ALMS – built from the ground up by landholders

Number 1, January 2005

Welcome to the first issue of ALMS newsletter. The newsletter is produced by Australian Landcare Management System Ltd to keep you up-to-date with what's happening in ALMS.

IN THIS ISSUE

• View from the chairman. Jock Douglas, Chairman of the ALMS board, outlines what ALMS has achieved so far and his vision for the future. more
• Views from the farm. How the farmer groups involved in ALMS pilots are progressing in Victoria and South Australia and what they think of the process. more
• ALMS – built from the ground up by landholders. All about ALMS and its aims. (more)
• ALMS Board. The ALMS Board has eight members, six of whom are landholders. Read about them and decisions from the last ALMS Board meeting. more
• Coordinators and facilitators. ALMS has access to a network of coordinators and facilitators in South Australia , Queensland and Victoria . You can contact any of these people to find out more about ALMS or talk about our workshop activities. more
• Peaks and troughs. A column by ALMS Executive Director, Tony Gleeson . more
• Future events. Get your diary out and note these events coming up in the ALMS diary. more
• Guide to ALMS. This recently released publication details the ins and outs of ALMS. more
• ALMS Mitchell Muster. If you're involved in ALMS then don't miss the inaugural ALMS Muster.

Landholders from four states who are involved in ALMS will gather in Mitchell , Queensland in mid March 2005, together with ALMS support people, natural resource management specialists and interested land managers. more

VIEW FROM THE CHAIRMAN
By Jock Douglas

Jock Douglas chairs the ALMS board. He looks at where ALMS is up to now and describes his vision of the future.

Why ALMS?

The 21 st Century has brought with it a sharper worldwide focus on the environment, and with it an expectation from the community that farming will not degrade or pollute natural systems and landscapes. In Australia , landcare and catchment management have provided good foundations to deliver on this expectation. The Australian Landcare Management System (ALMS) was born out of the need to build on these capabilities. For us ALMS is more effective than programs that rely mainly on pathways that lack the essential linkage to land managers.

We believe that land managers want an organisational ‘package' that:

• supports their environmental management through assessing and monitoring resource condition and reducing impacts
• provides the ability for participants to substantiate their sound management so they benefit from recognition along supply chains and for regulatory requirements
• provides linkages from landholder management through regional or catchment management to national environmental programs
• sustains and builds on the shared sense of purpose developed through landcare.

ALMS provides a systematic recorded management approach; it aligns landholder management with catchment objectives and helps achieve these objectives; and it requires support for the conservation of biodiversity. And all with an audited system that public and regulatory authorities can have confidence in. It is a concept that grew from the landcare ethos and which takes environmental management to a new level.

Where are we with ALMS?

Tools such as the Australian EMS Manual and Workbook , the myEMS software package and EMS On-line Learning have been developed to help link landholder management with catchment management. We are also working on building the ALMS brand so that it is recognised in the community.

The concept is sound (some say exceptional), but how are we going with delivery?

Implementation has begun.

ALMS is now being put into practice and further refined by more than 60 landholders in four states. Because ALMS can be applied easily beyond the typical farm, interest is also coming from a diverse range of land managers , including oyster growers, coal miners, agri-tourism managers and winery owners.

For the future we need a critical mass of members and widespread support from natural resource management agencies and industry and community organisations. We need a solid core of implementers, who need to know that they (we) are part of an active and growing organisation. The ALMS organisation needs corporate and foundation support to advance effectively through this developmental stage. 

What will success look like in 2010?

My picture of ALMS in 2010 is something like this:

• ALMS adoption is widespread and growing, and ALMS Ltd is fully operational and has over 1000 user/members.
• ALMS members are reducing their impacts and making measurable improvements in the environmental condition of paddocks, worksites, properties and landscapes
• ALMS members are recognised as environmental management leaders who are worthy of support
• ALMS is supported by corporations, Catchment Management Authorities, industry organisations and all levels of government in Australia
• the information systems used with ALMS are working well and interactive
• the story of ALMS-related environmental outcomes is known and is recognised by the public and in the marketplace, providing confidence and benefits to participants
• regulatory authorities have accepted ALMS as a sound, substantiated system of management which improves the effectiveness of natural resource management programs
• international interest is evident and increasing.

VIEWS FROM THE FARM

ALMS in Victoria
By Jim Moran

Jim is an experienced facilitator with a background in running business planning workshops for groups of farmers. He is currently managing five ALMS pilot groups in North Central Victoria salinity target areas. In this article he gives an update on how the five groups involved in a pilot project to test the ALMS workshop series are finding the process.

After a year of the project the groups have completed six sections of the Australian Environment Management System (EMS) Manual .

They have developed an environmental policy, investigated the legal requirements and catchment obligations of the farm. Each farm has also completed a comprehensive environmental review that included identifying any impacts the farm's activities are having on the surrounding environment. Armed with this information, they have developed objectives, targets and action plans for priority issues on the farm, with the aim of continual improvement. All of this is in accordance with ISO 14001, the international standard for EMS .

Progress has been steady but with the release of myEMS , a web based software program, everyone is expecting that they will be able to quickly complete their farm's ALMS plan by June this year.

In 2004 each farmer group had monthly meetings. These meetings included practical exercises about resource monitoring, robust discussion about all things EMS , a meal and enthusiastic work on the next chapter in the EMS Manual . Some of the practical activities included monitoring a farm's biodiversity, soil physical properties, soil fertility and management, lucerne management, risk management, farm succession planning and a detailed self assessment questionnaire.

Following is a rundown on each group.

Natte Yallock and Redbank. These groups are made up of progressive grain, wool and lamb producers who are very active in landcare and projects aimed at lowering the watertable, revegetating the landscape, planting deep-rooted perennials, improving the quality of rivers and streams, reducing the burden of weeds, stopping and repairing erosion.

Pental Hills and Glenloth. These are the two most northerly pilot groups located either side of Charlton. Production of grain is the big activity, with wool and lambs fitting in with rotations. The climate here is dry and landholders are ever conscious of maintaining groundcover in paddocks and lowering the watertable below ground.

Timor West. This group is also highly active in landcare and government-funded projects for landscape protection and repair. They are a mixed bag of producers growing grain, wool, lambs, grapes, goats and native tree seedlings.

Members of the Timor West group participate in a hands-on experience during a soils workshop.

While the groups obviously have their differences, the one thing they do have in common is a commitment to ALMS and learning about EMS as a way of ensuring the sustainable operation of their enterprises.

Members are all busy now with harvest and will meet again in February. There will be one-on-one meetings in late January to get everybody up-to-speed with m yEMS and have all their EMS information on the system. We expect to complete all the requirements of the EMS standard ISO 14001 and start doing peer audits by June 2005.

By then we hope that more has been done to encourage the large bulk handlers to reward their commodity suppliers using an EMS . There is a groundswell of support for EMS in Victoria from leading farmers and farmer organisations. Many have joined ALMS. This bodes well for the future of EMS , farming, the environment and rural communities.

ALMS in South Australia
By Bruce Munday

In SA the ALMS pilot is being run by the Eastern Hills and Murray Plains Catchment Group (EH&MPCG). As the name suggests, this catchment takes in higher rainfall hills country supporting mainly grazing but also vineyards and farm forestry, mixed farming in the medium rainfall zone, and mainly dryland cropping with some sheep and intensive industries on the plains.

Like the Victorians, we have based our workshops around the Australian EMS Manual , more or less chapter by chapter, with most participants now into action planning.

We began with about 30 landholders representing the full range of industries across the catchment. Along the way we have lost some and the EH&MPCG steering committee has spent a fair bit of time analysing why and what we might have done differently. It seldom comes down to a single factor but, on reflection, it seems that we would have been better to compress the training into a much shorter timeframe – get it over and done with so that participants could move on to implementation.

Our group is generally comfortable with the ISO14001 direction, although the rigour called for does appear daunting. However, the myEMS software looks extremely encouraging and might represent a major breakthrough in what looked to be a looming paper jungle.

One of the issues we have been particularly concerned about is the potential to incorporate QA programs, such as Cattlecare and Flockcare, into EMS . Given the relative lack of tangible benefits emerging from these QA programs, our landholders have been nervous about embarking on another set of record keeping on top of what they already find somewhat unrewarding. Again, myEMS might be a very powerful way of meeting this aim.

As with most new ventures, this one has had its challenges. On one hand, getting our heads around proper definitions of Activities, Aspects and Impacts and whether it matters has been one such. On the other hand, being at the leading edge of a movement that is breaking new ground is exciting. More contact with other groups going through the same pain would be good – maybe this newsletter will be the inspiration.

If we had our time over again we would certainly do things differently, but then that's what pilots are about.

ALMS - BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP BY LANDHOLDERS

ALMS Ltd is a not-for-profit company established in 2002 by landholders for landholders.

ALMS is a whole-of-farm management system that encompasses all enterprises while at the same time recognising that each enterprise has different needs. It works in partnership with industry, catchment, government and community organisations to help improve environmental management that delivers benefits to both land managers and the broader community. A key aspect of ALMS is that it recognises and provides rewards to participating landholders.

ALMS has adopted ISO 14001 as a way of offering an internationally recognised, continuous improvement system for environmental management. ALMS uses several tools to help landholders. These tools include:

• shared personal knowledge and experience
• the Australian EMS Manual and Workbook
• Landholder Monitoring Guide
• myEMS software and online learning.

ALMS is managed by a board, and a network of facilitators run workshops and provide ongoing support to participating landholders, groups and organisations.

The ALMS board, which oversees the operation of the company, has eight members, six of whom are landholders.

The chairman is Jock Douglas , AO. Jock is a pastoralist-horticulturalist whose previous experience as Chairman of the Queensland Landcare Council and Executive Member of both the National Farmers Federation and Cattle Council of Australia ensure he is well equipped for the task.

Drew English has owned and operated farming properties in Victoria . Drew chaired North Central Catchment Management Authority (Victoria), was a local government councillor and commissioner, and is a former member of the MDBC Community Advisory Committee and of the Australian Landcare Council. He now manages the ACT/SE NSW office for Conservation Volunteers Australia.

Executive Director, Tony Gleeson , is a contract researcher specialising in rural research, political analysis and policy development. He has owned and managed beef cattle properties since the mid 1970s.

Ian McClelland is the Inaugural Chair of Birchip Cropping Group, runs a mixed farm enterprise and is an honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of Land and Food Resources – Crop Production, Melbourne University

Our South Australia connection is Bruce Munday , beef cattle producer with 15 years experience with Landcare and communications consultant in natural resource management. Bruce is currently the Chair of the Landcare Association of South Australia.

Jenny O'Sullivan is the Chair and director of beef marketing group, Gippsland Natural, a director of Working with People, a beef and lamb producer and very involved in innovation, motivation and education.

Geoff Penton , who has worked in landcare since 1989, is currently manager of planning and implementation for the Queensland Murray Darling Committee and Chairman of the Queensland Landcare Association.

Nelson Quinn is the Chair of the Murrumbidgee Landcare Association, a director of Southern Tablelands Olives Pty Ltd, an experienced policy analyst and a mixed enterprise farmer.

Board contacts

Jock Douglas , phone 07 4626 8100; desertlimes@bigpond.com

Drew English, phone 02 6247 7770, denglish@cva.org.au

Tony Gleeson , phone 07 3744 2370, syncons@ozemail.com.au

Ian McClelland, phone 03 5077 2217; awmcclelland@bigpond.com

Bruce Munday, phone 08 8538 7075; brucem42@bigpond.com

Jenny O'Sullivan, phone 03 5663 2386; osulliva@dcsi.net.au

Geoff Penton, phone 07 4637 6276; g.penton@landcare.org.au

Nelson Quinn, phone 02 6230 2372; aranmohr@rbbs.net.au

BOARD NEWS

The ALMS board met for its sixth meeting via teleconference in December 2004. Board members reaffirmed their support for the principles and design features of ALMS with most discussion focused on how to keep the infant ALMS afloat. The board noted that there is a need to progress existing ALMS implementation activities with determination and that several new ALMS groups are likely to begin in the first half of 2005.

Resolutions

• To accept the recommendations of an external evaluation of board activities: that is, for the board to be more active in setting direction and in supporting ALMS activities.
• To seek the views of ALMS facilitators through a similar evaluation process.
• To continue to waive ALMS membership fees until the end of June 2005.
• To require all ALMS supported workshop participants to be ALMS members.
• To buy a myEMS software licence for use by existing ALMS pilot participants in Victoria and South Australia , with other myEMS requirements to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The next meeting will be Friday 28 January 2005 . Board members would be pleased to hear from anyone with suggestions for consideration or with any feedback about ALMS.

INTRODUCING OUR ALMS COORDINATORS AND FACILITATORS

ALMS has access to a network of coordinators and facilitators in South Australia , Queensland and Victoria . You can contact any of these people to find out more about ALMS or talk about our workshop activities.

South Australia

Steve Coombe is a Catchment Group Project Officer with the Eastern Hills & Murray Plains Catchment Group. You can contact Steve on phone 08 8531 2077.

Kerri Muller is a Senior Project Officer with the River Murray Catchment Water Management Board. Contact Kerri on phone 08 8536 8125 or email kmuller@rivermurray.sa.gov.au

Queensland

Peter C rawford is co-author of Australian EMS Workbook. He is also an ALMS/EMS facilitator and EMS auditor. You can contact Peter on phone 07 4691 1499 or on email nedlandcare@bigpond.com

Gavin Graham is an ALMS workshop facilitator based in the Fitzroy Basin . He is also a Beef Extension Officer with QDPI. Gavin's phone is 07 4936 0336 and email is gavin.graham@dpi.qld.gov.au

Darren Marshall works with the ALMS Implementation in QMDB Project, and is an EMS auditor. Contact him on phone 07 4661 0232 or email Darren.Marshall@nrm.qld.gov.au

Victoria

Jim Moran is an experienced ALMS facilitator who works with the Department of Primary Industries at Bendigo . You can contact Jim on phone 03 5430 4479, mobile 0418 377 930 or email Jim.Moran@dpi.vic.gov.au

Caption. ALMS members learn to use myEMS , web-based software developed to help with the development and auditing of ISO 14001 compliant management systems.

PEAKS AND TROUGHS
By Tony Gleeson , Executive Director

‘Peaks and Troughs' was the title of a newsletter I wrote in the 1970s. Now, some thirty years later it strikes me as apt for ALMS in its infancy.

The infant ALMS has many of the features of the newborn—lots of potential but heavily reliant on a nurturing environment.

ALMS is designed to help land managers improve environmental management and to enable land managers to get recognition for their efforts. This aim is well aligned to the beliefs and values of good land managers. It also makes good business sense because it helps improve land management and asset values. And it is good public policy because it integrates activities and resources to meet the needs of individual land mangers and of communities more broadly.

Because ALMS is based on establishing a management system rather than imposing particular management practices or outcome standards, it caters for different environments and the differing capabilities of land managers. This is one reason that ALMS enables and supports innovation; it avoids the “one-size-fits-all” approach of best practice models.

ALMS is designed to be credible. It complies with the internationally accepted ISO 14001 set of standards for environmental management, involves continuous support for biodiversity conservation, and has established auditing processes for use by accredited auditors.

Implementing ALMS adds value, it differentiates, and it places the land manager in a competitive position. ALMS is designed to balance effort and benefit and is driven by the belief that excellence should be rewarded.

ALMS rejects the proposition that land managers will be adequately rewarded for adopting other than internationally recognised and certified management systems. Additionally ALMS rejects the commonly held proposition that ISO 14001 compliant continuous improvement cycles are too difficult for land managers to implement.

Most of ALMS' effort so far has been to ‘ease the implementation pain'.

ALMS played a central role in the development of the Australian EMS Manual and Workbook . We have recently completed a Handbook for ALMS Facilitators and courses to enable accreditation of ALMS facilitators and auditors will progress through 2005.

We have bought a licence so that land manager members involved in the Victorian and South Australian ALMS pilot projects can use myEMS , a web-based software program that helps with the development and auditing of ISO 14001 compliant management systems.

These are all valuable, practical outcomes for ALMS and our members, but we are certainly not resting on these achievements. We'll be working with you and community, industry and government organisations to further develop the ALMS management system.

Every year is a critical one for the developing infant that is ALMS, and 2005 will be no exception. ALMS and ALMS people need your involvement and support.

FUTURE EVENTS

• ALMS Board Meeting 28 th January 2005
• Abstracts due for EMS Conference 15 th February 2005
• ALMS Muster 15 th and 16 th March 2005
• National EMS Pilot Forum 21 st March to 23 rd March 2005
• EMS Conference 17 th October to 20 th October 2005 www.cdesign.com.au/ems2005 .

GUIDE TO ALMS

A comprehensive Guide to ALMS including membership registration forms is available from the ALMS Secretariat, ALMS board members and facilitators. You can also view it on the ALMS website www.alms.org.au

If you would like to receive more information about ALMS, please contact any of the ALMS board members, facilitators or the ALMS Secretariat at:

PO Box 3746, South Brisbane , QLD, 4101

Telephone: 07 3844 2370, Email: syncons@ozemail.com.au ,

Web: www.alms.org.au

SUBSCRIBE

To subscribe electronically to the ALMS newsletter type "Subscribe ALMS " in the subject line of an email and send it to syncons@ozemail.com.au . To receive a printed copy write to ALMS Secretariat, PO Box 3746, South Brisbane, QLD, 4101 or phone 07 3844 2370.

UNSUBSCRIBE

To unsubscribe to this newsletter type "Unsubscribe ALMS" in the subject line of an email and send to syncons@ozemail.com.au

ALMS Mitchell Muster

15 & 16 March 2005 

If you're involved in the Australian Landcare Management System (ALMS) then the inaugural ALMS Muster is an event too good to miss.

Landholders from four states who are involved in ALMS will gather in Mitchell , Queensland in mid March 2005, together with ALMS support people, natural resource management specialists and interested land managers. Media representatives will also be invited and welcomed.

What's on the agenda?

The Muster will provide all participants with an update on ALMS developments.

It will provide a forum to exchange views on differing management needs and perspectives and to discuss what we have learned to date.

It will be a celebration of the beginning of ALMS Ltd as an organisation which assists its members to improve their environmental management and achieve recognition for it.

It will introduce natural resource policy people and media representatives to the ability of ALMS to deliver environmental outcomes.

There will also be:

• Progress reports from landholder ALMS pilot groups in Queensland , South Australia and Victoria
• An overview of the development of ALMS Ltd as a membership-based, not-for-profit organisation, as well as its membership categories and management.
• Demonstration of the myEMS software package as an easy-to-use landholder management tool that can link with catchments and industry organisations' management systems.

Once you have downloaded the form, print it out and post to

JULIA TELFORD, PO BOX 94 , MITCHELL, QLD, 4465.

There is limited funding available to assist participants. If you are a participant in an existing ALMS pilot trial
please discuss funding assistance with your ALMS facilitator. Otherwise, if you wish to be considered for funding
assistance please indicate the estimated cost of your travel to Mitchell. The cost of accommodation,
food and venue will be about $340 per person. Funding assistance will be provided on the basis of invoices
submitted after the Muster or by way of subsidised accommodation.