The subject will cover the following topics:
- Systems and Sustainability
- General systems theory
- Public (community) perspectives of sustainability
- Farmer perspectives of sustainability
- Resource Sustainability and Catchment Management
- The triple (or quadruple) bottom line
- Global Issues for Australian agriculture (including marketing)
- Social research
- Research methods and social analysis
- Critical thinking and problem solving
- The economic, social, cultural and political influences
affecting change in systems
- Soft systems analysis
- Agroecosystem analysis
- Understanding (creation of) agricultural policy at regional,
state, national and global levels
- Radical representation and the influence of lobby groups
- Social research project
- Agriculture in practice (case study analysis of various systems)
- Irrigation production
- Livestock production (grazing problem solving)
- Cereal production (agronomic problem solving)
- Farmer advocacy / farmer research groups
- Alternative agriculture |