A farm in the future....

Under a markets based approach to ecosystem services, the face of traditional Australian agriculture begins to change. What would a farm of the future look like if we started to invest in the services that ecosystems provide? The table below looks at the potential mix of commodities that a future farmer could take to market.

In this scenario, traditional agricultural outputs account for 50% of the total farm income. Areas of plantation, in combination with rehabilitated land, provide additional benefits through carbon credits, salinity mitigation, water filtration and biodiversity. It is interesting to note that only one of the proposed clients is the public sector - the cost sharing arrangement for salinity mitigation.

These benefits are sold to different clients in a mature market place that has defined and quantified the flows of valued services from the farm.

It is noted that, even in the absence of markets, the process of quantifying the environmental benefits associated with competing on-ground works has the potential to provide discipline into regional planning and thereby facilitation the targeting of scarce public funds.

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