Estimating the economic implications for grazing properties in the Mackay Whitsunday catchments of practice changes to more sustainable landscapes

In the Mackay Whitsunday region, the dominant grazing based operations are small intensivesystems that heavily utilise soil, nutrient and chemical management practices. To improve waterquality entering the Great Barrier Reef, graziers are being encouraged to adopt improvedmanagement practices. However, while there is good understanding of the management changesrequired to reach improved practice classification levels, there is poor understanding of the likelyeconomic implications for a grazier seeking to move from a lower level classification to the higherlevel classifications. This paper provides analysis of the costs and benefits associated withadoption of intensive grazing best management practices to determine the effect on the profitabilityand economic sustainability of grazing enterprises, and the economic viability of capital investmentto achieve best management. The results indicate that financial incentives are likely to be requiredto encourage smaller graziers to invest in changing their management practices, while largergraziers may only require incentives to balance the risk involved with the transition to bettermanagement practices.