The sustainability of agri-food systems is examined in this course from a complex systems and value-chain perspective. The course will evaluate agricultural systems in Australia and internationally at a local, national and global scale. Production systems are placed within the broader social, cultural and economic contexts in which they operate, with students using interdisciplinary approaches to explore topics including the role of family farming and corporate agri-business, consumer demand and marketing, research, development and technology, international trade and rural policy.
Students will gain an understanding of the inter-dependencies between rural livelihoods, sustainability, food security, adaptation, sustainable intensification and the incentives and barriers to change along the value-chain and in the broader agri-food system. The course includes real world case studies from farming and food industry enterprises to provide first-hand experience and application of your learning.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Understand the application of key concepts in human ecology and natural resource management to agricultural farming systems, and communicate these to a range of audiences in effective written and oral form.
- Understand key agricultural systems concepts and perspectives at regional, national and global scales.
- Demonstrate the knowledge of complex agricultural systems using a range of frameworks and tools.
- Collect, analyse, interpret and present land and soil resource data (including remotely sensed data and published literature) from a range of scales in the landscape to produce land use and land management suitability scenarios.
- Describe constraints and opportunities for future sustainable agricultural systems.
Work Integrated Learning
Projects
Research project (assessments 5 & 6) involve weekly small group discussions with specialist industry stakeholders. This supplements the industry lead knowledge being presented in guest lectures.
Other Information
The course will include local field experiences throughout the semester. Please refer to the course LMS site for further information.
Please see the College of Science - Field Trip page for more information.
Indicative Assessment
- Workshop task: Net Present Value (10) [LO 2,3,5]
- Mid-course quiz (10) [LO 1,2]
- Workshop task: Measuring Sustainability (10) [LO 2,3,5]
- Quiz 2 (10) [LO 1,2]
- Oral Presentation (15) [LO 3,4,5]
- Project report (45) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- Face-to face component which may consist of 2 x 1 hour lecture plus 1 x 2 hour tutorial per week.
- Approximately 82 hours of self-directed study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks.
Students are expected to actively participate and contribute towards discussions.
Inherent Requirements
Optional field trips to domestic field locations are offered throughout this course. In order to participate in the trip, students must be able to:
- Travel to the field location in school's mini bus fleet;
- Move through different natural environments, often navigating rough terrain, carrying sampling equipment and working in variable weather conditions; (<2km)
- Monitor and manage their own health while studying and engaging with a small group of people in an isolated field location;
- Understand and respect the needs of other participants and act professionally throughout the trip.
For more information and requirements, please refer to the field trips information page.
Students who can provide evidence they are unable to meet this requirement may be able to choose other options or negotiate alternative participation and assessment requirements with the course convenor.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
None.
Preliminary Reading
Students will be assigned published papers or reviews as background to core topics and expected to discuss these in the workshops.
Charman, PV and Murphy, BW (eds) (2000) Soils: Their Properties & Management (2nd edition), Oxford University Press, Melbourne
Jordan, CF (1998) Working with Nature, Harwood Academic Publishers
Dyball, R and Newell, B (2015) Understanding Human Ecology. Routledge
McKenzie, N et al. (2004) Australian Soils and Landscapes. CSIRO Publishing
Assumed Knowledge
Basic grounding in principles presented in ENVS2024.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $4980 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $6720 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3874 | 17 Feb 2025 | 24 Feb 2025 | 31 Mar 2025 | 23 May 2025 | In Person | View |