Achieving profitable and environmentally beneficial grazing systems for saline land in Australia

This paper reports some of the findings from a 4 year multidisciplinary on-farm study examining Atriplex (saltbush) based pastures growing on land affected by secondary salinity for biomass growth and nutritive value, plant agronomy, sheep production, whole-farm economics, hydrology and biodiversity. Our aim was to develop options for livestock production from saline land that are profitable and reduce negative environmental and social impacts from salinisation. We found that revegetation of saline land with saltbushes and annual legumes has the potential to quadruple animal carrying capacity during the autumn, lessening the impact of relatively poor seasons and reduce moisture within soil profiles leading to slower groundwater recharge. Revegetation of the saline parts of a farm increased profits however economic returns decreased as the degree of salinity increased. The outcomes from this study are exciting as they suggest that profitability and positive environmental outcomes can be achieved concurrently and strongly support the use of on-farm multidisciplinary research approaches for the development of new grazing systems in marginal landscapes.