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\%.

The Green Revolution

• 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.

Current & Future Global Challenges

• 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.

Productivity & Resource Use

• 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.

Key Take-Home Messages (Global)

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

Aboriginal Sustainable Practices

• 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.

Colonial & Expansion of Australian Agriculture

• 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.

Growth, Technology & Legacy (1860{-}1900)

• 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.

Organic & Regenerative Shift

• 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.

Current State & Sustainability Challenges (Australia)

• 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.

Learning Outcomes Check

• Aboriginal land-management longevity ≈ 65\,000 yrs.
• Colonial settlement shaped by coast, water & transport barriers.
• Expansion driven by climate, soils, topography, economic & social forces.
• Early decisions still dictate land use, infrastructure & sustainability today.