Agricultural production and farm management
Domain 2: Agricultural production and farm management
This domain tests practical production planning and farm management: choosing an enterprise that fits the site, soil, water, climate and market, then managing crops or livestock profitably without damaging resources.
Core rules and concepts
- Site assessment comes first: soil texture, depth, drainage, pH, organic matter, salinity, slope, wind exposure and water availability constrain what can be grown.
- Irrigation scheduling matches water applied to crop demand (evapotranspiration), soil water storage and system efficiency; over-watering leaches nutrients and wastes energy.
- Nutrient management balances crop removal with soil tests, organic matter and careful timing; applying more fertiliser than the crop can use is a cost and a pollution risk.
- Integrated pest management uses rotation, resistant varieties, sanitation, monitoring and thresholds before chemical control.
- Livestock management covers feed, water, housing, health, welfare and biosecurity; stockmanship and records are as important as inputs.
- Farm plans include labour, machinery, budgets, records and health and safety.
Worked example
A 0.2 ha greenhouse tomato crop has estimated evapotranspiration of 4 mm/day. The drip system has 90% application efficiency. Gross water = 4 ÷ 0.90 = 4.44 mm/day. Since 1 mm over 1 m² is 1 litre, and 0.2 ha = 2,000 m², volume = 4.44 × 2,000 = 8,880 L/day, about 8.9 m³/day. With 2,000 plants and one 2 L/h emitter per plant, run time = 8,880 ÷ (2,000 × 2) = 2.22 hours/day. If salinity requires a 10% leaching fraction, gross water must be increased; do not simply add 10% to the run time without checking the calculation.
Traps
- Confusing net crop water use with gross irrigation requirement.
- Mixing millimetres and cubic metres; 1 mm over 1 hectare is 10 m³.
- Planning a rotation by calendar rather than by pest, disease and nutrient considerations.
- Treating a soil test as a fertiliser prescription without yield and crop removal data.
- Ignoring labour and machinery capacity when expanding an enterprise.