Overview
This unit introduces the principles and practices relevant to the social licence to farm. You will learn about the concept of the social licence to operate, the social obligations of farmers and identify drivers of social licence. You will also develop the skills to measure the levels and factors of the social licence to operate, and learn techniques for raising the level of social licence, using specific industry case studies and scenarios.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite AGRI11005 Agricultural Business Planning
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 - 2019
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 Students - in class, other teaching staff & personal reflections of UC
Students struggled to understand non-Ag, non-Rural perspectives and their thoughts on non-Ag/urban perspectives was largely based on speculation about what urban citizens think.
Although some data on public perceptions of agricultural activities exists in the literature, perhaps teaching staff can also arrange a survey or discussion with members of the non-Ag and/or urban public. Students could also be asked, in advance, to research a certain perspective on a social licence issue and engage in an in class debate from that perspective, even if they disagree with it.
Feedback from Personal reflection of UC
The presentation part of Assessment 2 asks students to develop a "town hall" style presentation. However, this seems to be a new way of communicating for many students and a departure from their usual formal student to lecturer presentations.
In preparation for the Presentation in Assessment 2, students should have the opportunity to see an example of a "town hall" style presentation in practice, perhaps through a demonstration in a tutorial.
Feedback from Personal reflection of UC
Very few students did the pre-reading which made in class discussions difficult.
Pre-reading either needs to be set in the days between the lecture and tutorial or it needs to be shorter (2-4 pages). Discussions about the pre-reading also need to be based on specific questions rather than asking the students to just "discuss" the concepts and their thoughts.
Feedback from Students & Personal reflection of UC
Students found it difficult to engage with their peers from other campuses during discussions and requested more opportunities to meet one another
Students should have more opportunities to meet or engage with each other in small groups - either through a mid-term workshop in some central location (e.g. Biloela) or through small online discussion groups.
Feedback from Students, other teaching staff
Lectures/tutorials too long. Students found that the three hours of continuous class was tiring and draining, especially when followed by AGRI13006 (Data Management)
Lectures and tutorials for this unit should either be held on different days, have a gap between them or between the next unit's classes or be shortened. I feel that shortening the lecture/tutorial would only be feasible in the case that students comply with any pre-reading so as to make the tutorial especially more to the point and direct (facilitated by more direct questioning rather than open discussion)
Feedback from Students, Personal reflection of UC
Assessment 1 took too long to return.
As UC I took too long to mark assessment this was due to a number of factors. 1) Two of the three units I was coordinating were being developed for the first time (and the other was almost completely re-vamped due to last year's AUER) so developing a lot of new material took a lot of time. 2) Assessment feedback was perhaps too in-depth, I sought to give a very comprehensive, almost line by line, commentary in feedback for most assessments, correcting punctuation frequently and suggesting alternatives to sentence structure. This took far too long. A better strategy is to leave a list of comments along with the marking rubric that addresses general points about the assessment without going into great detail.
- Explain the principles of a social licence to operate.
- Make an informed decision regarding the social obligation of farmers.
- Apply the concepts and principles of a 'social licence to operate' to a business case in agriculture.
- Present a case for the requirements of maintaining a durable 'social licence to operate'.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 60% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 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 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 60% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Wordprocessing, spreadsheeting and powerpoint software; access to audio or video recording technology
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.sinai@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction & History of the Social Licence to Operate in Agriculture
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Measuring Social Licence
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Urban Rural Divide in Social Licence
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Sustainability Plans for the Agriculture Industry - Global and National Perspective
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Field Trip (Friday) to Rockhampton
Module/Topic
Water Use and Contamination
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Land Use Conflict and Land Use Planning
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Animal Welfare
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Animal Laws and Policy
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Live Export
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Agri-environment Schemes
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Human Health and Agriculture
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
International Perspectives: Food Safety, Working Conditions and Other Issues
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
You are to select a prominent social licence issue facing Australian agriculture and write a 2000 word persuasive essay arguing for a position on the issue (for example if a certain agricultural practice should continue, be amended or stopped). In your essay you must explore the obligation of farmers and the range of societal perspectives on the issue, even those they do not align with your own viewpoint. If you are arguing that a certain practice should continue or be amended you should outline any strategies that can be employed by farmers and the industry to gain greater acceptance by society. If you are arguing that a certain practice should cease all together, you should outline alternative solutions for farmers and the industry that allows them to continue producing food and/or fibre. In your essay you must explain the various views (for and against) on your selected issue or practice. You may choose from the following issues or propose one (to be approved by the Unit Coordinator by 5PM Friday of week 2 - 22/03/2019):
• Livestock husbandry practices such as dehorning of cattle, mulesing
• Native vegetation clearing
• Live export
• Impacts of agriculture on the Great Barrier Reef
• Pesticide use
• Carbon footprint of agriculture
• Feral animal control
• Water consumption (e.g. in Murray-Darling Basin)
• Foreign ownership of agricultural businesses/land
• Employment of Seasonal Workers
• Animal agriculture (e.g livestock production for human consumption)
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 or Harvard 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. Discuss strategies that farmers and agricultural industries can employ to communicate their social licence credentials to the public, particularly in urban settings
7. Include at least 10 references (References can be peer-reviewed journal articles, government reports, industry papers, media publications and other sources)
You must write your report in third person and adhere to the word count (within 10% over and 10% under the limit).
Week 6 Tuesday (23 Apr 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Tuesday (7 May 2019)
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
- Explain the principles of a social licence to operate.
- Make an informed decision regarding the social obligation of farmers.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Presentation and Written Assessment
Assessment 2 (60%) will be based on three components: written report (40%), presentation (15%) and peer marking (5%). Only one member of the group should submit the written report and presentation (separately) to Moodle.
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. Identify key stakeholders and their relationship with the proposed farm (~400 words):
4. Identification of at least three social licence issues and how they apply to the proposed farm (~600 words)
5. Discussion of how you and how you will manage community expectations around each of these issues including the innovative strategies. 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 (~500 words)
6. Community engagement and education strategy (~400 words)
7. Strategy for measuring and maintaining social licence (~400 words)
8. Conclusion (~200 words)
9. References
10. Statement of Contribution (Here you must outline the contributions of each group member to both the written assessment and the presentation - there is no word limit for this)
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.
You may write your report in first person plural (i.e. “we” “us”) or in third person. You must remain within within 10% (over or under the word count).
Your group will also submit a 15-minute PowerPoint or similar presentation (submitted with audio) 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% of the marks for this unit). Details on how to add voice recordings to a PowerPoint presentation can be found here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c
Presentations must be no shorter than 14 minutes and no longer than 16 minutes.
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
You will also be required to submit a Self and Peer Assessment worth 5/60 for this assessment (Details on conducting the Self and Peer Assessment will be provided on Moodle.)
Review/Exam Week Monday (10 June 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (21 June 2019)
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
- Explain the principles of a social licence to operate.
- Make an informed decision regarding the social obligation of farmers.
- Apply the concepts and principles of a 'social licence to operate' to a business case in agriculture.
- Present a case for the requirements of maintaining a durable 'social licence to operate'.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
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?
