It’s important to understand your responsibilities when running any type of farm. Although these do require an ongoing commitment and expense, they can also create areas of expertise that make a regional lifestyle all the more rewarding.
The three tiers of government – federal, state and local – enforce the various laws, so gaining an understanding of who is in charge of what will help with your plans for the property.
As a property owner, you’ll have responsibility for:
- land management and environmental impacts of your farming practices
- fire control, fuel loads and firebreaks around your boundary
- animal welfare, identification, tracking and tagging systems
- gaining permits for renovations or construction, including dams and bores
- gaining licenses for farming that involves chemicals and pesticides
Generally, the local council will provide the buyer with a purchaser agreement which outlines legitimate rural activities for the purchased land and surrounding areas. This might include things such as agriculture processing, animal husbandry, harvesting operations, access to unsealed roads and waste disposal.
Property owners whose livelihood is reliant on the ‘health’ of their land do take their responsibilities seriously. For lifestyle farmers and weekenders, this doesn’t mean constant ‘red tape’, but an ongoing awareness of how your activities on the land may affect surrounding properties.