Can Australia save the world? (by Julian Cribb, The Slab, Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Summarises the problems of overpopulation and resource depletion, and discusses how Australia could become a world leader in sustainable food, land, water and ecological systems.
Chapter 2: Food and agriculture (Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne, Australia) From the book Agricultural Education in Natural Resource Management by Lindsay J. Falvey, this chapter covers modern agriculture – its history, the need for increased food production, the impacts of agriculture on the environment, and considerations for natural resource management. The subsections are listed at the beginning of the page and you can go directly to the topic of interest.
The development of ecological performance indicators for sustainable systems (Proceedings of the 10th Australian Agronomy Conference, 2001) Discusses an approach to determining ecological performance indicators that can be used to manage farming systems more sustainably.
Developing indicators for sustainable agriculture (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Australia) Discusses what sustainable agriculture is and how it might be assessed using measurable indicators.
Sustainable agriculture: A question of ecology, equity, economic efficiency or expedience? (University of Western Australia) Suggests that the core elements of sustainability fall within three categories:
value of the environment, intergenerational equity, and economic efficiency.
Also discusses the need for suitable sustainability indicators.
What is sustainable agriculture? (University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, USA) Covers the goals of sustainable agriculture, and presents strategies for them based on the situation in California.
Farmers and scientists working together to achieve more sustainable land management (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, New Zealand) Describes how farmers and scientists can work together to achieve more sustainable land management.
Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management An interesting example of a program that is working to develop weed management systems that will increase the sustainability of agriculture. This program works through community involvement and implements training and education strategies.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (transcripts)
Agricultural organisations These are examples of organisations that promote collaboration with scientists and provide practical advice to farmers.
Related Nova topics
Monitoring the white death – soil salinity Integrated pest management – the good, the bad and the genetically modified More food, cleaner food – gene technology and plants
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Page updated June 2007.
The Australian Foundation for Science is a supporter of Nova.
This topic is sponsored by CSIRO Plant Industry and the bequest of J S Anderson, FAA.
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