ABOUT ALMCS

Why do industry organisations invest in ALMCS?

The ALM Group understands that the best way of improving environmental outcomes in rural Australia is to have a system that allows landholders and land managers to show their customers here and overseas, as well as the general community, that they are responsible land managers.

This is exactly what ALMCS does. ALMCS is a continuous improvement environmental management system that has been developed by landholders for landholders.

ALMCS is designed to certify that landholders and land managers are managing their land responsibly. ALMCS landholders are able to show that they are improving the natural environment on their farms and in the local catchment.

How does ALMCS work?

ALMCS is based on a cycle of planning, action and reviewing.

Action plans are the core of the ALMCS system. When a landholder joins the ALM Group the first thing they will do is develop a plan, which will be their guide to improving environmental outcomes. Most landholders develop their ALMCS action plan over two to four days, usually in a group and with the help of an ALMCS trainer. The plan is then checked to ensure it complies with ALMCS requirements.

External auditors ensure that the plans are being implemented and are meeting the targets established by landholders with the help of the ALMCS trainer. Audits are done by auditors accredited by the ALM Group. These accredited auditors must meet eligibility criteria, including relevant agricultural and environmental management experience.

ALMCS is the only national system for land management in Australia. It has the great advantages of being based on internationally accepted standards, being whole-of-farm and being catchment-linked. It is applicable across Australia, for agricultural and non agricultural land.

Advantages of ALMCS

ALMCS is the only national system for land management in Australia, and has the great advantage of being able to be used for the management of both agricultural and non agricultural land.

At the same time, ALMCS can be used to highlight the direct link between the efforts of land managers and the activities and investments that improve our catchments.

It is currently being implemented in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland by landholders and land managers such as catchment authoritites and government agencies. Key advantages are:

ALMCS can be used for both agricultural and non-agricultural land
it is based on internationally accepted management standards

it links farm and catchment priorities and strategies.

Read what a farm family says are the benefits of ALMCS

Why do landholders invest in ALMCS?

Landholders invest in ALMCS for a variety of reasons, some unrelated to external recognition (internal reasons) and others dependent on external recognition.

Internal reasons include:

An altruistic desire to better manage the environmental impacts of their management practices
Improved farm productivity from better use of natural and other resources
Improved risk management
Improved communication between the people involved in the farm business
Social interaction with similarly minded people

External reasons include:

Improved market access from being able to use environmental attributes to differentiate products
Improved access to natural resource funding programs
Improved risk management
Improved land value

ALMCS will grow because of its national applicability and because of the strength of its design features, particularly because it can be applied across the whole property/ and all enterprises and because of the power of the web-based software used by the ALM Group. As well, it complies with an internationally recognised standard (ISO14001) and has links with catchment-wide requirements.

This means that ALMCS is environmentally effective, cost efficient and has potential to deliver domestic and international recognition. No other Australian land management or environmental best management practice system or property management planning or best management practice based system has these attributes.

Why do CMAs invest in ALMCS?

There are six main reasons why catchment management organisations and natural resource management boards invest in ALMCS.

Effective. They recognise that ALMCS is a most effective way to involve a lot of landholders in an ongoing program to improve the environmental impacts of their main farm activities. Instead of needing to cajole landholders to invest in meeting imposed targets, ALMCS builds on the motivations and capabilities of the individual landholder, taking into account catchment-wide priorities and strategies. It also reflects that, along with the ISO14001 standards, ALMCS requires land managers to prioritise and ameliorate the impacts of their management practices rather than to focus on a particular element of the natural resource base.

Broadly based recognition. Having one system that enables recognition and hence rewards to flow from commercial and government sources for both environmental and agricultural products is a major advantage for both landholders and the organisation that provides the reward.

Superior consultative and planning tool. Using ALMCS at the property and/or sub-catchment spatial levels ensures communication between the agency and landholders is based on repeatable and verifiable processes. Landholders identify issues they are committed to acting on, not just talking about them.

Effective delivery platform. Catchment management agencies/natural resource management boards commonly have many specific-issue short-term programs with high transaction, administrative and monitoring costs, with significant potential to have perverse impacts and with all the problems associated with short term funding. Use of ALMCS-myEMS can significantly reduce if not eliminate most of these problems. Additionally ALMCS-myEMS provide great opportunities for the delivery of targeted, relevant and timely information.

Highly cost-effective. The ongoing nature of ALMCS, the ALMCS Training Clinics, the ALMCS Review & Renew Workshops, the use of the software tool myEMS and an innovative approach to external auditing all contribute to making ALMCS very cost efficient.

Enhanced reporting capabilities. The combination of ALMCS and myEMS enables relevant and current reports to be generated regarding the aspects of farm activities having significant environmental impacts, the nature of those impacts, what actions are being taken to reduce those impacts and the effectiveness of those actions.

Why do industry organisations invest in ALMCS?

There are several reasons why industry organisations invest in the application of externally audited environmental management systems.

A basis for ‘green’ claims. Currently there is no widely adopted system that provides a basis for ‘green’ claims made by industry organisations and government representatives on behalf of Australian farmers. This places all Australian farmers at high risk.

Empower members in domestic and global markets. Players along the agricultural input and product chains, both domestically and internationally, are promoting and in some instances requiring a wide range of environmental related features. The only effective way for farmers to ensure that these systems are effective and cost effective is to take the initiative and establish an across product Australian system that is based on internationally recognised standards. This is a challenge that farm organisations can turn into a major opportunity for their members.

Helps members differentiate their products. Australia is well endowed with the natural resources and the experience, knowledge and skills required for environmental related differentiation of farm products. ALMCS is a practical way of putting differentiation into practice.