Developing the north: learning from the past to guide future plans and policies

Abstract

The development of northern Australia has been a policy ambition for over a century and the desire to do so continues unabated. Attempts to develop the north, especially for more intensive forms of agriculture are not new. In this paper we explore past agricultural developments, including some that persist today and those that have failed, to determine critical factors in success or failure. This was done with the aim of identifying where most effort should focus in supporting contemporary agricultural developments. Although climatic and environmental constraints, including pests and diseases, remain a challenge for agricultural development in these largely tropical rangelands, it is mainly factors associated with finances and investment planning, land tenure and property rights, management, skills, and supply chains, which provide the critical challenges. In particular, the desire to scale-up too rapidly and the associated failure to invest sufficient time and resources in management to learn how to develop appropriate farming systems that are sustainable and economically viable is a recurrent theme through the case study assessment. Scaling up in a more measured way, with a staged approach to the investment in physical capital, should better allow for the inevitable set-backs and the unexpected costs in developing tropical rangelands for agriculture. There are two notable differences from the historical mandate to develop. First is the acknowledgement that development should not disadvantage Indigenous people, that Indigenous people have strong interests and rights in land and water resources and that these resources will be deployed to further Indigenous economic development. Second, assessing environmental impacts of more intensive development is more rigorous than in the past and the resources and timeframes required for these processes are often underestimated.

Two climate‐sensitive tree‐ring chronologies from Arnhem Land, monsoonal Australia

“…A lack of long instrumental records for the region makes it difficult to assess the contribution of past hydroclimate to ecological change in the region. Increased interest in agricultural and regional development in parts of the Northern Territory in recent times (Ash & Watson ) also raises the possibility of increased pressures on this highly seasonal environment. This lack of baseline information, potentially increasing land use pressures and general concerns about the impacts of climate change across Australia highlight a need for longer, well‐replicated and absolutely dated records of past hydroclimate variability in northern Australia.…”

Plantation tree growth responses to P, N, K and minor and trace elements on low fertility savanna soils

“…Renewed interest in establishing plantation and cropping systems, and making use of available water resources, has prompted expansion of research into the soil, water and economic constraints to agriculture in Northern Australia (Petheram et al 2014; Office of Northern Australia 2015) and a re-examination of early work. Previous large-scale agricultural developments in Northern Australia have mostly performed poorly, with multiple independent and interacting constraints (Bauer 1985;Ash and Watson 2018).…”

An Integrated Assessment of the Horticulture Sector in Northern Australia to Inform Future Development

“…Northern Australia, covering an area of 3 million km 2 across the Northern Territory (NT), northern parts of Western Australia (WA), and north Queensland (QLD), supports approximately 5% of the total Australian population (~1 million people) [1,2]. Beef production, mining, conservation, and agriculture (horticulture, broadacre cropping, and plantation forestry) are the main land uses in the region (Figure 1), with pastoral use being the dominant sector across all jurisdictions [3,4]. Over half of the landmass in this region possesses a legal recognition of Indigenous interests (freehold and native title), and the rest supports freehold or lease tenure arrangements for diverse land uses [5].…”

“…Over half of the landmass in this region possesses a legal recognition of Indigenous interests (freehold and native title), and the rest supports freehold or lease tenure arrangements for diverse land uses [5]. Northern Australia has often been tagged as under-developed for its remote and rural economies [3]. To develop the north, the Australian Government has led a few initiatives in the past, mainly to support mainstream economies such as mining and agriculture [6].…”

“…Northern Australia offers some unique and competitive advantages over other regions for 'out of season' production of exotic fruits and vegetables (e.g., early-season mango and melon production), a suited tropical climate for Asian fruits and vegetables, and a vast area of land for farm expansion [3]. The high seasonality of rainfall with a significant variation from <250 mm to >4000 mm per annum also offers a wide range of farming options across the region [10], which includes a variety of exotic tropical and subtemperate fruits and vegetables, and nursery production to meet the domestic as well as Northern Australia has often been tagged as under-developed for its remote and rural economies [3]. To develop the north, the Australian Government has led a few initiatives in the past, mainly to support mainstream economies such as mining and agriculture [6].…”