INTEGRATED LAND EVALUATION AS AN AID TO LAND-USE PLANNING IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

Current methods of agricultural land evaluation in use in Australia suffer from a number of inherent deficiencies that limit their usefulness as a tool for land use planning. A framework is presented whereby both biophysical and economic factors affecting land use are included in the one assessment. The method integrates biophysical and economic data to produce estimates of crop yield, net returns to land and physical land suitability using an expert system. These estimates can be readily computed, updated and extended to land managers. The method also aims to estimate the probability of achieving a given net return to land. The method was applied at two different scales (1:100 000 and 1:5000) for four different land uses in the Herbert River district of North Queensland. The results indicated that a quantitative measure of economic performance could be obtained for a very large number of spatially diverse mapping units for the range of land uses examined. The method provides the facility for objective comparison of mapping units both between and within land uses. The presence of an improved information base can have a positive impact on land use planning activities. Activities such as land use conflict resolution and industry planning can benefit from the provision of economic suitability data. Importantly, the additional data provide the planner or decision maker with an added degree of flexibility. As such, the integrated methodology provides a significant advance on the existing methodology. © 1994 Academic Press Ltd.