UWA - Agriculture, Economics and Nature
- Offered byFutureLearn
Agriculture, Economics and Nature at FutureLearn Overview
Duration | 6 weeks |
Mode of learning | Online |
Official Website | Go to Website  |
Credential | Certificate |
Agriculture, Economics and Nature at FutureLearn Highlights
- Duration 6 weeks
- Weekly study 3 hours
- 100% online Try this course for free
Agriculture, Economics and Nature at FutureLearn Course details
- 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.
Agriculture, Economics and Nature at FutureLearn Curriculum
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
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