Crop Production and Management

Field crop production is a major component of Australia’s economy, and landholders manage their resources to balance environmental, economic and social demands. This subject discusses how these resources are managed to produce high quality crop products. Topics include: An appraisal of the cropping enterprises in southern Australia - the location, scale and nature of cropping enterprises and their contribution to the national economy Growth, development and yield in crop production - definitions and relations between growth and development attributes, yield and yield components, measurement of crop yields, biological and economical yield and harvest index (complemented by field exercises) Environmental constraints limiting productivity - climate and growing season, water and nutrient availability Agronomic management to optimise production and product quality, including water and nutrient management, soil management and rotations Problems and prospects of both dryland and irrigated crop production within farm systems, comparative cost-return analysis, marketing strategies

• 1Identify the ecological principles underpinning crop production systems
• 2Understand how the processes of growth and development of plants interact with management operations in a crop production system
• 3Identify the role and place of selected crops in production systems
• 4Develop skills in predicting outcomes from particular management practices on economic and environmental benchmarks