AGSY102 Lectures 2 & 3 – Key Vocabulary

Evolution & Importance of Global Agriculture

Agriculture began ≈ 12\,000 years ago → shift from nomadic foraging to settled farming, enabling population growth, specialisation, structured empires.
Modern footprint: land clearing, GHG, water use; accelerates urbanisation & population rise.
By 2050 need to feed ≈ 9 billion → raise global output ≈ 70\%.

Period: 1966{-}1985.
Outcomes: population ↑ ≈ 130\%; crop output ↑ 200{-}300\%; cropland area ↑ only \approx1\%.
Annual yield gains: wheat \approx+1\%, rice \approx+0.8\%, maize \approx+0.7\%.
Enablers: improved genetics, fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation, supportive policy & markets.
Social impact: each 1\% yield rise ↓ poverty by 0.4\%; better diets; slowed deforestation.
Emerging limits: diminishing marginal gains, declining R\&D, resource over-use.

Resource constraints: land scarcity, water limits, nutrient depletion.
Climate change: yield variability, extreme weather, emission-reduction pressure.
Biofuel demand competes for feedstocks.
Rapid population & income growth (esp. India & SE Asia) → diets shift to more livestock & fats.
Supply-chain shifts: supermarkets, global value chains, farm-gate price squeeze.
Urbanisation → labour moves off-farm, peri-urban land pressure.

Total Factor Productivity (TFP) now main driver of output vs. area expansion.
Emerging economies lead TFP gains; China slowing, India & SE Asia rising.
Fertiliser trends diverge; more inputs alone cannot close yield gaps.
Halving food loss & waste could cut ag GHG ≈ 4\% and reduce undernourished by ≈ 153\,\text{million} by 2030.
≈ 20\% of global calories traded → open markets critical for food security.

Agriculture underpins civilisation & population dynamics.
Past growth = input intensification; future growth = efficiency & innovation.
Must balance food demand, emission cuts, resource protection & farmer livelihoods.

Cultural burning (fire-stick farming) for landscape management.
Sophisticated aquaculture: eel & fish traps, water systems.
Cultivation/harvest of murnong, native millet; grain processing.
Core principles: seasonal knowledge, sustainability, adaptive use, cultural governance, oral transfer.

Initial settlement 1788{-}1820s: coastal Port Jackson focus; water access (Tank Stream); sea transport reliance; Blue Mountains barrier.
Small govt farms & officer grants; convict labour & military outposts.
Early farming: poor soils, limited skills; 1796 Spanish Merino import → wool industry.
Expansion 1820s{-}1860s: £10 depasturing licences (1836); 14-year leases 1847; wool boom; gold rush 1850s{-}1860s spikes population.
Droving cattle (QLD→NSW Riverina); bullock trains for grain & wool.

Livestock surge: sheep to 90\,\text{million}, cattle to 20\,\text{million}.
New breeds, pasture improvement, fencing, dams.
Key inventions: Wolseley shearing machine 1877, Sunshine harvester 1895.
Freehold tenure → infrastructure investment.
Legacy: intensive farming in high-rainfall coast; extensive grazing semi-arid interior (≈ 45\% native pasture); enduring water & soil issues; transport networks mirror 19^{\text{th}}-century patterns.

1990s{-}present: world’s first organic society; Biological Farmers of Australia 1987 (now Australian Organic Ltd).
Sector worth ≈ 851\,\text{million} (≈ 0.04\% GDP).
Adoption of holistic/cell grazing & Technograze systems.

Agriculture, fisheries & forestry value rising; >70\% of many commodities exported.
Volatile prices drive AgTech adoption & efficiency focus.
Continued adaptation to water scarcity, land degradation, climate variability.