung count, direct observation)
  • Absence/low abundance of highly palatable species (or prey)
  • For palatable (prey) spp. age/stage structure skewed and some cohorts missing
  • Morellet browse index
Weeds:
A national set of 13 mandatory core, and two optional, nationally agreed attributes for surveying, mapping, monitoring and reporting the original 20 Weeds of National Significance should be used for monitoring and evaluating weed control. This information can be found here.

Section Seven in the application form

Question Number 7.1 and 7.2Please describe the private and public benefit that will be derived from this project? Please justify the budget and cash and/or in kind contributions against the level of public and private benefit outcomes.

Government funding needs to be strongly linked to providing environmental benefits for the public good (externalities) and/or market failure (including information failure). Assistance may be granted only where activities that provide a public benefit would not occur without government intervention.