Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture in Western Australia

Page last updated: Tuesday, 19 April 2022 - 11:11am

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

The Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture: status and trend in the agricultural areas of the south-west of Western Australia was produced by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in 2013 to document the status and trend in condition of the natural resources that support agriculture.

Western Australian agriculture had made progress in some areas, such as managing wind and water erosion, but the status and trend in many indicators of resource condition worsened.

Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture

Western Australian agriculture had made progress in some areas, such as managing wind and water erosion, but the status and trend in many indicators of resource condition had worsened in the period under review.

The report card summarised the status (condition or hazard indicator level) and trend of 10 natural resource themes affecting the agricultural resource base in the agricultural areas of the south-west of Western Australia (excluding native vegetation and reserves) in 2013.

The condition of our natural resources is a complex interaction of numerous processes, driven by 3 primary factors: climate, land characteristics and land management.

Land managers have no influence on climate, little influence on land characteristics, and considerable control over the impacts of land management practices.

This report deals with the 10 natural resource themes individually (for example, soil acidity, salinity and water repellence). However, the processes within each of these themes are often linked to other themes. This means that acting on one theme is likely to affect other themes – all part of one system – and this may be a positive or negative affect.

We recommend that you also read the companion report to this Report card, which includes management options for each theme and a relative rating of the investment characteristics of each theme.

This report:

  • summarises the status and trend in condition and key messages, at an individual resource theme level and regional level
  • describes the process for determining condition, risk and trend
  • highlights factors which affect sustainable use of this resource
  • discusses the implications of these findings on the agricultural industries
  • provides recommended actions where appropriate.

The report can be downloaded as separate chapters or as the full report from the top of this page.

Contents

Acknowledgements (PDF 39 kB)

Summary (PDF 930kB)

Section 1. Introduction (PDF 2.3MB) 

Section 2. Natural resource themes

2.1 Soil acidity (PDF 3.8MB)
2.2 Wind erosion (PDF 3.3MB)
2.3 Water erosion (PDF 4.5MB)
2.4 Soil organic carbon (PDF 2MB)
2.5 Soil compaction (PDF 1.6MB)
2.6 Water repellence (PDF 2.3MB)
2.7 Dryland salinity (PDF 2.6MB)
2.8 Nutrient status (phosphorus) (PDF 1.5MB)
2.9 Nutrient export (phosphorus) (PDF 1.3MB)
2.10 Acidification of inland waterways (PDF 1.6MB)

Section 3. Concluding discussion (PDF 350kB) and Appendix (PDF 1MB)

Download full Report Card (PDF 33.6 MB)

Acknowledgements

Significant contributions to this report have also been made by the University of Western Australia and Precision SoilTech. Their support is gratefully acknowledged.

Contact information

Tim Overheu
+61 (0)8 9892 8533
John Simons
+61 (0)8 9083 1128
Paul Galloway
+61 (0)8 9083 1127