The Mallee Region of Victoria
Location and Contents:
The Mallee region of Victoria is situated in North-West Victoria and covers an area of around 44,000 square kilometres. The region is known to be associated with the adjacent land of South Australia and New South Wales and is also recognised to join with the Wimmera and Loddon regions of Victoria. Also, because of the large area which the region covers and the diversity it beholds, it is sometimes distinguished into two sub-regions, the north and the south. Whilst 38% of the land is occupied by the public, only 1% of the remaining 62% is protected from grazing animals and only 3.04% retains native vegetation. ????????
Biomes:
The Mallee is the home of a variety of biomes: desert, aquatic (wetlands) and grassland. When joined with the Wimmera region, the area is known to hold 25% of Victoria’s wetlands, creating a home for a diverse array of fauna and flora. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-How could global warming affect the area and food production? Are there any innovations in the area to help deal with climate change and the increasing scarcity of resources? (such as covered irrigation channels, wind power, reducing carbon footprint…?)
Regional Climate & Potential Climate Change Impacts:
Being the ‘north of the divide’, the Mallee region brags of its sunny climate and hot, dry summers. In the last 15 years, average temperatures have increased by 0.4°C, while the summer and spring averages have increased by 8-9°C. There has also been a decrease in rainfall in recent times, displaying the region’s vulnerablity to climate change. The average yearly rainfall differs from about 250mm to 400mm. These changes in weather patterns are evidence of the fact that climate change is occuring. Hav...
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AG Excellence, (2012). Mallee Sustainable Farming Systems Inc (MSF) - AG Excellence. [online] Available at: http://agex.org.au/groups/mallee-sustainable-farming-project-msf/ [Accessed 13 May. 2014].
Depi.vic.gov.au, (2014). DEPI - The Mallee region. [online] Available at: http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/agriculture-and-food/food-and-fibre-industries/region-overviews/mallee [Accessed 13 May. 2014].
Murray Darling Basin Authority, (2014). Irrigated Agriculture in the Mallee. [online] Available at: http://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/pubs/MDBA_IAM_Web_FA3.pdf [Accessed 14 May. 2014].
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Joel Salatin is a 57 year old farmer who has been farming full time since 1982 on his farm “Polyface” which is located in Swoope, VA, where he is somewhat of a local legend in farming. “The farm services more than 5,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing” (Salatin, Polyface.com). Mr. Salatin utilizes a unique method of farming, a fact which makes him so profoundly interesting. The style in which he farms his land is termed “mob grazing”. Mob grazing is the process in which different animals are rotated at different times throughout the farms’ fields. He is an advocate not just for the human well being but for the world’s ecological sustainability and the continuance of growth.
Newman, B., 2012. Australian Regolith and Clays Conference. River Murray Salinity Management and Irrigation, pp. 163 - 166.
Westfields, a medium sized wetland region, is located on the outskirts of Limerick city and within the floodplain of the River Shannon (CAAS (Environmental Services) Ltd., 1999). Wetland regions are broadly defined within the Ramsar Convention (1971, 1), as, “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt including areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.” Identified as some of the most diverse habitats on earth, wetlands are also under severe threat, with a “10% decrease in their area occurring worldwide between the years 1990 and 2006” (CORINE, 2006). Westfields is no exception. Known worldwide for the diverse flora and fauna, in particular avifauna, that are present, the area has seen a dramatic decrease in size from its traditional expansive domain to a present area of twenty-six hectares. Thus, this essay aims to examine in detail the biogeographic merits of these declining wetland regions in particular Westfields, record the current condition of this particular wetland, and explore potential ideas for future conservation.
Stone, A. 2010, ‘Queensland land clearing ban inadequate, could worsen clearing rates: WWF’, WWF Australia, viewed 10 May 2010,
Every new technology has advantages and disadvantages, aims and limitations. As each new technology is released though, we ourselves weigh up the profit and productivity against the cost and ethical dilemmas. Still, as reserch continues, technological advances will undoubtedly become a huge part of the Australian commercial farming industry. The question is when.
...ed landscapes.” Conservation Biology 19(3):768-792. PDF file. University of Alaska Fairbanks. University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 2005. Web. 4 July 2011.
Riparian areas are the areas that surround rivers, streams, lakes, etc. The word “ripa” is Latin for bank. They are the transition zone between aquatic and on land ecosystems. It wasn’t until recently that riparian areas have been viewed as important places, rather than ‘sacrifice’ areas that could be given up for livestock and crops. They take up a small part of our earth, but they are vital to ecosystems and to the water they surround. The roles of riparian areas are rather simple, but they are extremely important to vegetation, wildlife, water, and us.
salt marsh habitats. Once a marsh has built up to such a level that it
Climate change has become of the world’s major issue today. The earth’s climate is always changing in a very fast and also in different ways. Climate changes affect our lives psychologically, emotional and also physically. Climate change is defined as a long term change in the earth’s climate, especially a change due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperatures. Due to this change in temperature, a lot of changes has occurred in our environment, these changes include rising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice caps, hotter days, colder nights and heat waves. These climate changes plays an important role in shaping our natural ecosystem, our human economics and also the most important, it affects the human race. For
Since 1960s both minimum and maximum temperatures have exhibited a rising trend; with minimum increasing by a range of 0.7-2.0 degrees Celsius and maximum by 0.2-1.3 degree Celsius varying by region and season. Notable also is variability of rainfall patterns such as below normal rainfall in the long rains season and more during the short rainfall season, some regions have recorded more intense rainfall and downpours that have resulted to floods and infrastructural impairments. Extinction or near extinction of flora and fauna, changes in flowering and maturity patterns in crops are all attributable to climate change. These changes have had and are expected to have far reaching impacts on the economic sectors of the economy. Some of the expected sectoral impacts are discussed
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries. There are numerous factors that are solely responsible for this change which are both natural and man-made. Climate change has led to a decrease in quality and quantity of plant produce and livestock because of heat stress, drought and an increase in plant and animal diseases.
Climate change is currently affecting agriculture because it is causing prolonged droughts, violent flooding, sea level to rise, and also health related issues. Droughts and flooding utterly affect agriculture because it damages cultivation since the amount of water applied to crops and farming is fundamental to the...
Climate change is an inevitable phenomenon that is being experienced globally in various forms such as temperature rise. Sea level rise, droughts, floods, hurricanes, landslides, etc. According to the forth assessment report of the IPCC project even with immediate implementation of mitigation strategies global climate change will continue for decades. Climate change is inflicting serious consequences on human wellbeing and will continue to inflict damages in the future. It is estimated that mean global temperature will rise by 1.8 ºC - 4.0 ºC by end of the 21st century (Izaurraade, 2009). A new global climate model predicts that in the coming decade the surface air temperature is likely to exceed existing records (Smith et al., 2007). Growing season temperatures in the tropics and subtropics by end of the 21st century will exceed the most extreme temperature recorded in the history (Battistic and Rosamond, 2009).