The role modelling and farming systems research can play in redesigning grazing systems for improved productivity and environmental sustainability.

Achieving production and natural resource outcomes from farming systems is critical with growing demand for livestock products, increasing pressure on land and water resources and the desire of farmers to improve profit and standard of living. In many countries this brings to the fore a number of policy dilemmas and conflicts in terms of pastoral household livelihood, regional economic growth and development, as well as natural resource management. By using two case studies; (1) Temperate Grasslands in Southern Australia (EverGraze project); and (2) Western Grasslands in North West China (ACIAR project), this paper considers how farming systems can be redesigned for production and environmental outcomes using modelling and farming systems research. Farming systems, as well as the regions and economies in which they operate, are complex and under constant change. The use of models combined with good science, relevant data and regional validation is essential to examine alternative systems that are better suited to changed operating conditions. Bio-economic modelling helps to understand trade-offs between production and enterprise performance and environmental sustainability over time and, most importantly, where multiple benefits from farming systems are possible. We contend that it is possible to redesign farming systems with both enterprise and environmental sustainability in mind. However the approach used to design and test alternative farming systems is important in an era of declining research resources and increasing complexity.