Agricultural Opportunity !

When white settlers arrived here in 1788 it was important that they develop agriculture to feed themselves.  Unfortunately, all they knew revolved around the agriculture of Europe and this was a different country, with different soils and a totally different climate and weather pattern.  The seeds they brought with them failed to germinate and they nearly starved to death.

There was another great difference that was going to have a dramatic effect on this entire continent.   What else arrived with that first fleet completely changed the animal component of this country.  The new arrivals introduced cows, sheep, pigs - and horses.   Until that time the land here had only been forced to suffer the compaction of relatively soft footed animals such as the Kangaroo, but growing herds of cloven hoof animals changed all that.  Sheep and cattle had a different grazing pattern and cleared the grass closer to the soil, altering the grass mix and killing much of the native vegetation.

We refer to the Indigenous people they found here as " hunter gatherers " but there is some evidence that they had developed the use of barley type grasses to obtain the grain to make flour and the Yam was an important vegetable in their diet.  Unfortunately, sheep almost completely eradicated the Yam because it grew on open plains that suited sheep.

The Europeans completely dominated the type of farming they imposed on this land and it was developed along European lines.   Wheat became a famous Australian crop, but it is a thirsty plant to grow and as this is a dry land we might do better to have a look at the native grasses which produce similar  grains.   They flourish in arid conditions and need less moisture to deliver a similar grain tonnage.

The early settlers also found the Indigenous people harvesting a type of wild rice.   What was interesting is that it thrived in brackish water and as rising sea levels are inundating the traditional paddy fields of Asia that could be a handy cultivar to solve that problem.

It seems that luck is again coming to our aid.   At a time of drought drying up our inland rivers and delivering massive fish kills we have the good fortune to have two tropical cyclones making an opportune arrival.  One named Trevor is coming inland on the Gulf of Carpentaria and another named  Veronica is coming ashore on the west Australian coast.

Both are going to push great amounts of water inland and most of inland Australia is going to get a drenching.   We will probably have floods through the inland river system and despite an ongoing El Nino effect, these cyclones may deliver us from this drought.

If that happens, we would be wise to take stock of what type of agriculture suits the Australian climate and what we can grow here in the conditions that prevail.  There is no point in planting " thirsty " crops if we lack the rainfall to consistently bring them to market and it is quite evident that we will soon face a hungry world.

Most importantly, we need to learn from our mistakes - and not make those same mistakes again