Rising to the ‘Challenge of Change’

I was honoured to be a presenter at the Gunduwa Regional Conservation Association Open Day forum at the Blues for the Bush festival at Charles Darwin Reserve last weekend – which proved to be an enriching experience for me and (from what I heard) everyone else who attended the full-house event.

There was a fantastic line-up of innovative farmers and practitioners all looking at and talking about different ways in which they are meeting the challenges of modern-day farming, and “managing landscapes for the future”.

The Gunduwa forum “The Challenge of Change: Managing Landscapes for the Future” attracted a full house @ #BluesfortheBush pic.twitter.com/axElOVxiZh

— Blues for the Bush (@BluesfortheBush) September 26, 2016

NACC was proud to be a sponsor of the event – viewing the forum as not only an opportunity for some of our farming leaders to share their knowledge and experience, but also to contribute to an important community event in the region.

In my humble opinion, true sustainability in our rural areas can only be measured in a “triple-bottom-line” manner, or even “quadruple bottom line”: environmental, economic, social and cultural.

The state of our towns and communities – perhaps measured by such indicators as whether or not the towns or communities are thriving; whether our schools are growing in numbers or dwindling; whether the number of businesses in the main street are increasing or closing; whether our events calendars are booming or disappearing – is arguably the most honest indicator of true sustainability in our farming districts.

Hence NACC was very happy to support the event, and was pleased to see financial support for the Blues for the Bush (and its subsidiary events) come the federal, state and local government (specifically the Shire of Perenjori); from the business sector; the non-government, not-for-profit sector; and hundreds of community members and other individuals.

NACC was proud to be alongside all of the other key event sponsors (and long-term partners of ours) – especially the Shire of Perenjori and Bush Heritage Australia – and state and federal governments who support our work, particularly through the federal government’s National Landcare Program. It was great see our local member Melissa Price MP attending and supporting the “Challenge for Change” event. Melissa is a fabulous supporter of NACC and NRM in regional WA.

We’re looking forward to hearing more about the progress of each of the farmers who presented at the Open Day forum, and to more of these kinds of demonstrations of rural towns and communities in the NACC NRM region continuing to grow, innovate and thrive.

Richard McLellan

CEO, NACC