Property Management Planning

From 2012 to 2018, NRM South ran annual small farm planning workshops in the Huon and Channel regions, in collaboration with the Huon Valley Council. Over the course of the program, we provided advice and training to 137 participants on 82 properties in the Huon and Channel regions, representing productive land management strategies implemented across 1,482 hectares.

Small farms are popular in Tasmania’s south-east. Property planning is essential for all new landholders, and for those wishing to change the way they manage their property and better understand how to work with the land, reduce impacts and also meet like-minded people through these types of training opportunities. Small farms have different needs to larger properties and the program was designed specifically for small properties typically ranging in size from 5 – 100 hectares.

PMP is a process for developing and documenting the visions and goals for a property, with a focus on natural resources. The workshops took a practical, and where possible ‘hands -on’ approach, and included presentations on a range of topics such as: soil health, orchard and grazing management, native vegetation, browsing mammals, weeds and animal husbandry. Over the course of the workshops, participants developed a Property Management Plan with support and guidance from the project team.

Although the PMP program has wrapped up, NRM South offers support and advice to landholders through a range of services, including our soil extension program, our Future Drought Fund project and our Pasture Information Network.

You can also find a series of Landholder information resources in our Resource Library.

The series of five workshops were held on weekends at participants’ properties over the course of four months in the summer-autumn period. They take a practical, and where possible ‘hands -on’ approach, and include presentations on a range of topics such as: soil health, orchard and grazing management, native vegetation, browsing mammals, weeds and animal husbandry. Over the course of the workshops, participants develop a Property Management Plan with support and guidance from the project team.

The process includes:

  1. Identifying a property’s natural assets, capability and management needs
  2. Identifying a vision and goals for the property, taking into account lifestyle, family, environmental and financial aspirations
  3. Assessing resource and management risks
  4. Using maps to plan management options
  5. Preparing an action plan
  6. Implementing the plan

This video features a small selection of our region’s stunning farms employing holistic property management strategies, as well as some great insights from previous participants about how the course helped and shaped property management planning decisions on their farms.