Agriculture, Economics and Nature

Make more informed agricultural decisions as a farmer or policymaker

Economic thinking is vital in agriculture, as a farmer’s livelihood depends on the outcomes of their decisions. Governments also require economic information to make policy decisions on behalf of communities.

On this course, you’ll explore key economic principles that will help you to make sense of the changes that have occurred in agriculture and understand why different agricultural economic decisions have been made.

You’ll cover subjects like agricultural production methods, input levels, resource conservation, and sustainable agricultural production, as you consider how improved economic thinking can positively impact these areas.

This course is designed for anyone with an interest in economic thinking for the agricultural sector.

It will be of particular interest to farmers, policymakers, and those who reside in rural communities with strong agriculture industries.

• Agricultural production and prices, and agriculture’s reliance on natural resources
• 1: Course introduction
• 3: Agricultural products’ supply and demand
• Resource usage
• Interview and Week 1 Quiz
• Resource and environmental challenges facing agriculture
• Water pollution, pesticide bans and salinity
• Resource exhaustibility
• Climate change
• The economics of agricultural inputs
• Fertiliser and crop yield
• Production functions and profit maximisation
• Considering pollution in input decisions
• Interview + closing out the week
• The economics of land conservation
• 1: Resource conservation in farming
• 2: Benefits and costs of resource conservation over time
• 3: Accounting for time
• 4: Discounting
• 5: Building a spreadsheet for discounting benefits and costs
• 6: Case study: conservation agriculture
• 7: Drivers of farmers’ decision-making
• Interview - Mike McFarlane, farmer, Doodlakine, Western Australia
• Interview - Greg Shea, Division of Agriculture and Food, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia
• Quiz 4
• The economics of agri-environmental projects
• 1: Environmental projects in agriculture
• 2: Extending economics beyond the farm
• 3: Characteristics of environmental projects
• 4: Benefit: Cost Analysis
• 5: Benefit: Cost Ratio
• 6: Case study: The Gippsland Lakes
• 7: A helpful tool: INFFER
• Interview - Marit Kragt, Associate Professor, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment
• Quiz 5
• Government policies in agriculture
• 1: Government policies in agriculture
• 2: Policies to support agricultural production
• 3: Policies for environmental protection in agriculture
• 4: Agricultural policy problems: Price support
• 5: Agricultural policy problems: Biofuels
• 6: Justifications for agricultural policy
• Interview - Ross Kingwell, Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre
• Quiz 6
• 7: Course wrap-up
• Final Test