The History of Ag essays

The History of Ag essays European farming practices are quite different to that of Aboriginal land management practices. European farming yield produce through the practices of cultivation of crops and the breeding and raising of livestock. This kind of farming was very land intensive and required vast amounts of land. Early settlers in Australia cleared enormous areas of vegetation to create pastoral and farming land. Erosion was a result of overgrazing. It increased the extent of bare areas, so that less rainfall seeped into the soil and grasses did not grow well in the drier soil conditions. In contrast, the Aboriginal people have successfully managed their land for at least 40,000 years. This land provides the primary resources for clothes, food, building materials and all the other items needed for a healthy sustainable life. Traditional aboriginal land use practices in Australia use resources in such a way that they are renewed and not exhausted. Apart from using fire for cooking and warmth, Aborigines used fire when hunting, to flush game out into the open. They also burned vegetation in order to initiate fresh growth of grasses, which served to attract browsing animals to the area, thereby improving their hunting prospects. In some areas burning was used to encourage the growth of important edible plants. Firestick farming created a varied array of neighbouring habitats at different stages of regeneration after fire. By creating belts of firebreaks and of areas low in fuel density, firestick farming lessened the occurrence of disastrous wildfires of the type Australia so often has had to contend with in the last century. Eel-farming occurred in Western Victoria. A large number of stone races, canals, traps and walls were built forming an ingenious, labour-efficient aqua-culture that supported whole villages of stone houses. Similar intensification of food resources occurred in coastal areas where fish trap structures were...