Controlled traffic farming may seem like a practical fact of life to Wimmera farmers, but one from Telangatuk East thinks it deserves to be put on the world stage.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Amity Dunstan, who is in the final months of studying a three-year Doctor of Philosophy in Social Science, will travel to the United States early next month, to present her research on the farming practice at a technology conference.
The Ethnographic Praxis in Communities Conference, in Rhode Island, is themed around the need for human agency - meaning the effect humans generate - in an age where industry in increasingly adopting automation and artificial intelligence.
Controlled traffic farming involves farm machinery following permanent wheel tracks in paddocks to reduce the negative impacts of soil compaction, with the ultimate goal of improving crop yield.
Mrs Dunstan spent four months gathering images and field work of the practice on Wimmera and southern Mallee properties. She said her research would contribute to international understanding of how farmers' actions involved adopting agricultural science and technology.
"Controlled traffic farming shows how farmers are innovative - how they engage many organisations and products and people - and how a farm system works," she said. "It's a multi-faceted effort to enact the science of CTF and it's a cultural practice too.
"The Wimmera is unique and we have lots to offer on the global stage in how we enact farming. (Farming) reflects where we are and what we do."
Mrs Dunstan said her research held lessons for agribusiness.
"A deeper knowledge and appreciation of how farmers operate is needed by those selling farming machinery," she said.
"Farmers use of products is more longitudinal in terms of what gets incorporated into the farm system. For example, when you buy an air-seeder your use of it in the first year may be different to the second and third years if you add after-market add-ons to it."
Mrs Dunstan suggested machinery vendors talk to farmers and observe their practices to develop a long-term understanding of how they used the products beyond the point of sale.
Mrs Dunstan's research has been funded by Regional Development Australia Grampians and Federation University Australia, as part of the Rural Incubator for Social and Economic Research.
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox twice weekly from the Wimmera Mail-Times. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the Wimmera, sign up below.
Alexander Darling
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
