The Dead Heart...

Seeing as how harvest is in full-swing back home, I thought I’d dedicate an entry to farming. This is for all of you agriculture nuts out there – a few tidbits on Australian farming…

Australia is home to one of the oldest and most weathered soils on this earth. Throughout a vast majority of the country, only a very thin layer of sandy soil lays over a hard layer of clay subsoil. It is a land that is deplete of minerals, a victim of increased salinity (salty soil), and exposed to harsh erosion due to the lack of vegetation. Rainfall is scarce, scattered, and very unpredictable. Welcome to the “Dead Heart”.

Unlike the Heartland, the Dead Heart is home to a different breed of farming. Since rainfall and rich topsoil are a bit hard to come by in this land, farmers raising crops don’t need to worry as much about weeds growing in their fields. They just need to worry about their crops growing in general! In some areas, farmers only see a good harvest every two out of ten years. Because of this, much of the farmland used for crops are located along the coasts where more topsoil and rainfall are usually found. Dairy farms are predominantly found in these parts as well. On some acreages, farmers actually bring in extra topsoil in addition to fertilizer to make their land more apt to producing a good yield.

If the land is so harsh, what crops can Australian’s grow? Their main crops include wheat, vegetables, fruits, cotton, sugarcane, barley and canola. Even though they do harvest these goods, only about 6% of the land is suitable for this type of farming. Of that 6%, only a small amount is used under permanent cultivation requiring some sort of irrigation that is closely monitored by the government.

Since it’s very difficult to grow crops in the majority of the country, many farmers have turned to raising livestock. Livestock grazing occurs on 57% of the land. As you progress inland, it is much more common to find large cattle or sheep stations as well. In fact, the cattle industry is one of Australia’s largest agricultural enterprises. Wool is also very important to the agricultural endeavors of the country. Australia prides itself on having some of the finest quality Merino wool in the world.

So there you go...now you can say you know a few fun facts about agriculture in Australia.

Sources:

"Australia - Agriculture." Encyclopedia of the Nations. Encyclopedia of the Nations, n.d. Web. 17 Oct 2010. .

Australian Government. "Land Use - Australia." Australian Natural Resources Atlas. Commonwealth of Australia, 25 May 2009. Web. 17 Oct 2010. .

"Evolution of the Australian Merino." Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders. The Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders Limited, n.d. Web. 17 Oct 2010. .

Grant, Dr. Cameron. "Damaged dirt." Advertiser. Aug. 2007: 8. Print.