Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Introduction to agriculture

20 minutes

Find Out: Agriculture then and now

25 minutes

Take Action: Agriculture around Australia

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: Introduction to agriculture

Step 1

Share the following images with students (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Explain to students that each image relates to agriculture.

Work with students to study each picture closely and try to guess what each image is about and what ‘product’ is being produced in each image (answers below):

Rice paddies - rice. Rice requires lots of water, so paddies are created on the slopes of hills to hold onto the water
Chook farm - eggs and chicken meat.
Flower farm - flowers for decoration and for botanicals. Botanicals are substances from plants that are used in cosmetics and medicines.
Dairy farm - dairy products, such as milk, cheese, yoghurt and butter. Dairy cows are different from cows that are raised for beef.
Sheep farm - meat and wool. All sheep can be used for meat and wool.
Wheat farm - wheat for flour to be used in things like bread, pasta, cakes, etc. (anything that uses wheat flour)
Tomato farm - tomatoes. In many parts of Australia, tomatoes are grown in large greenhouses; this keeps them in a warm and stable temperature and helps to keep bugs off of plants and fruit.
Cotton farm - cotton. Cotton is one of the main fibres that is used around the world.
Apple orchard - apples.
Bee hives - honey. The largest bee farms in the world can be home to as many as 80,000 bee colonies!
Urban farm - lettuce and other leafy greens. In this image, lettuce is grown indoors on shelves that reach to the ceiling.

Step 2

Remind students that all the images above relate to agriculture.

Invite students to share what they think the term ‘agriculture’ might mean and record keywords and ideas on the board.

Share the following definition of agriculture with students:

“Agriculture is the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.” (Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agriculture)

Use the following questions to interrogate this definition through a class discussion:

Check the definition with students - are there any words that are new to them or unknown?
Does this definition fit with all the images of agriculture viewed previously?
The use of the word ‘art’ in this definition seems strange - why do you think it is included?
Suggested answer: Art means the application of human creative skills and imagination, and a lot of agriculture requires thinking creatively and imagining new ways of doing things to achieve goals. This creative thinking and imagination are based on a scientific understanding of food and fibre production, but you can apply these scientific ideas creatively. This is essential because agriculture must constantly shift and change according to local conditions in soil or weather, changes in climate, or the different types or quantities of food consumers want to eat.

You might want to take a moment to explain the distinction between farming and agriculture to students. Farming is a part of agriculture that is mainly concerned with the growing and raising of plants and animals. Agriculture includes farming but is also about the science and research behind farming practices as well as the processing and sale of agricultural products. Agriculture is a much broader term than farming

Find Out: Agriculture then and now

Step 1

Explain to students that although agriculture is just about producing food and fibre, it has completely changed the course of human history and is a hugely important part of our lives.

Students will now participate in a guided discussion around the following video:

Mankind: The Story of All of Us: Birth of Farming - History (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhzQFIZuNFY)

Watch the video all the way through once, and then replay it, pausing at the timings below for the discussion.

0:28 - Why do you think farming can support so many more people than being hunter-gatherers could? - Farming offered the potential to have a steady food supply for more people living in one place.
0:39 - Take a moment to consider what things you are using right now or will be using today that come from agriculture. For example, the clothes that you are wearing, the food in your lunchbox, and the paper you are writing on.
1:12 - What might have been another solution to having few animals to hunt? This video suggests plant life, but could other things be done to secure animals for food? - Trying to domesticate animals was one solution. Raising cows, pigs, goats, sheep and chooks for food became an extremely important part of farming.
1:45 - Between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, people began farming, and as the video stated, it amazingly appeared worldwide without any connection between these early farmers. Scientists and historians now speculate that a change in climate at that time forced people to think differently about sourcing their food, which led to farming.

Tip: Remind students of how agriculture is an ‘art’ and explain that this is an example of people applying their imagination and creativity to the problem of producing food.

2:13 - At this point in the video, we see that farming changed society. Take a moment to discuss with students what life would be like if we didn’t have people (farmers) to produce our food now - how different would our lives be?
End - The need to protect crops drove people to construct buildings, walls and castles around valuable farmland. What other things did you notice about the history of farming presented in this video? What was important or interesting to you?

Step 2

Explain to students that agriculture is now a huge industry in Australia and worldwide. Share these facts about agriculture with students and take some to discuss them as a class, for example:

Are there any facts that don’t make sense to you?
Which facts are most interesting or surprising?
Which facts would you like to know more about?

Students don’t need to worry too much about these facts; the important thing here is to understand that the agricultural industry in Australia is huge in terms of dollars, emissions, and land and water use.

Step 3

Focus student's attention on the fact that agriculture in Australia uses up a lot of land and water and generates a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. For many people, this is a bit of a conundrum because we need to feed people, so we just need lots of land and water to grow the foods that all these people need.

Explain to students that one way to address this issue is to make sure the plants and animals that are being raised are suited to the landscape and climate, and the idea of ‘the right plant in the right place’ is critical.

Share the following image with students (this image was generated using an AI image generator and is not real!):

Invite students to look at this image and to think about:

What is strange about this picture?
Do palm trees normally grow in snowy places?
- Suggested answer: Palm trees like warm weather!
If you were a farmer growing palm trees in a place like this, what would they have to do to make sure the plants grew and produced coconuts?
- Suggested answer: Create a giant greenhouse to grow them in, set up heaters or hot air blasters to keep the snow away, give the plants extra nutrients to help them cope with the cold, etc.

Explain to students that the idea of the right plant in the right place is crucial. And it’s not just snow you need to think about. For example:

Is the soil suited for this plant?
Is the weather suitable for growing these plants or raising these animals? Is it too hot or too cold? Is there enough rainfall, or will extra water be required?
Are there pests in this area that will affect the plants or animals that are being raised?

Choosing a plant or animal unsuited to your local conditions will make it much harder to grow or raise that plant. That is why you don’t see coconuts growing in Tasmania (they like a warm climate!), and you won’t find as many dairy cows in hot climates (they like cooler conditions).

Step 4

Pose the following questions and invite students to suggest answers. Through your discussion, lead students to the suggested answers included below:

What might happen if the ‘wrong plant (or animal) is chosen for the wrong place’? Suggested answers:
- Plants or animals might struggle to thrive and produce the crop you are hoping for
- Plants or animals might even die
Is there anything farmers can do to fix the problem? Agriculture has developed some solutions to these problems, such as
- Using more water
- Applying chemicals to encourage things to grow
- Clearing more land (e.g. removing trees) to make more space for plants or animals.

Step 5

Explain to students these solutions don’t come without any problems. For example, clearing land for agriculture harms biodiversity. It reduces the amount of carbon emissions that can be absorbed, leaving more emissions in the atmosphere that will contribute to climate change. Spraying crops with chemicals can harm native animals and pollute waterways. These are just some of the environmental impacts of agriculture that will be explored in this unit.

Explain to students that focusing on getting the right plant or animal in the right place is the first thing we can do to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.

Take Action: Agriculture around Australia

Step 1

Explain to students that they will now be looking at the different types of plants and animals that are produced around Australia and thinking about how these plants and animals are the best fit for the local climate and environment (i.e. are they the right plant or animal for the right place?).

Step 2

Break the class into 7 groups and assign each group with one of the following states and territories:

Western Australia
Northern Territory
South Australia
Tasmania
Queensland
Victoria
New South Wales and ACT

Each group needs to research 2-3 agricultural products (plants or animals) produced in their state and/or territory (the number of products could be adjusted according to time and ability).

For each product, they should find out:

What this product is turned into (e.g. dairy cows produce milk to drink and to make cheese, yoghurt, butter, cream and ice cream)
What climate this plant or animal needs and whether this matches the conditions of the state or territory they are focusing on
Whether there are any environmental impacts associated with producing this product.

Groups should produce a 4-slide presentation detailing their research. If time permits, students can share this with the rest of the class.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What was the most interesting or important thing I learned in this lesson?
What questions do I still have about the information presented in this lesson? How could I answer these questions?

What is Agriculture?

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