Land Use change for Salinity Management: A Participatory Model

This paper describes the use of spreadsheet models to help farmers and their advisors to make decisions on land and water use to manage dryland salinity. Salinity management requires an understanding of catchment data and processes. Modelling forms part of the process of understanding the catchment and the turning of data into useable information for salt management. The TARGET project is a NSW government pilot program to support integrated catchment management in selected catchments in New South Wales. A major feature of the program is the simultaneous progress of research and implementation of salinity management measures in a context of adaptive learning. The research described here took place at the same time that extension staff and cooperating farmers were planning and implementing salt management procedures. The dual focus of the project meant that communication was of central importance and this affected the type of modelling carried out. Because of time and data constraints the development of an integrated model of the biophysical and economic system, including spatial and temporal feedbacks, would have had limited value. Instead a partial model was developed that reflected the financial consequences of land use changes and was which was transparent to farmers. The biophysical feedback mechanisms and the external costs and benefits that they imply were external to the model and based on subjective analysis by experts in the field. The paper presents selected analytical results and shows that modelling that is accessible to farmers can best assist salinity management in a context where farmers, advisors, scientists and economists are working together.