Primary Industry/ Agriculture in Australia and the Asia Pacific

Region

By: Mr Crouch

Land Use in Australia

• Rainfall, or the lack of it, is the most important single factor determining land use in Australia

• Australia's area is 769 million hectares, with about one quarter mostly desert and not used commercially. Early settlements tended to be established near reliable water supplies leading to Australia's population being concentrated along the coast, mainly in the comparatively fertile, well-watered east, south-east and far south-west

Land Use in Australia Vs Asia Pacific

-What are some of the differences between these photo’s?-Are the farming techniques the same? Why are they different?

YouTube Clip

• Green Careers: Sustainable Agriculture (clip)

Australian Products

• The major products that are farmed in Australia in order of majority are:

• Wheat• barley • sugarcane• fruits • cattle • sheep • poultry

Are the practices used in Australia Sustainable?

• It is hard to determine whether or not farming practices in Australia are sustainable, firstly because of the variety of products farmed in Australia using deferring practices. Secondly each farmer does things differently, some adopting a sustainable approach to farming whilst others are still unsustainable in the development of their product.

• It is also easy to determine sustainability due to the location and the type of farming done there, ie. Rice farming in the draining soils of northern Victoria is not a sustainable place to grow rice due to the amount of water required and soil structure.

Farming Techniques in the Asia Pacific

• Most of the Farming techniques in the Asia pacific region are unsustainable due to the lack of technology that they are exposed to.

• Alongside the technology difficulties, most of the countries in the Asia Pacific region are poverty stricken therefore they are restricted to the type of farming they can perform.

Agriculture Worksheet

• Using colour pencil’s or texta's using the legend on to the right of the map of Australia colour in the areas of agriculture on the worksheet provided.

• The map must include the BOLTS.