Overview
You will be introduced to emerging trends and practices in sustainable management and improvement of the major cropping industries in Australia. You will explore production cycles, roles of genetics, environment, soils, water and sustainable management practices and profitability, new and emerging industries and issues affecting the development of major cropping industries.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite AGRI11002 Crop Management Systems
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Unit evaluation
The field trip was very good because it helped a lot to see in the field what we studied
Retain the field trip in the unit schedule and deliver in similar structure to 2019
Feedback from Unit evaluation
More time for the lectures
Add optional tutorial sessions so students wishing to discuss aspects of lectures that they may not have fully understood can have an opportunity to further explore the unit content.
- Analyse crop production systems and identify strategies for improvement.
- Review global emerging trends in sustainable crop production.
- Develop and evaluate an innovation implementation strategy.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Presentation - 20% | |||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Presentation - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.tausz-posch@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to sustainable crop production
Introduces the main principles of crop management and the concept of sustainability.
Chapter
Readings will be uploaded for each week in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Crop productivity
Reviews the key concepts driving crop productivity.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Grain crops: Cereals
Introduces grain crops with a focus on cereals.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Grain crops: Legumes, pulses and C4 crops
Continues grain crops with a focus on legumes (particularly pulses) as well as important grain crops with C4 mechanism.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Horticultural crops
Introduces fruit and vegetable crops, the group of crops requiring the most intensive management practices.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Industrial crops
Outlines the group of crops used to produce non-food products such as cotton or extractive crops.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Temperature and nutrients
Explores how temperature and nutrients affect plant physiology, agronomy, productivity and sustainability.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Water and plant interactions
Introduces water relations in crops and explores effects on productivity, profitability and sustainability.Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Trends in crop management
Discusses how key trends, e.g. in digital technology, can be used to better understand and manage cropping systems for increased profitability and sustainability.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Field trip
Time to get on to the farm to see cropping systems in action.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Field trip
Module/Topic
Modelling crop production
Discusses whether we can predict crop productivity based on known and assumed parameters.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Integration of concepts and revision
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Presentation
You will prepare and present a 10-minute presentation (e.g. voice over PowerPoint or video) addressing an economically important crop in Australia. You will outline its history, where and how the crop is grown and refer to consumer/market trends that may impact its production. You will finish your presentation with a fascinating fact about the crop.
Week 4 Friday (3 Apr 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 6 Friday (24 Apr 2020)
- Knowledge about the history, distribution and production requirements of the selected crop
- Analyses of trends influencing production of the selected crop
- Originality of the fascinating fact
- Presentation skills
- Review global emerging trends in sustainable crop production.
- Communication
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
2 Written Assessment
For this assessment you will receive a case study including farm survey data for a grain crop production system relevant to Australia. You will analyse the provided data and present the results in your report. You will discuss the observed trends and answer questions in relation to the productivity and sustainability of the cropping system. The structure of the report will include a (1) brief introduction of the crop production system (200 ±10% words), (2) critical analysis of the case study including data evaluation, data presentation and answering of questions (no fixed word limit), (3) conclusion (100 ±10% words) and (4) references (no fixed word limit). You will submit your report online.
Week 7 Friday (1 May 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 9 Friday (15 May 2020)
- Ability to correctly analyse, present and interpret data
- Knowledge of the farming system
- Knowledge about sustainability concepts
- Professional presentation of the report including correct structure, referencing and keeping to word limit where needed
- Analyse crop production systems and identify strategies for improvement.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
3 Written Assessment
In this written assignment you will (1) analyse a cropping system including the current challenges the system is facing, (2) identify an innovation that allows for improved understanding of the cropping system including rationale and (3) evaluate an innovation implementation strategy for the cropping system analysed. Your report will have 2500 (±10%) words with the following structure:
-
Title
- Abstract (not more than 250 words)
-
Introduction of the farming system evaluated including current challenges
- Identification of an innovation for improved understanding of the cropping system including rationale
- Implementation strategy
- Conclusion
- References
Week 12 Friday (5 June 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (19 June 2020)
- Coherent and concise abstract covering all essential elements of the report while keeping to the word limit
- Knowledge of the farming system and a current challenge it is facing
- Knowledge of an innovation for improved understanding of the cropping system including ability to contextualise information
- Ability to draw information from scientific literature
- Professional presentation of the report including correct structure, referencing and keeping to word limit
- Develop and evaluate an innovation implementation strategy.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
