Environmental management systems (EMS) implementation in Australian agriculture is being driven by industry and government co-investments. However, barriers to EMS uptake in agriculture exist, and the purpose of this Briefing Paper is to identify these barriers, along with some possible ways of overcoming them.
The growing interest by Australian Federal and State governments to explore the potential that EMS has to offer agriculture in terms of delivering environmental and marketplace outcomes has
resulted in the National Framework for EMS in Agriculture (EMSWG, 2002; and EMSWG,
2001), the National EMS Implementation Plan (EMSIWG, 2003), as well as the $8.5 million
National EMS Pilot Program (www.daff.gov.au). This program involves 15 pilot projects in a
range of primary industries across Australia (Box 1, overleaf). Outside the bounds of the
National EMS Pilot Program, agri-food companies, family farm businesses and various rural
industry groups are also engaged in EMS development, some to the point of full ISO14001
certification (www.aemsaustralia.com.au).