Fragility, health and design: Conceptual challenges for Australian Agriculture

Abstract

This paper examines three conceptual challenges to the development of agriculture for theAustralian environment – the claim that Australia’s landscapes are fragile, the question ofassessing the health of landscapes and the degree to which agricultural landscapes can bedesigned. It is suggested that the fragility of Australia’s landscapes is a cultural rather thangeographical description and reflects unmet human expectations rather than inherentproperties of the continent. The usefulness of current approaches to measuring landscapehealth is questioned, particularly those based on the absence of agriculture such as the oneadopted by the National Land and Water Resources Audit. On the question of design, it issuggested that governments and markets will have the ultimate say on the shape of Australian agriculture over science-based approaches to design.