Hillcountry farm plans

The Council works co-operatively with hillcountry farmers with the aim of ensuring the land remains healthy and productive in the long term.

Our advice and support comes in the form of free farm plans individually tailored for specific properties

Comprehensive Farm Plans

Comprehensive Farm Plans to look at all aspects of operations across an entire farm, including land and stock management. Typically developed for hillcountry farmers, comprehensive plans tackle issues such as slope stabilisation, gully erosion control, shelter, pasture improvement, wetland conservation, and the impacts on stock numbers and farm income. The idea is to match land use to the potential of the land, minimising the impact of erosion and maximising productivity

Our Land Management Officers evaluate a farm’s different land types and work with the farmer’s long-term goals to recommend appropriate land use and soil conservation actions. Plans include advice on planting, fencing, track layout and more. They can also recommend diversification or land use changes like planting forestry, scrub reversion and bush retirement.

Agroforestry Plans

Agroforestry plans are developed for farmers interested in establishing exotic or native plantation forestry on their property.

Forestry recommendations are based on land suitability for both planting and harvest. Our plans include a forestry proposal and an estimate of costs. They also include technical advice on selecting appropriate species, on planting and on regimes to optimise timber yield.

Agroforestry Plans can specify planting native forestry, particularly for areas of land considered too unstable for commercial forestry.

Conservation Plans

Where a farmer has concerns about a certain area of their property, we develop a Conservation Plan. These plans tackle specific issues such as stabilising a particular steep hillside, or a sand blow near the coast, or protecting a windswept paddock on the ring plain.

Conservation plans can also recommend farm improvements such as stabilising an eroding streambank , restoring a degraded wetland, or establishing a more efficient stock water supply.

These plans generally include an objective, a design solution, an estimate of costs and time frames and implementation advice such as ‘how to’ support.