Improving farm management

For many years efficient farmers have had to make their management decisions knowing that the costs of their inputs were rising considerably faster than the value of their outputs. This trend, known as the 'cost-price squeeze', is well-established and is expected to continue.[81] In these circumstances the continuing prosperity of individual farmers has depended upon the continuing improvement of their efficiency, which has usually involved a combination of increased productivity and decreased unit costs of production.

The management technologies which have been needed have not immediately resulted from particular experiments. Rather, results which have been obtained from individual investigations have been used as girders in the building of technology bridges. Provided that the girders were correctly designed and constructed, and were assembled in the correct order, the final results have been strong and reliable bridges which have overcome particular obstacles and have enabled farmers to reach new management objectives and new levels of efficiency.

Whether or not an individual farmer has chosen to use any particular bridge in order to travel in a specific direction has necessarily remained a personal decision, largely based on socio- economic considerations. The value and lifespan of any technology bridge depends upon the quality of its design and the strength of its construction. Knowledge which results from sound research lasts indefinitely and is always available to be used. The map of agricultural progress in Australia is now characterised by the large number and high quality of its bridges of technology. New ways have been opened for farmers of virtually every type, if they wish and if their socioeconomic circumstances allow, to travel to more efficient management systems. These bridges are constructed from girders labelled: nutrition; breeding; genetics; disease control; weed and pest eradication; building, machinery and equipment design; marketing systems; farm recording techniques; and so on. They carry signposts which refer to particular industries or commodities, such as: pasture improvement and management; sheep and wool production; or wheat farming. The oldest technology bridge in Australia benefits the sugar industry which, with the passage of the Sugar Experimental Stations Act of 1900, became the first agricultural industry to have its own research organization.

Science and the Sugar Industry

Since the beginning of this century the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations has researched virtually every phase of sugar production and processing. It represents an outstandingly successful example of co-operation between a State (Queensland) Department of Agriculture, which administers the Bureau, and the sugar growers and mill owners who largely finance its work and strongly influence its policies and programs. This co-operation has not only resulted in a long series of useful research findings but has also led to appropriate legislative action based on proven biological information in order to control the diseases of sugar cane. Some diseases of potential importance, such as downy mildew and gumming disease have been eradicated, while others, such as Fiji disease, leaf scald, chlorotic streak, and dwarf disease have been reduced to insignificant proportions.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering