As part of their Archibull Prize journey the students are asked to do a number of compulsory blogs posts
Today I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on Blog Post 3
This is how we introduce it to the students (and yes we ask the big questions and we look forward to the answers)
Compulsory Blog 3: Rural vs. Urban Challenges in Australia
“Changes to distribution of primary production will have socio-economic implications for individual businesses, industries, towns, schools and regions”
Visit source of map here Note the map is interactive so well worth a look at the article
Outcomes:
Students will be able to understand:
• Competition for land is finely balanced
• Implications for primary, secondary and tertiary industries
• Socio-economic implications
• Impact on biodiversity
And we ask them to do the following when they write their blog
1. Outline the various types of competition for land and the impacts of this competition. Give clear examples and demonstrate that you have made use of the resources provided by referring to what you have learnt.
2. Outline the diversity of competition for the land.
3. What are the social, environmental, economic and cultural impacts as a result of this competition?
4. How may these impacts be overcome?
In the entry survey we asked this question which of course has no right or wrong answer
And this is the answer we got.
Interesting isn’t it interesting the difference between primary and secondary students with close to double our primary school students being very passionate about Natural Parks?.
There is no denying there is a lot of competition for our natural resources and it is imperative we all work together to get the best outcomes
Just connecting up the remnant vegetation to create wildlife corridors is multifaceted – this image can be found on page 2 here
From a farming perspective there is no doubt our farmers face many challenges to put food on the table for Australian families.
Farm amalgamation, declining rural population and services and difficulties in succession planning are changing the structure of the rural community. Farms are getting bigger and the business is becoming more complex and risky. Furthermore, the cost-price squeeze is placing great strain on farmers trying to ensure economic viability whilst trying to address land degradation and environmental issues on their properties.
This great little video looks at some of the challenges
Then there is this great article in The Conversation. The Future of Rural Enterprises in the Global Food Chain
Future sustainability and productivity in the face of climate change, water scarcity and food safety concerns will pose significant challenges.
There are at least four major trends that are likely to impact on rural enterprises in the food sector over the next 40 years:
- The mounting pressure on primary producers over food safety and also the need to supply more diverse, wholesome and “authentic” food.
- Impact of Climate Change.
- The need for rural communities to collaborate for their own self-interest.
- Need for enhanced innovation in farming and land use practices as well as waste disposal methods.
Just looking at climate change alone its scary
Impacts on food production
Impacts on biodiversity
These images are great but sorry a bit hard to read They are on pages 40 –44 of this
Source http://www.ces.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/152450/1-62.pdf
What is clear is it is going to take a collaborative approach between our urban and rural communities to get the best outcomes. Now here is a nice little community initiative worth applauding JBS Australia and Primo launch Foodbank beef program