Chapter 1
I Groping In A Strange Environment: 1788-1851
II Farmers Take The Initiative: 1851-1888
III Enter Education And Science: 1888-1927
i Colleges of agriculture
ii State Departments of Agriculture
iii University faculties of agriculture and veterinary science
iv Community support for agricultural research
IV Agricultural Science Pays Dividends: 1927-1987
V Examples Of Research And Development 1928-1988
VI International Aspects Of Agricultural Research
VII Future Prospects
VIII Acknowledgements
References
Index
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As the nineteenth century progressed some of the early settlers and, particularly, some among the steady stream of new immigrants, maintained contacts with the new and exciting developments that were occurring in agriculture overseas. Farming in the USA and the UK, like farming in Australia, was suffering from periods of economic depression. In addition, some of the initial improvements in productivity achieved by earlier innovations were beginning to disappear in other countries as well as in Australia. Repeated cultivations, for example, were resulting in declining fertility, poor soil structure, and increased weeds, pests and diseases. Demands were being made by farming leaders overseas for better rural education and the development of organizations to undertake agricultural research. During the first half of the nineteenth century various proposals for the establishment of agricultural schools (or other training institutions, including model farms) were also canvassed by leading landholders, individually and collectively, in Australia. The movements to establish such institutions were further encouraged when news arrived of agricultural colleges being developed in England (Cirencester), Ireland (Glasnevin), Germany (Hohenheim) and, particularly, in the USA, following the passage of the first Morrill Land Grant Act (1862).
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 16, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
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