Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/111460
forefront Agriculture can be traced back to prehistoric times, when our ancestors emerged from their caves and started to tame the wild plants that would eventually become staples of the human diet for millennia to come. Obviously, agriculture has changed since the early days, with practices, modern plant species and technology all bringing something new to the way we cultivate our food and fibre. The idyllic image of the Australian farmer standing in a field of wheat, perhaps with a kelpie and a tractor, has changed in recent years. It has been tarnished by natural disasters, harsh weather conditions and media reports that thrive on the negative; stories of suffering and hardship. For those involved in agriculture, a lot of effort is going into remaking this image into something that more closely represents the reality of Australia's farmers. "In Australia we have one of the most advanced agriculture industries in the world," says Professor Iain Young, head of the School of Environmental & Rural Science at the University of New England (UNE) and president of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture (ACDA). "We have a superb industry from farm to fork … and the level of science and technology out there is superb, too." The science and technology involved in working a farm now stretches to include a vast range of vocations and people, all working to get more food out of the work that's done on the land. As the world population continues to increase and Australia's agriculture workforce continues to age, the requirements placed on our primary producers will also continue to increase. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts the global population will grow by 2.3 billion people by 2050, but an estimate by ACDA, the peak body for tertiary agriculture studies, says that while more than 4,000 agriculture-related jobs are posted yearly, Australian universities are only able to supply about 20 per cent of the graduates required. Professor Young lists some of the specialised fields that the agriculture sector needs to populate: "Animal genetics, plant genetics, biosecurity, pests and diseases, agronomy, investment, biochemistry, biophysics … There is not a scientific discipline available that should not be represented in agriculture. "While farmers are incredibly important, the majority of agriculture jobs out there are not on the farm. They're actually in the banks, looking at "As the world population continues to increase ... the requirements placed on our primary producers will also continue to increase."