In week one, we'll talk about the agricultural production
and prices, and agriculture's reliance on natural resources.
So that will include looking at the history
of agricultural production and prices,
explaining the changes that have occurred in production
and prices over time, a look at the 2007 global food crisis,
and an examination of agriculture's usage
of resources of different types-- land, water, nutrients,
and pesticides.
In week two, we'll cover the resource
and environmental challenges facing agriculture, including
water availability, the idea of peak phosphorus,
herbicide resistance, and climate change.
Week three is about the economics
of agricultural inputs.
We'll start by examining the relationship between inputs
and outputs, and then we'll show how
to identify the optimal level of an input--
the one that maximizes a farmer's profits.
And then we'll repeat that, but in a situation
where an input causes pollution-- what should
that do to optimal input levels?
And we'll finish by looking at flat payoff functions, which
has some important implications for how farmers have
flexibility in their choice of input levels.
Week four covers the economics of land conservation,
and the topics that week will include evaluation
of land conservation practices, how
to weigh up benefits and costs correctly,
how to consider the non-economic factors,
and we'll illustrate it with a case
study of conservation agriculture.
Week five is about the economics of agri-environmental projects.
And in that week, we'll extend the economics
beyond the farm guide to include issues
that concern the broader community.
We'll look at some of the characteristics
of typical agri-environmental projects,
and I'll give you an introduction
to benefit cost analysis, and we'll illustrate these issues
with a case study from Australia at looking the Gibbs Lands
Lakes.
And finally in week six, we'll look at agricultural policies.
We'll examine policies that support agriculture,
and policies that protect the rural environment.
We'll look at a couple of segments
on problems with agricultural policies,
including problems that can arise
from trying to provide support with higher prices,
and biofuels, as illustrations of some
of the problems that can occur.
And we'll finish that week by looking
at the need for justification for agricultural policy
and what justifications there might
be for different types of agricultural policy.
In weeks three and four, I'll try and help
you build some spreadsheet skills
by providing a demonstration of how to build spreadsheets that
tackle two of the economic issues
that we address-- optimizing input levels,
and discounting to compare benefits and costs that
occur at different times.
Each week, we'll include at least one interview
with an expert related to the topic covered in that week.
And our experts will include farmers,
agricultural scientists, agricultural economists,
and an agricultural advisor.