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Northern Australian Indigenous producer group progress, learnings and contributions
Author
Perkins, ID
Pascoe, F
Gorringe, M
Publisher
XII International Rangeland Congress
Publication Year
2025
Body

This paper tells a story of engagement, respect, learning and hope. Indigenous involvement with the northern cattle industry has been a foundation element since the industry began to operate on indigenous land, over 150 years ago. That involvement has seen many changes and this project represents a change towards improved indigenous engagement with research and extension, with industry movement towards sustainability and with a two-way approach to developing ways to live in this landscape while meeting environmental, social, cultural and financial aspirations. Engagement with elders, time on country, time for yarning combined with a joint exploration of the collection, analysis and use of data, along with listening to experience both in livestock and land management and care have combined to present pathways and tracks to follow. Indigenous businesses in this context are largely community owned and operate on community held land. Aspirations for the businesses and for the land differ from the conventional Australian cattle enterprise either family run or large corporate agribusinesses. Employment, caring for country, social and cultural access are important drivers for indigenous land owners and business operators. Profit, efficiency, and asset accumulation are some of the major drivers for non-indigenous cattle enterprise operators. All operators however, have in common the requirement and the desire to care for the natural resource, the livestock and the people and to be productive and profitable. The potential has always existed to work together to create and develop appropriate land management and care approaches. This project is taking important steps towards integrating indigenous and non-indigenous aspirations and providing learnings for the Australian cattle industry as a whole.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Additional Information
This paper is part of the larger XII International Rangelands Congress Proceedings. Page Numbers: 110-114. Theme: Theme 1 / Pastoralists training and peer-learning
ISSN
978-0-646-72121-7
Conference Name
International Rangeland Congress
Collection
International Rangelands Congress
Keywords
Indigenous
Two Way
Engagement
Empowerment
Participation