Native pasture and the farmer's choice—evaluation of management and sowing options

Abstract

Interest in the role of native pasture in production, land protection, and conservation is growing. Native pasture is often complementary to high-input pasture based on introduced perennial grasses, and both fit into a larger whole-farm and farm-family context. This paper presents several wide-ranging propositions which help frame this context in which farmers make decisions about native pasture, and in which budgetary analysis can play a useful role. A case study, based on south-western Victoria, evaluates the profitability of retaining native pasture or replacing it (or rundown pasture) by sowing an introduced perennial pasture. The paper also evaluates sowing native pasture where it is not present. It is concluded for south-western Victoria that sowing introduced perennial pasture is likely to be most profitable, but that retaining remaining areas of native pasture will leave farmers at least as well off in the long term. Sowing native pasture may have a niche role, as seed prices fall. Results are likely to differ when the approach is applied in other regions. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.