Emma Jakku

Agricultural decision support systems facilitating co-learning: a case study on environmental impacts of sugarcane production

Decision support systems (DSSs) are one of the ways in which agricultural scientists have attempted to make agricultural systems science more accessible to farmers and to foster innovation. Recently, there has been a shift towards more participatory processes in development and application of DSSs to enhance their end-user use. Apart from increasing adoption, these participatory processes are also likely to enhance co-learning resulting from development/application of DSSs. Learning is a valuable process in increasing sustainability of natural resource management, so the application of DSSs in a learning context can make a contribution to the global challenges faced by agriculture. We developed a framework, using concepts drawn from social studies of science and technology, describing the phases of the participatory DSS development/application process and its likely outcomes. We analysed experiences of participants in a case study exploring more sustainable management of nitrogen fertilizer in sugarcane production in an environmentally sensitive area of northeastern Australia. The data illustrate theoretical constructs underpinning the framework and learning processes within the case study. The framework and case study results demonstrate the value of participatory DSS development/application as a co-learning process, an outcome not traditionally valued by agricultural DSS developers and one that is likely to help address the challenges faced by agricultural sustainability.

Learning the hard way: a case study of an attempt at agricultural transformation in response to climate change

There is increasing interest in transformational adaptation to climate change in agriculture, i.e. adaptation that involves large-scale, novel responses to reduce vulnerability to climate risks. Transformational adaptation is less well understood than incremental adaptation, since there are few studies of agricultural enterprises making transformative changes in response to climatic change. This paper is an in-depth study of an agricultural company’s attempt to implement transformational adaptation in response to climate change. We document the Peanut Company of Australia’s (PCA) response to predicted climatic change by expanding its operations into Katherine, Northern Territory, after decades of below-average rainfall in their traditional production region in south-east Queensland. Our research question was: what conditions and processes influenced the outcome of the company’s response? We conducted 37 semi-structured interviews with company, government and community representatives to examine diverse perspectives on PCA’s expansion into Katherine and its subsequent strategic retreat. To reveal insights into why, when and how this attempted transformational adaptation occurred we reviewed the literature and identified Park et al.’s (2012) Adaptation Action Cycles (AAC) framework and aspects from the organisational adaptation literature as useful for our analysis. Based on our findings, we revised the AAC framework to better reflect the way that incremental adaptation in situ can occur simultaneously with transformational adaptation at a new location. Our study illustrates that transformational adaptation in agriculture is difficult, complex, risky and costly and sometimes unsuccessful, revealing some of the challenges of and barriers to organisational adaptation in agriculture, especially when moving to a new location.

The Sugar Industry's Impact on the Landscape of the Australian Wet Tropical Coast

Abstract The cultivation of sugarcane transformed the landscape and ecology of the Wet Tropics region of Australia over the last 140 years. In parallel, government policies shaped the unique structure and culture of the sugar industry throughout Queensland, directly and indirectly affecting sugarcane cultivation practices. Despite government environmental policies and strategies, the nutrient run-off from sugarcane cultivation continues to impact on the coastal landscape and health of the Great Barrier Reef. Sugarcane growers in the area and stakeholders from within and outside the industry were interviewed to determine why growers adopt many of the recommended practices that increase productivity, but not environmental practices such as reduced fertilizer application rates. This paper identifies how sugarcane growers are distinct from other farmers in Australia and suggests reasons why government environmental policy has failed. We conclude that a new policy approach based on Ecological Modernization Theory is recommended to achieve desired ecological outcomes and, at the same time, maintain productivity levels.

Is big data for big farming or for everyone? Perceptions in the Australian grains industry

Continued population growth and land intensification put increasing pressure on agricultural production and point to a need for a ‘step change’ in agriculture to meet the demand. Advances in digital technology—often encapsulated in the term ‘big data’—are increasingly assumed to be the way this challenge will be met. For this to be achieved, it is necessary to understand the ways that farmers and other industry stakeholders perceive big data and how big data might change the industry. It is also necessary to address emerging moral and ethical questions about access, cost, scale and support, which will determine whether farms will be able to be ‘big data enabled’. We conducted a discourse analysis of 26 interviews with stakeholders in the grains industry in Australia. Two main discourses were identified: (1) big data as a technology that will significantly benefit a few larger farms or businesses—Big Data is for Big Farming—and conversely (2) big data as a way for every farmer to benefit—Big Data is for Everyone. We relate these findings and the literature on adoption of technology and social studies in agriculture to the potential of farmers to embrace big data, from basic concerns about network infrastructure through to more complex issues of data collection and storage. The study highlights that there are key questions and issues that need to be addressed in further development of digital technology and big data in agriculture, specifically around trust, equity, distribution of benefits and access. This is the first study of big data in agriculture that takes a discourse analysis approach and thus interrogates the status quo and the prevailing norms and values driving decisions with impacts on both farmers and wider society.