Long term outlook rewards environment

The fifth generation of his family to farm Keyneston, Joe Keynes knows the importance of managing his property sustainably. He has a long history of careful environmental management and is keen to see a proper system in place to reward farmers for doing this kind of work.

Key points

• Joe advocates an officially recognised system of environmental accreditation so that farmers can be rewarded for their environmental work and consumers are aware of the work being done
• Joe is running drought lots for sheep and cattle, using rotational grazing and is reducing stocking rates to improve the environmental sustainability of his property
• The 2002 winner of the National Landcare Program Individual Landcare Award, Joe has a long history of caring for the environment. He is involved in numerous natural resource management organisations and is ALMS accredited

A long history

Joe Keynes knows better than most the need to manage his property for the long term. Joe is the fifth generation to farm Keyneton, the South Australian enterprise first set up by his namesake, Joseph Keynes, in the mid-nineteenth century. And his eldest daughter Georgie, 25, is set to become the sixth generation when she returns to the family property next year.

"My family has a long-standing dedicated relationship with this property and we are not going to destroy this land for the next generation," says Joe.

Since the original Joseph Keynes arrived in the region as a pioneer from England, farming methods have changed significantly. But it seems - in some ways - management strategies on Keyneton have come full circle. When this first Joseph Keynes arrived he used shepherds to manage his flock. Even today the ruins of those shepherds can be seen dotted around the 6800-hectare property. Joe says that while those shepherds are long gone, the system that he and his brother Graham are implementing on their property has a lot in common with this old style of managing sheep.

"The shepherds were probably working on a rotational grazing system anyway. They'd go where the grass was freshest."

The original Joseph Keynes also set about subdividing his property, building stone walls to set up a grazing and stud sheep operation. This is a process that has been built on by later generations. "Then they started going towards the old wire, and I guess my grandfather and father continued the subdivision using split posts and wire." Since Joe and Graham took over 30 years ago, they have started using electrical fences to facilitate rotational grazing for their 5000 ewes and 200 Angus cattle. Joe and Graham, meanwhile, are using rotational grazing to place greater pressure on annual species, helping to increase feed produced over the whole year through a greater percentage of perennial-based pasture.

Through this style of grazing, and also through fencing areas off, they are building up native pastures on the property. In this, too, they have had help from their forebears.

"The property has always been run conservatively: this means our native grasses - our perennial natives in the hills - are still quite robust." Joe says his father embarked on improved pastures and started using clovers and phalaris but had struggled with this at the time. "Now we understand that constant grazing - or set stocking - is actually an inhibitor to perennial grasses persisting."

By building, then, on their father's efforts to renovate pastures, Joe and Graham have been able to largely overcome this problem. The brothers have also continued their father's work on pasture renovation. Joe says they are grateful for the work he had done on building super phosphorous levels.

History of environmental management

Georgie's return places an extra emphasis on managing the property sustainably. But it's a focus both Joe and Graham have had for many years.

He is a former member of the Soil Conservation Council and River Murray Catchment Water Management Board and sits on the SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board.

He is also a member of the Australian Land Management Group and is active in his local North Rhine sheep group.

Joe became heavily involved in Landcare in South Australia, winning the National Landcare Program Individual Landcare Award in 2002, and has also taken part in other initiatives such as ProGraze.

It is through these outside involvements and the chance to see work being carried out on other farms that Joe has been able to reflect on the need for environmental management strategies.

"That gave me the knowledge and understanding that we have to look after our farm, too."

Three years ago, Joe and Graham became involved in a Howard Government and Murray-Darling Basin natural resource management initiative called Bush Bids.

Through the scheme, an adviser looked at and scored the quality of native vegetation on properties and comes up with management strategies for these.

The farmers were then required to calculate how much this would cost and put in a Bush Bid.

Each property was ranked and anything above a certain ranking won its bid to receive stewardship payments for the following 10 years.

There are now three different projects on Keyneton as a result of this, although Joe said that the incredibly dry conditions they had experienced since then made the differences hard to see as yet.

Changing with the climate

Despite the difficulties, however, Joe says farmers have to understand that climate change is real. Climate variability, he says, has always been part of farming in Australia and this was only going to get worse.

"That seasonal variability is going to continue. That's going to be a challenge for Australian farmers to manage that in a better way."

Joe and Graham have made a number of management decisions based on the inevitability of warmer temperatures and longer dry periods.

"We've actually reduced our stocking rate and set up drought lots and those sorts of things."

The drought lots were purpose-built for both sheep and cattle on Keyneton, and prevent livestock destroying pastures and using up energy walking for fodder.

The pair is also in the final stages of having a wind farm development on their property approved.

Joe says, if successful, the wind farm promises to provide a number of benefits. Using their wind resource effectively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was one, while the financial rewards another.

But he says the major attraction of having a wind farm is that it will allow stock numbers to be reduced whilst still enabling the business to meet its financial responsibilities.

"What it means to me is that we can run our property a bit more conservatively, knowing we have a base income."

Joe and Graham are also looking at setting in place clear triggers for when they sell different classes of livestock.

"So if it hasn't rained by a particular day then they're gone."

Joe says it was about making decisions and sticking to them. "If you make a decision fairly early, it's usually the right one.

"You can't just say it's going to rain next week."

This is a strategy that the Keynes are using this Spring. "We've had a reasonable season, but our seasonal outlook is for a drier than average Spring."

As a result of this prediction, they are aiming for about 5000 ewes this year, down from the historical average of 6000.

Joe says this way they'll know they have adequate feed and if they end up with a surplus it would hardly be wasted.

Accreditation inevitable

Looking to the future, Joe believes a system for recognising good environmental management in agriculture is essential.

Joe is accredited by Australia's only whole-of-farm catchment-linked certification system for land management, Australian Landcare Management System (ALMS).

But he says there is little incentive to gain extra accreditation through the environmental management systems available at the moment.

"We can go down that IS0 14,000 track and get accreditation but there is no reward or recognition."

This needed to be done using objective measurements, he says, which will enhance farm viability and ensure these actions are valued by the community.

"That means some of kind of system, unfortunately, but that's what we've got to do."

Through this, Australian farmers can demonstrate to the market that they are responsible and they can make long term plans on their property.

Managing for the next generation

And it's long term plans which are essential on Keyneton as the property sets to pass into its sixth generation of the Keynes family.

Georgie studied agricultural science at University and has worked at the Department of Primary Industries. She is now working on a Natural Resource Management board and has started attending farm meetings on Keyneton.

Joe says it is too early to tell whether Georgie had different ideas about the way Keyneton should be run, although she has already expressed a desire to introduce alpacas.

Either way, Joe expects to take a back seat in future. "My ideal is that she'll do the running and I'll be an adviser."

Not surprisingly given the long-term family investment in Keyneton, Joe is pleased to that the farm is set to stay in the family.

"There'll be a challenge in succession but I'm looking forward to that challenge, to facilitate that next generation getting a viable return."