Salinity pioneer honoured

Well-known Lake Grace landcare champion Michael Lloyd is the latest inductee to the Royal Agricultural Society's Hall of Fame.

Honoured by WA Governor Kerry Sanderson at a luncheon on Tuesday, Mr Lloyd is the 60th inductee to the Agricultural Hall of Fame, established by the RAS in 1999 to pay tribute to the men and women who have made a significant impact on the present and future of agriculture.

Mr Lloyd was recognised for saltbush-based revegetation practices which have led to major advances in land management across Australia.

His work to regain the productivity of salt-affected land started after watching his own wheat and sheep property at Lake Grace, named Bundilla, slowly degrade.

Mr Lloyd said he noticed the first signs of salinity back in the mid 1970s, then watched his property gradually deteriorate over the subsequent 10 to 15 years to the point where 40 per cent of the property was affected by salinity and waterlogging.

He started planting saltbush and saw the first results after just five years. Over the years, Mr Lloyd managed to slowly revegetate 600ha of saltland via saltbush pastures, increasing productivity and benefiting biodiversity.

These landcare practices equipped Bundilla to withstand drought more effectively than many neighbouring farms and to stabilise critical water resources.

The scale of investment in saltbush-based saltland pastures at Bundilla was unique in Australia and became a case study for scientists, with Mr Lloyd always open to sharing his insights.

As a result, he is recognised for being pivotal in changing the perception of saltland from "white cancer" to an economic and environmental asset.

Mr Lloyd became an activist for saltbush revegetation after a research paper published in 1994 indicated high levels of salt in saltbush meant it was almost toxic to sheep.

These findings were contrary to his experience.

"The research was based on feeding trials with saltbush where the sheep had no access to under-storey and it dramatically dampened interest in saltbush and saltland pastures for several years," Mr Lloyd said.

He said the key to the success of saltbush revegetation was in the growing saltbush and grass together, the combination of the two making the difference.

In 1996, Mr Lloyd met Clive Malcolm, the pioneer of saltbush agronomy, at a conference in Albany. The two became friends and worked together over many years to raise the profile of saltland.

When the State Government released its Salinity Action Plan of 1996 without any reference to saltbush revegetation, Mr Lloyd was not prepared to let that lie.

He hosted field days at Bundilla for six or seven years with about 50 to 60 people attending every year.

He also spoke at State and national landcare conferences, as well as internationally.

A win for Mr Lloyd's long-term efforts came when the use of saline land and water was added to the WA Salinity Action Plan Draft Update in 1998 and then another victory when the goal of revegetating one million hectares of saline land over a decade was adopted in the WA Salinity Strategy of 2000.

There were two further standout moments. The first was in the early 2000s when the wool industry instigated a resource management program called Land, Water and Wool.

Twenty-million dollars was invested into this program, of which $8 million was set aside to deal with saltland.

The second was involvement with a national group of researchers, called the Productive Use and Rehabilitation of Saline Lands group, which "kept the light burning" in terms of the benefits from saltland revegetation. Mr Lloyd spoke extensively at conferences held by this group throughout Australia.

Mr Lloyd retired in 2010 and moved to Albany. He has since been studying a Bachelor of Arts degree at the UWA Albany campus, majoring in anthropology.