Is family farming educational? The Australian experience

Abstract

The Australian rural landscape has been changing throughout history since the first European settlement. The progressive expansion of agriculture in the past centuries is responsible for its modification and diversification. Family farming has a relevant role in the Australian agriculture and food production, however in the last decades it has been facing a consistent decline, primarily because of economic and climatic reasons. This paper aims to retrace the historical development of agriculture in Australia and to analyse the current situation of family farming, by reporting the tendencies and the changed features, the educational and social aspects, and the interaction with the rural landscape. According to our research it emerged that family farming has been one of the major keys of the agricultural sector development in Australia and was deeply affected through history by internal and external factors such as globalization, neoliberalism, immigration and climatic conditions. Nowadays family farming is pivotal in the interface connection between modern societies and rural environment. In fact it is also becoming an important component of national tourism, with the birth and development of agrotourisms and holiday farms which in the past years have accounted for a considerable percentage of visits both from international and national people.