Background
The linkage between on-farm activities and off-farm environmental changes (such as water quality declines) are frequently assumed, poorly characterised and rarely quantified. This lack of understanding between farm and catchments has implications for investment strategies, management activities, and the likely success of on-ground actions. Dairy Australia and their partners have run a series of farm to catchment research projects to better understand linkages across scales. In order to capture this knowledge and provide a way forward, a knowledge mapping project was initiated. The Understanding Dairy Catchments (UDC) tool is an outcome of this process.

The process documented in the UDC tool was developed and road tested in a series of regional and expert workshops. The project team was made up of the Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management Centre (the ANU) and Peter R. Day Resource Strategies.

What is the UDC tool?
The UDC tool is an interactive software program designed to be used as part of a participatory-based process that engages farm to catchment researchers, farmer representatives, dairy industry representatives and natural resource management groups. The focus of the tool is on dairy activities and catchment outcomes associated with water quality.

The tool is designed around a tiered process, which aims to articulate and capture knowledge required to link on-farm activities to catchment scale outcomes. It integrates existing environmental management tools with a series of purpose built tools, provided to assist users with their catchment assessment. The intended users of the tool are Dairy Australia, farm to catchment researchers, regional dairy bodies and local farming bodies.

How will the UDC tool be used?
The tool is designed to be used in a strategic project planning context to assist groups in meeting the following objectives:

• Risk analysis: identification of high priority catchments across dairy regions;
• Knowledge mapping: mapping knowledge linking farms to catchment;
• Catchment budgets: quantifying relative contributions of contaminants;
• Gap analysis: identification of critical knowledge and data gaps;
• Program design: guidance on how to design on-farm change programs; and
• Policy information: assist with policy development.

High priority catchments can be targeted and project activities (research and on-ground works) can be designed to meet critical needs.

The UDC also acts as a resource base for state of the art knowledge relevant to the dairy industry. The tool is designed to be updated as new knowledge is gained.

By applying the outcomes from the UDC and developing new dairy catchment projects, the dairy industry will be able to demonstrate continuing improvement in environmental management.