You are to select a prominent Australian “Social Licence to Farm” issue and write a 2000 word essay exploring the obligation of farmers, societal perspectives on the issue and strategies that can be employed to gain greater social licence. You may choose from the following issues or propose one (to be approved by the Unit Coordinator by 5PM Friday of week 2 - 09/03/2018):

    · Livestock husbandry practices such as dehorning of cattle

    · Native vegetation clearing

    · Impacts of agriculture on the Great Barrier Reef

    · Pesticide use

    · Carbon footprint of livestock industries

    · Feral animal management

    · Water consumption (e.g. in Murray-Darling Basin)

    · Foreign ownership of agricultural businesses/land

    · Employment of Seasonal Workers

Your essay should follow the following format

    1. Introduction (~400 words)

    2. Body: with various subheadings, the names and content of which will depend on your issue (~1300 words)

    3. Conclusion (~300 words)

    4. References (APA Style)

In your essay you should:

    1. Explain the concept of a Social Licence to Operate in the context of the problem you have selected

    2. Discuss why it is a Social Licence Issue i.e. why do members of the public have an interest in the issue

    3. Discuss current public sentiment(s) around the social licence issue e.g. are members of the public accepting of it, are there boycotts of agricultural products because of the social licence issue etc.

    4. Discuss the social obligation of farmers with regards to the problem you have selected

    5. Discuss strategies that farmers and agricultural industries can employ to gain a greater level of social licence

    6. Include at least 10 references failure to use at least 10 references will attract a 5% penalty for every reference below this threshold. (i.e. 5 marks out of 100 for this assessment)

(References can be peer-reviewed journal articles, government reports, industry papers, media publications and other sources)

You must write your report in third person. Please note that penalties will apply for reports that do not meet the required word limit (within 10% over and 10% under the limit). This penalty will be 5% for every 100 words outside this range (i.e. 5 marks out of 100 for this assessment).

You will be marked on:

· Clear and professional written communication

· Ability to define social licence to operate

· Analysis of the social/cultural/economic/environmental impact of the social licence issue

· Analysis of the social obligation of farmers

· Analysis of societal perspectives on the issue

· Ability to formulate and present solutions to social licence issues

· Formatting and Referencing

Assessment 2 (60%) will be based on three components: written report (40%), presentation (15%) and peer marking (5%).

Based on a given scenario, you are to work in small groups (4-5 people) to write a 3000 word report outlining the steps that a proposed corporate farm should take to ensure it is granted and maintains a social licence to operate from the community. You will be provided with all of the specifications of the farm (size, stock numbers, foreign ownership composition, location etc.) and a brief summary of the demographics and socioeconomic situation of the community as well as the results of a survey into the community’s views on relevant farming practices.

In the scenario provided, the corporation you are to write the report for takes social licence very seriously and recognises that gaining a social licence is a vital part of their obligations to the community. As such, that corporation’s leadership team are willing to implement all of the measures that you and your team recommend in order to ensure that a social licence is granted. They have asked your team to prepare a 3000 word report that must be written in the following format:

        1. Title

        2. Introduction (~500 words):

            a. A suggested name for the farm

            b. Summary of the farm

            c. Explaining the concept of a social licence

        3. Stakeholder Analysis (~400 words):

        4. Initial community engagement strategy (~400 words)

        5. Identification of social licence issues and how you will manage community expectations around these issues, including the strategies and innovations available to bring the farm’s practices in line with community expectations. Keep in mind that some         issues will only be relevant to local community residents whilst others might also call for gaining a broader (state, national) social licence. (~1100 words)

        6. Strategy for measuring and maintaining social licence (~400 words)

        7. Conclusion (~200 words)

        8. References

You will base your recommendations for social licence-gaining activities on a range of sources as well as the scenario information (farm specifications, a brief summary of the demographics and socioeconomic situation of the community, and the results of a survey into the community’s views on relevant farming practices). You may reference information from a variety of sources including peer-reviewed journal articles, survey data, government reports, consultant reports, media sources and other reliable sources. You must include at least 10 references, failure to use at least 10 references will attract a 5% penalty for every reference below this threshold. (i.e. 5 marks out of 100 for this assessment)

You may write your report in first person plural (i.e. “we” “us”) or in third person. Please note that penalties will apply for reports that do not meet the required word limit (within 10% over and 10% under the limit). This penalty will be 5% for every 100 words outside this range. (i.e. 5 marks out of 100 for this assessment)

Your group will also submit a 15-minute PowerPoint or similar presentation (submitted as a video) developed for the scenario's local community outlining how you will seek to maintain a social licence, particularly in light of any changing community expectations (15%). Follow these instructions to convert a PowerPoint presentation to MP4 or WMV format: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/turn-your-presentation-into-a-video-c140551f-cb37-4818-b5d4-3e30815c3e83

Presentations shorter than 14 minutes and longer than 16 minutes will attract a 5% penalty. (i.e. 5 marks out of 100 for this assessment)

    1. Outline of the farm

    2. Explanation of Social Licence

    3. Proposed activities of the farm

    4. Actions to be taken to ensure that community licence is granted

    5. How you will review community’s expectations

    6. How you will respond to these changing expectations

Peer assessment – this is for both the presentation and the report (Details on conducting the Self and Peer Assessment will be provided on Moodle)

For the report you will be marked on:

    · Clear and professional written communication

    · Ability to define social licence

    · Ability to identify relevant stakeholders

    · Ability to identify and analyse relevant social licence issues with respect to the scenario

    · Quality of the various proposed community-related strategies

    · Formatting and Referencing

For the presentation you will be marked on:

    · Clear, professional and appropriate oral communication

    · Ability to define social licence

    · Ability to engage with the relevant audience

    · The quality of the various proposed community-related strategies

    · Formatting and Presentation