4.1.2 Sustainable Strategies

Key Knowledge: sustainable strategies in agricultural and/or horticultural industries to address the impacts of climate change

To address climate change, we can think of the actions we need to take as being in one of two categories:

Adaptation - changing how we farm to suit the new climate, and

Mitigation - reducing the farm's own carbon footprint to slow climate change.

Adaptation strategies help producers stay profitable even when weather patterns become unpredictable.

Mitigation strategies focus on actions like carbon sequestration (locking carbon in the soil/trees) and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Adapting

Genetic Selection

Plants: Breeding short-season varieties of wheat that flower and set seed before the extreme heat of late spring hits.

Animals: Selecting livestock breeds with higher heat tolerance (e.g., introducing Bos indicus genetics into cattle herds)

Precision Technology

Using Satellite Imagery to apply fertiliser only where needed, or soil moisture probes to ensure irrigation only occurs when needed.

Controlled Environment Agriculture

Moving high-value crops (like berries or leafy greens) into glasshouses or under netting or hail mesh. This protects them from extreme UV, hail, and high-evaporation winds.

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The art of not making things worse

Carbon Sequestering

Increasing Soil Organic Matter through compost, cover cropping, and no-till farming. Soil is one of the world's largest carbon sinks.

Methane Reduction

Changing livestock diets (e.g., adding specific seaweeds like Asparagopsis to feed as in the 'Future Feed' program) to reduce the methane produced by enteric fermentation (cow burps).

Renewable Energy Integration

Replacing diesel pumps with solar-powered irrigation systems or installing wind turbines in grazing paddocks.

Dive deeper!

PRACTICE:

Follow the links to add to your knowledge and understanding of these sustainable strategies Remember that this research is relevant to more than one dot point or even area of study.

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Carbon Sequestering

At Yan Yan Gurt West in Victoria, the Stewart family have increased tree cover from 3% to 18% over the last 30 years, creating a web of biodiversity that shelters stock while aggressively capturing carbon.

While 86% of the farm’s emissions come from methane, their agroforestry system sequesters approximately 628 tonnes of CO2 annually. This effectively insets (an emission reduction project located directly within a company’s own supply chain) 98% of their emissions. By harvesting timber for long-term use in furniture and buildings, they lock that carbon away permanently while maintaining high agricultural productivity.

Read the full article here, on the Agriculture Victoria site.

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Methane Reduction

CSIRO developed a feed supplement for cattle that can reduce their methane emissions by 80% or more.
This is really important as according to Future Feed, enteric emissions (from the digestive tract) account for 5.5% of all human-caused global greenhouse gas emissions, and most of this is from farming.

Future Feed has been available to farmers since June 2022 (as at 2026, this is within the 5 years the VCAA consider to be emerging tech.)

Read more about Future Feed here on their website.

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Renewable Energy Integration

The following three suggestions for Renewable Energy Integration are from Agriculture Victoria's page Energy Use on Farms.

Consider production of bioenergy to generate heat and/or electricity from agriculture or plantation waste and residues (for example, wood chips to run heaters/hot water, biogas from effluent, straw pellets or energy/heat/hydronic systems, etc.).

Obtain energy from renewable sources such as solar panels, wind and ground source heat pumps, where possible. Consider energy storage such as batteries and hot water buffer tanks.

Explore options for renewable energy and energy efficiency retrofit grants and incentives such as the Victorian Energy Up-grades program (VEU) and the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme.

Read the full article here, on the Agriculture Victoria site.

Skill Check: Strategy Selection

To satisfy the key skill of explaining principles, you must justify why a specific strategy is sustainable.

The Scenario: A vineyard in Rutherglen is experiencing more frequent Spring frosts followed by Summer heatwaves.

The Strategy:

The grower installs frost fans and under-vine mulch.

The Analysis:

Which impact does it address? Heat stress and frost damage.
How is it sustainable? The mulch improves soil health (retaining moisture and reducing heat stress in Summer) while the fans protect the economic viability of the crop in Spring, preventing frost damage by mixing warmer air from above the inversion layer with the cold air at ground level to raise the air temperature around the vines.

PRACTICE:

Exam-style questions: Use the marking scheme to evaluate your work

Question 1 (3 Marks)

Describe how the use of "Minimum Tillage" (leaving crop stubble in the ground) acts as both an adaptation and a mitigation strategy for a grain farmer.

Question 2 (4 Marks)

A dairy farmer decides to plant 10 hectares of native trees (shelterbelts) across their property. Analyse the benefits of this strategy in relation to animal welfare and carbon sequestration.

Exam Tip: The Two-Way Strategy

Exam writers sometimes ask for strategies that solve two problems at once. When writing answers to questions like this, look for links like these to help you:

Compost/Mulch: Improves water retention AND builds soil carbon .
Solar Pumps: Reduces operational costs (economic sustainability) AND reduces fossil fuel use (environmental sustainability).

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