Catchment information

Catchments name
Hawkesbury-Nepean
Hunter-Central Rivers

Map of catchment areas
Hawkesbury-Nepean

Overview of region

• The horticultural activity of the Central Coast occurs across different catchments. The majority of farms are located within the Hawkesbury River catchment and the NRM region administered by the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority (HN CMA).
• The remaining farms are located within the Brisbane Water and Tuggerah Lake catchments and the NRM region administered by the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority (H-CR CMA).
• The Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment cradles Sydney, supplying the city and surrounding regions with food, water and other resources.
• The river flows 470 kilometres (from south of Goulburn near Lake Bathurst to Broken Bay), making it the longest coastal catchment in NSW. Along its course the river drains 21,400 square kilometres, or 2.14 million hectares, of land.
• The Hunter-Central Rivers catchment covers 37,000 square kilometres of the east coast of NSW—from Taree in the north, to Gosford and the coastal waterways of the Central Coast in the south, and from Newcastle in the east to the Merriwa Plateau and Great Dividing Range in the west.
• The region’s major waterways are the Manning, Karuah and Hunter rivers and the coastal waterways of Wallis Lake, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Tuggerah Lakes and Brisbane Waters.
  
  

Horticulture industry in region

• The Central Coast is close to the Sydney Markets and Sydney Airport, and is increasingly attracting horticulturalists relocating from the growing areas on the outskirts of Sydney.
• Horticulture, with an annual production valued at around $65 million, is a significant economic activity within the district, as shown in the table below.
• Horticultural enterprises on the Central Coast can be characterised as falling within three types:
• Tree crops, which are commonly contained within grassed areas, and which may be considered relatively benign in environmental terms
• Controlled crops, which are protected by greenhouses and provide the opportunity for control of production inputs and outputs
• Field crops, which involve cultivation and soil disturbance

Incentives for region
None identified in region

Case study of horticulture in Hawkesbury-Nepean / Hunter-Central Rivers

Project title / summary

• Horticulture for Tomorrow Natural Resource Management Initiative - Central Coast Pilot project
  

Project authors

• Col Freeman (Landscape and Environmental Services)
• Joseph Ekman (NSW Department of Primary Industries)
• Tony Wells (NSW Department of Primary Industries)
  

Objectives of project

• Establish links between the producers who participated in the farm planning workshops and the staff of the Catchment Management Authorities (CMA).
• Establish a working relationship between producers and the CMAs to deal cooperatively between individual growers and CMA staff, and between CMA Board members and the producers in general).
• Link producers with the CMA to create an understanding of each other’s issues and aspirations regards environmental management, and a working relationship to deal cooperatively with each other on these issues
• Identify environmental issues with growers and their control methods in horticultural production, and the extent of grower’ awareness of these
• Trial and evaluate the Targets For Change process for linking farm environmental management to regional targets and incentives
• Analyse and evaluate current programs for environmental management and identify grower needs and the opportunities for improved programs and support (i.e. funding).
• Explore the practicalities of adoption of changed environmental management practices and the support required.
• Gain an understanding of regional producer awareness, views, concerns, practices and aspirations in regards to farm environmental management and regional natural resource management
• Collect basic information on horticultural production within the region

Methodology

• The elements of the pilot project designed to meet these objectives are:
• A survey of producers
• A facilitated workshop process to produce Farm Environmental Action Plans
• The instigation of a water quality monitoring program
• A Regional Study.
  
• Nine growers participated in the Targets for Change workshop series. One producer did not complete the final step in producing a Farm Environmental Action Plan. The reasons cited for this were that current management did not lead to significant environmental impacts, and in the absence of any imperatives or incentives to change current practices (or to record them), there was no benefit to the producer in completing a plan.
• Two on-farm automatic water sampling sites were set-up as part of the Central Coast NRM Initiative project. They were targeted to specific nutrient pollution risks highlighted by an on-going farm and catchment water monitoring project in the region. 
• A survey was conducted which aimed to provide an understanding of the awareness, views, concerns, practices and aspirations of local producers regarding environmental issues and farm management.
• The survey was delivered to the mailboxes of 420 people thought by the mail delivery contractors to horticultural producers. A total of 19 completed surveys (i.e. less than 5%) were returned, the results of which are included in the full report.
  

Recommendations
Key recommendations for Horticulture Australia Limited from this pilot project are:

• There is an opportunity for the promotion, at federal and regional levels, of the concept of linking support and incentives for natural resource management to farm environmental planning, such as occurs in the Targets for Change process.
• HAL should suggest to the Australian Government that the importance of diffuse sustainable agriculture outcomes to realisation of Matters for Target be more directly recognised in regional plans and strategies, and more directly supported through an enhancement of the National Landcare Program.

Key recommendations for the Catchment Management Authorities are:

• Collaborative programs embracing “good extension” will increase the currently low levels of producer awareness of and participation in regional planning and implementation processes.
• CMAs should support collaborative programs which integrate three types of activities: measures and monitoring of social and bio-physical condition within the catchment and farm contributions to resource condition; trial and demonstration of desirable practices and methods; and farm planning programs reinforced by incentives.
• NSW Department of Primary Industries staff should be intimately involved in the design      and delivery of such programs.
• The Targets for Change process is a proven method for engaging producers in farm environmental management planning and action, and should be used as a tool for promoting sustainable agriculture and natural resource outcomes.

Key recommendation for NSW Department of Primary Industries is:

• DPI research and extension staff should facilitate meetings with CMA project and extension staff to improve understanding of each other’s aspirations and activities, so as to provide an improved service to horticulture producers.

Key recommendation for growers:

• Support and assistance via regional bodies for projects and programs involving practice change within the horticulture industry are more likely to be provided if industry pro-actively identifies its needs and the appropriate activities to address them.

A suggestion for all:

• Good extension practice is essential for the design and implementation of successful programs which aim to engage farmers in changed environmental, natural resource management, and agricultural practice.