Compulsory Blog Post 1: Is Farming Innovative?
Gossip is spreading that Australian farmers are not innovative. Rumours are rife that Australian farmers are still using horses to plough paddocks and are using 18 century farming techniques. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.
It has been discovered that farmers are, in fact, becoming more reliant on modern technology and are making significant gains in production because of their innovation and their use of technology. Whether it is simple innovations such as different methods of grazing or very high tech approaches such as robotic milking dairies Australian farmers embracing new techniques with the aim of improving their production.
The next time you hear someone suggesting that our farmers are not world leaders we should just direct them to one of the many examples of our farmers being innovative. Let’s start up an our farmers are innovative campaign.
-an edited extract from A. Gossip-Columnist
COMPULSORY BLOG 2
Our Quality of life
In class we have done much research into how agricultural innovation, efficiency gains and intensification has improved our quality of life. In Australia we are so lucky that we have a plentiful supply of food (unlike many other nations in the world), and we are so lucky that our farmers are doing a fantastic job in providing the food that we and many others in the world eat (for example, did you know that we are the 3rd largest dairy exporter in the world?).
Not only do our farmers provide us with a wide variety of produce but they are decreasing the amount of money that this food is costing us to buy. In 1900 the average person was spending 50% of their income on food, in 1970 we were spending 20% and in 2010 we spent only 10 % of our income on food. What a great job our farmers are doing!!!
Sustainable Food Consumption. How can we be part of the Solution?
Dear Sir.
As a concerned student, I have discovered facts and figures showing that us as Australians waste over 4 million tonnes of food waste every year.
Of this 4 million, 1.38 million tonnes is business food waste and 2.6 million tonnes is household food waste.
This spare food could feed millions of Australians every year.
How does this happen?
Food gets wasted because we buy more than we need, we cook more than we need and due to demanding quality standards a lot of produce is discarded because of its appearance, despite the nutritional quality still being very good.
Each year two million Australians will rely on food relief and around half of them will be children who often go to school without breakfast or to bed without dinner.
This is where Foodbank comes in. Foodbank is the largest non-for-profit hunger relief organisation in Australia. Foodbank seeks and distributes food and grocery industry donations to welfare agencies to feed the hungry around the country. Last year alone it redistributed enough food for 28 million meals.
Since 2011, over 400 tonnes of produce from farming communities has been donated to Foodbank to distribute.
There is still a long way to go to achieve an Australia without hunger, but we, as an agricultural community, can play a part to reduce the waste and hunger that exists. And then maybe help world hunger.
Signed sincerely,
A concerned student.
Compulsory Blog Post 4: What does it take to sustainably feed and clothe my community for a day?
My community is Penrith which is situated at the base of the Blue Mountains in the Sydney Basin. This area was extensively used for agriculture but over the last 20 years has seen increasing urbanisation and the reduction of farming land. Penrith (40,400 ha)is situated 54 km from Sydney, has a population of 184,681 and a population density of 4.39 people/ha.( http://profile.id.com.au/penrith/home)
Compulsory Blog Post 5: Young Farming Champion Visit.
Tom Pearce
Tom Pearce was our Young Farming Champion from a dairy farm at Bega. His visit was on Wednesday 10th October. We went to the library where Tom showed us a YouTube clip of his farm, gave us a PowerPoint presentation and brought some things that he used on his farm. He also brought some samples of dairy products for us to try….very yummy.
Tom was an enthusiastic speaker who conveyed his great interest in farming and has love for what he does. He is passionate about his farm and he obviously enjoys his work.
Tom’s farm supplies milk to the Bega Cheese Factory. He has Holstein-Friesian milking cows. Tom uses a lot of reproductive technology with his cows. This technology helps Tom to improve his herd and their milk production.
Working with dairy cows has allowed Tom to travel extensively overseas. He attends overseas dairy shows and gathers information from other leading dairy producers.
Tom’s message is that there are lots of opportunities available in the dairy industry!
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