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Agroforestry – Trees at work on the farm

Lesson Overview:

This unit is designed to introduce to students some of the management decisions and advantages of incorporating agroforestry into a farming enterprise. Agroforestry aims to achieve the dual purpose of improving the sustainability of the farm land asset with the added benefit of producing a financially profitable commercial timber product. The incorporation of trees on farms produces shade and shelter for pastures, crops and animals which positively impacts on their yields, improves water quality and positively addresses soil degradation issues such as erosion and salinity.

The teaching and learning resources utilise a number of teaching strategies and activities including brainstorming sessions, Kahoot! quizzes, physical modelling of plantation orientations, designing an field trial experiment, poster presentations, viewing up to date Australian multimedia agroforestry case studies, and graphing activities. By engaging in this topic, teachers will be able to educate students on an important and practical way of incorporating more trees into farming enterprises for a farms triple bottom line – benfits for economic, social and environmental areas of the farm enterprise.

 

NEW – USEFUL 360-DEGREE VIDEO TOOLS TO ACCOMPANY THIS RESOURCE

Compare different agroforestry systems around Australia with the ForestVR Agroforestry series! More information about ForestVR is available via the ForestVR pages on this website.

 

Yan Yan Gurt West Farm – Victoria: Sheep + Trees for Production & Environment

 

The Ryan’s Farm – Queensland: Silvopasture

 

Formosa Farm Estate – Tasmania: Shelter Belts

 

Curriculum Links:

Australian Curriculum

Year 7 Science
ACSSU112: Interactions between organisms, including the effects of human activities can be represented by food chains and food webs
ACSIS124: Identify questions and problems that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on scientific knowledge
ACSIS125: Collaboratively and individually plan and conduct a range of investigation types, including fieldwork and experiments, ensuring safety and ethical guidelines are followed
ACSIS126: Measure and control variables, select equipment appropriate to the task and collect data with accuracy

Year 7 and 8 Design and Technologies
ACTDEK032: Analyse how food and fibre are produced when designing managed environments and how these can become more sustainable

Years 9 and 10 Design and Technologies
ACTDEK044: Investigate and make judgments on the ethical and sustainable production and marketing of food and fibre.

NSW BOSTES Agricultural Technology

4.4.1: Examines the impact of past and current agricultural practices on agricultural sustainability
4.4.2: Identifies aspects of profitability, technology, sustainability and ethics that impact on management decisions
5.4.1: Evaluates the impact of past and current agricultural practices on agricultural sustainability
5.4.2: Evaluates management practices in terms of profitability, technology, sustainability, social issues and ethics
5.5.1: Designs, undertakes, analyses and evaluates experiments and investigates problems in agricultural contexts

Year 11 Queensland Senior Agricultural Science 2019

3.2.1: Describe and explain management of renewable resources; physical resource management; and agricultural management, research and innovation
3.2.2: Apply understanding of management of renewable resources; physical resource
management; and agricultural management, research and innovation
3.2.3: Analyse evidence about management of renewable resources; physical resource
management; and agricultural management, research and innovation
3.2.4: Interpret evidence about management of renewable resources; physical resource
management; and agricultural management, research and innovation
3.2.5: investigate phenomena associated with management of renewable resources; physical
resource management; and agricultural management, research and innovation
3.2.6: evaluate processes, claims and conclusions about management of renewable resources; physical resource management; and agricultural management, research and innovation
3.2.7: communicate understandings, findings, arguments and conclusions about management ofrenewable resources; physical resource management; and agricultural management,
research and innovation

3.3.1: Management of renewable resources

3.5.3: Agricultural management, research and innovation

4.4.2: Plant production B:  describe and explain important agronomic practices
­ planting requirements (sowing rate, seed depth, plant spacing)

5.4.2: Evaluation of an agricultural enterprise’s sustainability

Year Level/s:

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Strand Content Description:

N/A

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Agroforestry – Trees at work on the farm

teacher Resource

Teacher Guide - Agroforestry

This teacher guide outlines all activities, timings, additional resources and sample answers for the student workbook Agroforestry - Trees at work on the farm.

File Size: 1.42 MB

File Type: pdf

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student Resource

Student Workbook - Agroforestry

The student workbook provides a photocopiable resource for teaching and facilitating the activities within Agroforestry - Trees at work on the farm. Sample answers to the questions within are found in the accompanying Teacher Resource.

File Size: 2.11 MB

File Type: pdf

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