Unit 3 – Area of Study 1: Innovations and solutions

Outcome 1

Describe the role of innovation and technology in agricultural and horticultural practices, analyse past and current initiatives, including unforeseen consequences, and apply innovative processes to agricultural and/or horticultural practices.

Examples of learning activities

• Brainstorm technological devices used on farms and collate the answers using post-it notes or Padlet. Group the devices by function. Categories could include planting, harvesting, weed/pest/disease management and conservation of resources.
• Create a map of a farm and identify all the places where technology could be used. Examples to consider include genetic engineering, irrigation pipes, crop sprays, water pumps, computers, machines for sowing and harvesting. SketchUp could be used to create the farm.
• View the video Introduction: ‘Technology’ in AgriBusiness (2:23 mins) and discuss how Australian farmers have embraced technology. Identify examples of technologies that have resulted in:
  
  • caring for the environment
    
  • increasing farming output
  • building farmers’ incomes.
• Create a table with two columns comparing technology that is ‘visible’ versus technology that is ‘not visible’ (e.g. tractors/breeding technologies).
• Describe differences in how technology might be used on small-scale and large-scale farms. Farmwall provides information about a small-scale farm and ABC video A day in the life of a farmer at harvest (2:50 mins) provides information about a large-scale farm.
• Read the article ‘Historical and recent innovations in agriculture’ and compare this to more recent innovations including those described in ‘Recent innovations in agriculture’ as preparation for discussing the role of innovation and technology in everyday agricultural and horticultural practices.
• Visit Farm Hack to identify new and emerging innovations and choose one of the ‘tools’ in the library that farmers are sharing. Evaluate the tool’s potential in agriculture and/or horticulture.
• Complete a short report on regenerative agriculture as an emerging agricultural practice for improving soil fertility. Use the following resources to inform the report:
  
  • the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (WA) Regenerative agriculture webpage
  • The Regenerators: A better way to farm (11:29 mins) – a short film about farmers in New Zealand using regenerative techniques
  • the Yandoit Farm case study about using regenerative techniques.
• Watch From poor soils to a flourishing farm (7:17 mins) and describe the processes and systems used in regenerative agriculture in terms of innovation and/or technology.
• Explore ‘holistic management’ as an example of innovative farming by watching a film about the Polyface Farm (92:00 mins) in which the owners use holistic management to regenerate the land and increase productivity/crop yields.
• Visit the Agriculture Victoria Innovation and research webpage and provide examples of how technology is being used to increase productivity, adapt to climate change, increase efficiencies in resource use and improve environmental outcomes for agricultural industries in Victoria.
• Visit the Horticulture Innovation Fund website to read information and watch videos about horticulture research projects. Evaluate several of these projects on how they might address climate change, waste of potential food products and/or increased demand for food due to population growth.
• Explore how researchers are coming up with new ways to protect food-growing areas from climate change by using water recycled from water treatment plants and to create drought-proof areas of food production. Refer to the Melbourne's Food Future: Planning a resilient city foodbowl  report.
• Consider the amount of food waste that ends up in landfill by watching Reground (2:38 mins), a short video about the Melbourne-based enterprise. Brainstorm innovative ways by which food waste could be turned into a resource for agriculture. Use Padlet to collate ideas.
• Research the role of innovation and technology in addressing a challenge faced by Australia’s food and fibre industries and evaluate the proposed solution. The following resources might be useful for the research:
  • Plants and animals (CSIRO)
  • Farming and food production (CSIRO)
  • Developments in agriculture (The Conversation).
• Identify ways in which technology plays a role in managing finance (i.e. economic sustainability), feeding the world’s growing population, and in making sure practices are both efficient and environmentally sustainable. Collate ideas and discuss as a class.
• Watch the video clips Leaky weirs hydrate a thirsty landscape (5:00 mins) and Water sponge beneath our feet (3:04 mins) and discuss how the farmer is naturally engineering floodplains during times of drought. Explore the concept of ‘leaky weirs’ on the internet using websites such as Natural Sequence Farming and construct a cross-sectional diagram to demonstrate an understanding of this concept. SketchUp could be used to create the diagram.
• Watch the video clip A New Beginning for Australian Landscape – Natural Sequence Farming with Peter Andrews OAM (4.05 mins) and discuss the techniques being used to protect farmland from drought. Other video clips can also be used, such asDemonstration of Natural Sequence Farming principles ― contour channels  (0:46 mins) and Applying Natural Sequence Farming principles ― erosion gully structure (1:17 mins).
• Watch the video Manufactured Wood Products (9:21 mins) to explore the fibre industry, and record ways innovation and technology are making the industry more sustainable.
• Read the foreword of the book Reclaiming the urban commons: The past, present and future of food growing in Australian towns and cities (UWA Publishing) which is available through a free downloadable ‘book extract’. As a class, discuss the unforeseen consequences of the colonial introduction of European farming methods, crops and livestock on the Australian landscape.
• Refer to ‘The cane toad (Bufo marinus)’ fact sheet and evaluate the introduction of cane toads to Australia to control pest beetles in the sugar cane industry in 1935.
• View the historical video A million acres a year (53:00 mins) which describes the post-war agricultural development in Western Australia and the unforeseen consequences that land clearing and the introduction of European farming methods, crops and livestock had on the Australian landscape (2002, access available through public libraries). Discuss how similar events occurred in Victoria.
• Watch the video Will the ocean ever run out of fish? (4:27 mins) and explain how technologies in fishing have created unforeseen consequences for ecosystems, food security, jobs and economies.
• Read the article ‘The good, the bad and the ugly: Advanced technology in agriculture’ and create a table of the advantages and disadvantages of using advanced technology in agriculture.
• Discuss farming practices that endeavour to address consumer concerns about animal welfare, including access to space, sunlight and food; for example, grass-fed beef or free-range eggs.
• Create a list of advantages and disadvantages for the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in Australia.
• Research and debate the necessity of live exportation of sheep and cattle. Use the Animals Australia and National Farmers’ Federation websites to inform arguments. Also use a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis template to developing the arguments.
  
• Research how permaculture principles can be applied to ‘safe, ethical and sustainable food and fibre production’ by visiting the Holmgren Design website to read about and watch videos related to permaculture. Complete a plus/minus/interesting (PMI) strategy and draw conclusions about permaculture principles.
• 
  Conduct a media analysis of points of view relating to the use of pesticides and herbicides in Australian food-growing industries. In particular, focus on advantages and disadvantages of pesticides commonly used by strawberry farmers, and the use of alternative technologies to control pests.

 

Detailed example

Media analysis of the use of pesticides and herbicides in Australian food-growing industries

[Note: This example uses the strawberry industry.]

Students complete the following activities:

1.  Conduct a search for recent articles, news stories and social media commentary about the use of pesticides and herbicides in Australian food-growing industries. They answer the questions:
• What are some of the points of view being expressed?
• Are there particular concerns that industries and producers have recently been compelled to respond to and/or implement change?
2. Refer to the ABC news article ‘Pesticide banned worldwide still used to grow 70pc of Australian strawberries’ and prepare a checklist of facts, figures and points of view about the used of methyl bromide on strawberry crops.
3. Watch the video Drones and bugs (5:40 mins). Explain how the use of drone technology is solving problems for strawberry farmers.
4. Report on the competing factors that farmers must consider when deciding which technology to use in pest control by undertaking the following tasks:
• Create a table to identify the considerations food growers take into account in regard to sustainability (economic, social and environmental), ethics and safety issues when deciding which technology to use in pest control.
• Discuss how the media presents the advantages and disadvantages of chemical and drone technology respectively.
• Research and consider:
• how the use of chemicals on a farm can impact the health of its workers and the environment
• how the price of technology can influence a farmer’s purchasing decisions
• what information a farmer might need to evaluate the success of each technology.
5. Draw a conclusion about how the strawberry industry might justify the use of drone technology to spread beneficial insects.