The Rangeland Journal Lecture Series 2012

THE RANGELAND JOURNAL 2012 LECTURE SERIES

This special lecture series marked the visit to Australia by Professor John Milne, the new editor of The Rangeland Journal, an international journal which publishes original articles about managing natural resources, improving remote living and sustaining businesses in unpredictable and harsh environments, especial in arid regions.

Structural change in UK pastoral agriculture: what is the end-game?

Time: 4.00 – 5.00 pm

Date: Friday, 21 September 2012

Location: UWA Agriculture Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Dr John Milne, Editor-in Chief, The Rangeland Journal, Hon. Professor, University of Aberdeen, Scotland

While the structure of pastoral agriculture in the UK underwent little change for several decades, the past ten years have seen considerable shifts in the patterns of land use and land management practices in the UK, driven mainly by changes in the European Union Common Agricultural Policy, climate change policy in the UK, and wider economic and world food price issues. Prof Milne’s lecture describes these changes and their causes with particular reference to Scotland and its multi-faceted and increasingly complex (and sometimes contradictory) land use policy.

As the drivers for change continue to evolve and changes will continue to occur, the need to resolve potential conflicts and offer options for future land use becomes increasingly important. Prof Milne’s lecture explores how the future of pastoral agriculture may develop under different policy scenarios to meet (competing) societal demands.

Professor John Milne is the Editor-in-Chief of The Rangeland Journal with a research career and over  100 publications on the subject of pasture-animal interactions, with a particular focus on rangeland systems in Europe. Besides leading research groups for twenty years, he has acted as a consultant on policy-related rangelands issues in many temperate and semi-arid regions of the world. He was the Deputy Director of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute for ten years until 2004 and was awarded an MBE in 2003. More recently, he has been an Honorary Professor at the University of Aberdeen, contributing to teaching on rangeland issues, and Chairman of the Deer Commission for Scotland, a Scottish Government wildlife organisation, for seven years.

 

Empowering the Rangelands: Developing partnerships between science, industry and government through wild dog management

Time: 10:15 am

Date: Tues 2 October 2012

Location: Lecture Theatre, Goodman Building, Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Hackney Road, Adelaide

Speaker: Heather Miller

Heather has been either living, working or socialising in the Rangelands of SA since 1979. In 2008 she began working for the SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board (now DEWNR) and has the responsibility for wild dog/dingo management across two broad areas in the SA arid land region. South of the Dog Fence, where the wild dog/dingo is a declared pest, a landholder-initiated project entitled “Biteback” focuses on dingo control and management. North of the Dog Fence, where the dingo is a legitimate wildlife species, Heather is managing a research project looking at the effect 1080 baiting has on stock loss and biodiversity.

Although there has been (and still is) some excellent research, science and evidence coming out of the Rangelands, there remains the problem of how to incorporate that knowledge and understanding into either on-ground management or through policies at a higher level. Incorporating that knowledge at any level requires a change in the culture, which not only takes willing participants but also takes time.

How is the ‘need to change’ created?

Two wild dog / dingo management projects operating in the arid lands region of SA are “crossing the divide” between research, science, landholders and government. These projects are successfully encompassing all these partnerships and are witnessing a cultural change at all levels.