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- For Strategic, economic and/or political reasons, governments may actively promote the exploitation of natural resources, particularly in unpopulated areas, or areas with high unemployment.
- To reduce Australia's reliance on imported cotton, the Federal Government in the 1960s offered a bounty on locally produced cotton. This lead to the construction of large dams and the eventual transformation of large grazing holdings into intensively irrigated cotton farms.

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Dollar drop delights grain farmers
Agricultural exporters say they're delighted that the Australian dollar is at its lowest level in six months.

The dollar fell more than 4 per cent in the past week, to below 90 US cents.

Ron Storey, from Australian Crop Forecasters, says prices across all grain commodities have already improved.

"In the current marketplace, where we've got our crop growing here and farmers starting to look only a couple months down the track before they harvest, and the grain markets have been pretty sick really with what are very large crops in the northern hemisphere driving prices down.

"So to see some relief like $8-$10 a tonne would be good news for the farmers."
Farm export earnings to all
Australian farm export earnings are forecast to fall by over 7 per cent this financial year, to $38 billion.

And the average farmer's income will drop by 14 per cent.

Forecaster ABARES says higher earnings from livestock will be more than offset by lower grain prices and a smaller crops of wheat, barley and canola.
Fuel prices to rise as dollar falls
The falling Australian dollar may be good news for exporters, but it's driving up the price of fuel.

After hitting a 15-month low earlier in the month, petrol and diesel prices are expected to rise, despite a much lower oil price as world demand drops.

Economist with CommSec, Savanth Sebastian, says the problem for Australia is that its fuel, which comes from Singapore, is priced in US dollars.

"In Australian dollar terms, the Singapore gasoline price rose by over $3 a barrel last week, and keep in mind in US dollar terms the Singapore gasoline price actually fell, so it just highlights the impact of the falling currency.

"So it will lift fuel prices across Australia. We're expecting the national average price to probably lift by about 2-3 cents a litre over the next fortnight."
Irrigators meet to discuss power price worries
Irrigators from around the country met this week to discuss how they can cope with rising electricity prices.

Power prices in most Australian states have doubled over the past seven years, with higher network charges making up much of the increase.

Dale Hollis, from Bundaberg in Queensland, says his irrigators' group wants a 30 per cent reduction to network charges and a special tariff for agriculture.

"Many of our farmers can't actually pay the power bills, now as a result of that they're turning the pumps off.

"We don't get as much yield per hectare, but we still get a crop.

"The ultimate problem with that is that we require a sugar mill to crush our cane and without the throughput, the sugar mill is not viable."
NFF defends Coles sponsorship of conference
The National Farmers' Federation has defended having supermarket chain Coles as main sponsor of its annual congress in October.

Coles will provide a keynote speaker and have a say in the conference agenda.

Chris Gleeson, president of the farm advocacy group, Farmer Power, argues the NFF has a conflict of interest.

"They are representing the agriculture sector and they should be fighting a lot harder and not going into bed with their partner.

"And ok, we need some relationship, but if they're going to continue to put downward pressure on the agricultural sector, we don't want to be a part of that."

But the NFF's Tony Maher says the sponsorship deal helps improve the relationship between Coles and its suppliers.

"For the dairy sector, for example, there's been ongoing discussion and closer relationships in terms of supply arrangements.

"It's a broadening of the understanding of these issues and the relationship that has been built between the two parties."

Egg industry dubious about McDonalds decision
Some farm groups argue a decision by McDonalds Australia to phase out the use of cage eggs for animal welfare reasons is misleading.

McDonalds has committed to stop sourcing cage eggs by 2017, as part of the company's broader animal welfare initiative, which it's yet to outline.

President of the Victorian Farmers Federation Egg Committee, Brian Ahmed, thinks animal rights groups have 'bullied' McDonalds into making the decision.

"It all sounds nice to be roaming free, but there are negatives to animals roaming mixing with wild animals.

"There's a risk of disease. Avian influenza is a very big risk.

"People forget that we all free range farmed in the early 50s and 60s, and that we went into cages for a number of reasons, to reduce mortalities."

The RSPCA wants other fast food restaurants to stop using cage eggs as well.
Residue standards will save wineries million
The wine industry says it will save millions of dollars through Pacific countries agreeing to standardise their acceptable limits of chemical residue in wines.

Currently, some countries, like China, won't accept any level of common vineyard sprays, like the fungicide phosphorous acid, used against downy mildew.

Tony Battaglene of the Winemakers Federation of Australia, says the new limits, which are still being negotiated, could take two years to come into effect.

"It means that you can just produce one batch of wine that can be sold in any market in the world, so it's tremendously exciting in that we have flexibility to produce wine according to one method that can go anywhere in the world.

"It will save millions of dollars, it will increase efficiencies, it will help the whole supply chain activity."
Water shortage could halve cotton crop
Cotton production in New South Wales could halve in the coming season because there's not enough water in the major dams.

It's a similar story in Queensland, with industry body, Cotton Australia, predicting national output to drop from 4 million bales last season to about 2 million.

As planting begins, Cotton Australia's CEO Adam Kay says that some areas will only produce a third of last season's crop.

"I would say that the north-west is harder hit, places like the border rivers, up at Mungendai, the Gwyder, Walgett, Bourke are harder hit, probably a third of last season, and then the Macquarie's probably going to be a third of last year as well."
Growers furious about Fijian ginger imports
Australia's ginger industry is furious about a decision to allow imports of fresh ginger from Fiji.

The Agriculture Department finalised the import conditions last month, just after the Federal Government announced a review into the way import risks were measured.

Anthony Rehbein, from the Australian Ginger Growers Association, says Fijian imports must be treated with a surface spray, but that's not enough to kill a destructive roundworm.

"The roundworm or nematode that is in the ginger reproduces internally inside the ginger.

"Methyl bromide is a surface spray. It does not penetrate the product.

"I think there needs to be more science applied.

"We've got a program to make people aware that there is an issue with Fijian ginger."
New wheat variety will appeal to pasta makers
Scientists say a new durum wheat variety could boost Australia's presence in world pasta manufacturing.

The University of Adelaide has spent five years developing the variety called DBA-Aurora.

Plant breeding lecturer Jason Able says it's more resistant to disease and leads to consistently higher yields.

He says Australian farmers will become more competitive suppliers to both local and overseas pasta companies.

"We haven't necessarily had the consistency of supply and the price hasn't necessarily been right as well.

"I've recently come back from a trip in Italy whereby the big companies like Barilla, which giants in terms of pasta making in the world, were very keen on wanting to get their hands on southern region durum."

A British mutton enthusiast is predicting a resurgence in demand for the meat from older sheep.

Bob Kennard's book called 'Much Ado About Mutton' charts its history.

He argues after years of being overlooked for lamb, mutton campaigns are having success.

He says the meat has its own distinctive taste.

"People sometimes expect it to be just strong lamb, but it's not.

"It's got a very complex flavour, with great depth of flavour.

"It's got a touch of venison and beef in it, and a hint of lamb as well, so it is a very complex flavour."
Seals beat fishermen to the catch
Commercial fishermen from South Australia's Coorong say the fishery won't exist in five years if New Zealand fur seals continue to populate the area.

Fisherman Gary Hera-Singh says he's never seen so many seals, and they can't be controlled.

He says they're wreaking havoc on the environment, fishing equipment, bird and fish populations.

"These animals eat between three and a half and five kilos of fish a day.

"We've been told by the experts from the South Australian Museum that there are roughly 110,000 in South Australia increasing at 11 per cent per year. And they're chewing through 423 tonnes a day.

"In five days, all those seals in the state have eaten the total commercial catch."

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Dollar drop delights grain farmers Agricultural exporters say they're delighted that the Australian dollar is at its lowest level in six months. The dollar fell more than 4 per cent in the past week, to below 90 US cents. Ron Storey, from Australian Crop Forecasters, says prices across all grain commodities have already improved.

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- Many individuals have urged restraint in the growth of population and consumption of natural resources, particularly in regards to the mismanagement of resources.
- Unless the long-term, safe disposal of nuclear waste can be proven possible, nuclear fuel may lose its resource value.

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- Aspects of culture may range from religions to myths, and from appreciation of landscape to appreciation of the quality of certain woods or minerals for production.These cultural factors impact on people's perspective of what constitutes a resource.
- In some countries such as PNG, the eating of pork has special celebratory significance, whereas it is forbidden to Jews and Muslims.

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Tenzin Tsundue - China Exploits Tibet's Natural and Cultural Resources

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Tenzin Tsundue is a poet, writer, and leading Tibetan activist. Here he talks about China's destruction of Tibetan cultural and natural resources and the effects that exploitation of natural resources can have on other Asian countries. The TEXT Program, or "Tibetans in Exile Today," is an oral-history program designed to record the stories of Tibetans currently living in refugee settlements in India.

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- The ability of Aboriginal Australians to fashion spear tips and other artefacts from quartz represented a major technological achievement at that particular stage of human history.
- Technology can impact on natural resources by creating or stimulating demand. It may also improve the supply of materials by developing extraction and processing techniques and reducing production costs.

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- The price of resources rarely stays constant for long and is determined largely by availability and need.
- Assuming there is a demand for a particular good, its price will be largely dependent on the level of supply.
- E.g. The price a grower receives for wheat is determined by the price mechanism. As supply increases or demand drops, the price of wheat drops