Record attendance for Accelerated Grazing BMP program

Posted on October 30th, 2015

Record participant numbers at recent Accelerated Grazing Best Management Practices (Grazing BMP) workshops in central Queensland have shown that the innovative program is continuing to gain momentum in the industry.
Fitzroy Basin Association Inc. (FBA) Grazing BMP Coordinator Peter Long said 20 grazing enterprises attended an accelerated workshop in Theodore this month, and a further 26 enterprises — with a total of 45 people attended a workshop held at Alton Downs the same week.
“It proves to us that not only is there a need for training within the industry, but the region’s graziers are motivated to benchmark their business practices against industry standards and identify where they can make improvements, especially in an accelerated format that takes the needs of busy graziers into consideration,” he said.
Mr Long said Grazing BMP is a voluntary program developed in partnership between AgForce, FBA and Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and is funded by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection and the Australian Government to support ongoing reef water quality improvements.
In March last year, just nine months since the program’s launch in the Fitzroy Basin and North Queensland Dry Tropics regions, the program reached an important milestone with 100 grazing enterprises having completed all five modules and that total has grown to over 450 graziers in the 18 months since.
“Over 1,200 grazing enterprises have participated in the program, completing at least one module as it expands across the state to include Burnett Mary and South East Queensland regions,” said Mr Long.
“By continuing to demonstrate the industry’s strong take-up of the voluntary program, combined with the strong satisfaction from program participants, we aim to avoid the need for regulation and green tape.”
Grazing BMP consists of five modules: Animal Health and Welfare, Animal Production, Grazing Land Management, Soil Health and People and Business.
“Grazing BMP has 157 standards and covers all aspects of the grazing business and it is important that graziers complete all modules to maximise the benefits to their businesses and land management,” said Mr Long.
For upcoming Grazing BMP dates visit www.fba.org.au/calendar or www.bmpgrazing.com.au