School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemGoverning agriculture for rural community sustainability: a case study in the Australian dairy industry( 2015)This thesis focuses on the concept of industry governance to examine the processes shaping agricultural change in Australia. It aims to identify how agricultural industry governance can better support rural community sustainability, understood as having social, economic, environmental and equity dimensions. I adopt a conceptual framing of industry governance as a process of collective action involving actors and activity in three spheres: place, industry and state. I use actor-network theory (ANT) to trace how industry governance activity arises from associations between human and non-human actors. This theoretical choice seeks to make research a practice that reveals opportunities for things to be different, rather than one that adds weight to existing explanations of why things are as they are. The research design consists of a single case study in the dairy industry in north-east Victoria, Australia. I analyse the organisational arrangements and processes entailed in industry governance, including processes occurring within one local community – the Mitta Valley. I also examine the social and material practices revealed in a regional-scale industry development project – the Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathways (AVDP) project. Data generated include seventy interviews with dairy farmers, other community members and governance actors, three years of participant observations of the AVDP project and content analysis of relevant documents including news media. Cognisant of the opportunities and risks of my close engagement with research participants' reflection and action, I enacted my research practice as systemic inquiry. People in the Mitta Valley see agriculture, and particularly dairy farming, as highly desirable activities that build on the strengths of their place, and that could help their community sustain itself into the future. However, they have doubts about the feasibility and desirability of continuing the existing agricultural development trajectory toward larger, more intensive farms. I found that the dairy industry, through the industry ‘sustainability’ agenda, is engaging with citizens' and customers' demands for improved environmental management and animal welfare. However, industry governance continues to shape change toward larger, more intensive and more highly-capitalised farms. There is a current focus on promoting more diverse farm business models (or organisation forms), potentially involving separation of land ownership, farm business ownership, and farm management responsibility. Industry and government actors are not examining the potential implications of such changes for rural communities. Understanding governance as collective action, using the conceptual tools of ANT, provides insight as to why this is the case. I identify 'industry growth' as a boundary object that is integral to the establishment of collective action, and that enacts a positive and unproblematic relationship between dairy industry development and community benefit. Governing agriculture for community sustainability requires governance actors representing the interests of communities to be included in industry development planning and action, and to be prepared to question the assumed benefits of 'growth', in the light of the range of processes that communities identify as contributing to their sustainability. This change in governing practices could result in changed emphases within industries' practice change interventions, to shape growth in accordance with communities' collective interests.
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ItemEcological benefits of termite soil interaction and microbial symbiosis in the soil ecosystem in two climatic regions of Australia( 2015)Termite soil interaction is a multidimensional process, the interphase between the surface and subsurface being the most prominent location termitaria and other termite structures usually occupy. Genetic and environmental conditions, including soil type and moisture content, in different climatic regions affect this interaction. There is scant information on termite preferences, foraging behavior within these conditions and impact on soil profile and associated symbiont microorganisms. Foraging activity of termites (Coptotermes frenchi), depth and changes in soil profile with layers of top soil, fine sand, coarse sand and gravel, was studied using a test tank in a laboratory. Termite activities were intensive in only the longest foraging galleries via which they reached and foraged up to the edge of the tank. Wood stakes inserted vertically at three different depth level intervals (0-100, 100-200, and 200-300 mm), visual observations of soil profile samples taken using auger and excavated cross sections of the soil profile all confirmed presence of termite activity, transport and mixing of soil up to the lowest horizon in the otherwise uniform sandy or gravely lower horizons. However, termite activity did not result in complete mixing of soil horizons within the study period. Termites (Coptotermes acinaciformis) were tested for their preference topsoil, fine sand, potting mix and peat, in a laboratory condition at soil moisture contents of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% for 30 days. The experimental apparatus involved termite colonies foraging from nesting jars connected to four sets of standing perspex tubes filled with each soil type and moisture content combination attached to the jar lid on top. Soil type had a significant effect on termite preference whereas soil moisture content did not. At lower moisture levels of 0 and 5%, termites preferred fine sand while topsoil was preferred at 10, 15 and 20%. Soil heterogeneity and textural variability with respect to particle size distribution due to termite activity was investigated in two climatic regions of Australia. Mound and surrounding soils of Coptotermes lacteus in Boola Boola State Forest, Victoria, and Amitermes laurensis and Nasutitermes eucalypti in Gove, Northern Territory were studied. The residual effects on bacteria and fungi counts were also investigated in the former. For C. lacteus and A. laurensis mounds the very fine particles sizes (< 0.045 mm) were significantly higher than that of the surrounding soil while the reverse was true for the 2 - 1 mm particle size ranges. For the Nasutitermes mound, however, they recorded significantly higher 2 - 1 mm particle sizes and significantly lower < 0.045 mm particle size ranges than the surrounding soils. For the other particle size ranges in both sites no significant difference was observed between the mound and surrounding soils except for the 0.5 – 0.2 and 0.20.063 mm ranges in the A. laurensis mound which were significantly higher than surrounding soil. Average moisture content of the surrounding soils was significantly higher than that of the mound surfaces which could have resulted in the higher bacteria and fungi counts (cfu/ml) in the surrounding soils.