Prof Jim Scott
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Environmental and Rural Sciences, Mixed Farming Systems
Retired (November 2009) from the position of Chair of Mixed Farming Systems, School of Environmental and Rural Sciences
Qualifications
BScAgr (Syd), PhD (NE), Grad. Cert. Higher Ed. (NE)
Contact
| Email: | Jim.Scott@une.edu.au |
| Room: | W023 204 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 2881 (or +61 2 6773 2881 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3238 |
| Mobile: | 0417 021 232 |
Areas of Teaching
View a brief video about the study of sustainable farming here ...
Previously taught components of Ecology and Adaptation of Agricultural Plants, Crop and Pasture Management for Sustainable Agriculture, Grazing Management and Farm Sustainability.
Jim has had a long-term interest in the use of Decision Support Tools which have been incorporated into the curriculum using a thin-client system. More information about this e-learning approach can be found at ed-serve.
Research interests
Foundation Coordinator of the University of New England's Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems (2001-2008) - a group of some 27 academic staff with complementary research interests. Read more about UNE's research into sustainable farming here ...
Jim has a major interest in the measurement of whole-farm sustainability over the long term. He has engaged with farmer groups to bring about more profitable and environmentally benign farming systems. He has been engaged in research on the management needed to ensure persistence of pastures through drought and grazing stress and the long-term economics of pasture fertilizer decisions.
He was (and, in 2012, still is!) deeply involved with the Cicerone Project (1998-2007) which has attempted to enhance the adoption of profitable and sustainable grazing enterprises through participation in whole-farmlet research at a credible scale. Back in 2005, he was interviewed about this work by Robyn Williams of the ABC’s ‘In Conversation’ program – read about the early years of that project in a transcript of that conversation here. He is currently acting as guest editor, compiling a series of 24 papers by some 48 co-authors to be published about the entire Cicerone Project from planning to reflections – it is anticipated that these papers will be will be published during 2012.
He has also had interests in developing local, regional and national databases via UNE’s Relational Database Unit which focussed on organising experimental results from soil, water, crop and pasture sustainability research including:
- MLA's Sustainable Grazing Systems Key Program, the Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands program (for Land and Water Australia)
- The Better Fertiliser Decisions national project (for Dairy Australia, Meat and Livestock Australia and Land and Water Australia)
- The national database for the Grain & Graze program (for the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Meat and Livestock Australia and Land and Water Australia).
Jim also has an interest in the interaction between grazed pastures and agroforestry in sustainable systems thus preventing land degradation and diversifying income.
Recent publications of general interest
Securing our food supply over the next 10,000 years (Paper delivered to the Australian and New Zealand Agronomy and Grassland Societies Conference, Christchurch, NZ, 2010). "As a secure food supply indefinitely into the future is not assured, human societies across the world must respond by abandoning their complacency and developing and protecting robust knowledge systems that will transfer knowledge reliably between generations. ... We need an ever-evolving, robust scaffold of knowledge that can be trusted, not only by scientists, but also by farmers, consumers, journalists and policy makers". More ...
A network of fact farms is needed to provide credible evidence of sustainable and profitable farming systems (Paper delivered to the International Farming Systems Design Conference, Monterey, CA, 2009). "There is a clear need for better integrated knowledge of complex farming system interactions as well as greater adoption of improved practices. Both of these needs can be better met if researchers work more closely with farmers and engage with them to refine questions and test solutions within credible whole-farm investigations conducted as part of a network of 'fact farms'." Links to paper ... and poster ...
Submission to the ACCC on grocery pricing (2008). "It is to be hoped that we will learn from history and realise that the farmer needs to be paid by the consumer at a rate sufficient to enable him/her to maintain the natural resources from which the food or fibre was derived." More ...
A sustainable Australia needs sustainable science Opinion piece in the Australian R&D Review (Feb 2007). "A dilemma for the nation’s farmers in our laissez faire society, is that they are expected to prosper and survive under deregulated markets which place little responsibility on the consumer to help in the delivery of regulated environmental (e.g. native vegetation) or social (e.g. occupational health and safety) outcomes."
"... there is a need to seek more sustainable land use in a comprehensive and integrated fashion over a timescale of at least 25 years if we are to understand inter-generational transfer of resources. Projects, if successful, need ‘over-the-horizon’ funding to allow them to continue beyond the 3-year time frame imposed on so much research, especially in this area of ‘sustainability’ where an understanding of trends over time is essential." More ...
Reflections on the Cicerone Project – an experimental partnership exploring the sustainability and profitability of grazing enterprises Together with livestock producer Chairmen of the Cicerone Project (Terry Coventry and Hugh Sutherland) we presented the McClymont lecture to the Australian Society of Animal Production (2006):
"The nature of short-term funding of research and development programs is a threat to the continuation of farmer-scientist partnerships. The power of farmer leadership can also be seen as a threat by some in research and extension agencies as well as within research funding bodies.
There is a role for governments to assist in the development and delivery of objective evidence of sustainability and profitability over an inter-generational timeframe through ‘fact farms’ located across the many agroecological regions of Australia.
Such farms need to be focused on issues of relevance to local farmers as well as to research and extension partners. Partnerships comprising farmers, extension professionals and research teams need to see funding provided to all partners if the maximum value of the partnership is to be realised. Real ownership by producers is seen as a necessary condition for achieving substantial practice change.
The considerable challenges of developing an integrated, long-term, multidisciplinary approach to resolving issues of sustainability and profitability should not of themselves be a deterrent to attempting to realise this objective. Creating and maintaining ‘sustainable’ farmer-scientist partnerships will assist in this endeavour." More ...
Can there be a Magic Pudding? Towards an understanding of viable farms Inaugural address (2005). "If there is no 'magic pudding', we all need to work together if we are to survive indefinitely into the future!
I hope that you accept that all of us – Sam Sawnoff, Bill Barnacle and Bunyip Bluegum – and me and you – are largely responsible for any unsustainable farming today." More ...