Cultivation consent for a western lands lease

There are 3 types of cultivation consents:

• Dryland cultivation.
• Pasture improvement.
• Cultivation after receding floodwaters.

Holding a current cultivation consent over a substantial area of your lease may help you purchase your lease and convert it to freehold title by meeting the eligibility criteria.

When your cultivation consent is about to expire, Crown Lands check if everything has been done correctly, including how the land has been used and its environmental impact. If everything is in order, we’ll  send you a renewal offer to sign and return with the fee. If you do not wish to renew, inform us and stop all cultivation activities.

To get a new cultivation consent, a registered leaseholder must lodge an application.

We will follow these steps to obtain cultivation consent:

• receive the cultivation consent application from the leaseholder with the fee
• confirm the proposed cultivation areas
• complete an environmental assessment, including Aboriginal and historic heritage items/sites
• undertake an assessment of the proposed cultivation areas under the Land and Soil Capability (LSC) Assessment Scheme. The scheme assesses the biophysical features of the land and soil (including landform position, slope gradient, drainage, climate, soil type, and soil characteristics) and assigns it 1 of 8 land classes to decide if the proposed areas can be cultivated. Where the LSC class is greater than LSC 4, soil testing may be requested to demonstrate that the soil is capable of withstanding ongoing cultivation.

If the application is successful, a new cultivation consent will be issued to the leaseholder. If the application is unsuccessful, we will notify the leaseholder.

The approval of a new cultivation consent does not allow the lessee to clear and remove native vegetation. You must get an appropriate clearing certificate under the Land Management (Native Vegetation) Code 2018 before clearing vegetation or undertaking other development.

Your local council may require development consent to authorise new cultivation. Contact your local council to confirm this.

We may cancel cultivation consent if the leaseholder does not comply with the lease and/or cultivation consent conditions, or if new information about the consent area is discovered.

Any associated fees will be invoiced to you once your application is processed.

Contact us to start your application.

As an alternative to getting a cultivation consent, you may apply to alter a western lands lease . This process alters or adds to the existing approved activities on a western lands lease. Areas of cultivation approved through this process are more secure as the use is recognised on the certificate of title to the land and in the lease conditions. This means leaseholders do not have to pay cultivation consent renewal fees. To undertake irrigated cultivation, lodge an application to alter the purpose of your lease.

Find out how to alter a lease.