For Australian agriculture, 2011 has certainly been an interesting year, as a quick review of the items that appeared on the Agforum identify. The abiding issues seem to have been carbon, the Murray Darling Basin plan, global food security and commodity prices, foreign investment in agriculture, the likely fate of farm support measures in the USA and the EU, some continuing issues around the role of science in policy decisions, and the implications of continuing Asian economic growth for agriculture and mining in Australia. View the rest of the post here

Anyone visiting Australia from overseas could be excused for being totally confused about the overall policy direction for the agriculture sector in Australia at present - based on issues in the media over recent days.  View the rest of the post here

The Australian State of the Environment Report 2011 was released yesterday, and what was remarkable about the report is that despite clear evidence of improved land and water management by farmers in particular, the authors just couldn't bring themselves to admit that environmental management in Australia is improving. Could it be a case of the wheel needing to sound squeaky in order to keep getting the (Government funding) oil? View the rest of the post here

The recently published CFI regulations provide a list of those activities that will be considered to be producing carbon offsets that landholders can sell to the major producers of greenhouse emissions. These emitters are required under the Clean Energy Futures legislation to either reduce emissions or buy carbon offsets or emission permits each year.  View the rest of the post here

One of the key questions about the proposed reduction in the availability of irrigation water in the Murray Darling Basin is how the success of the changes should be measured, so that taxpayers can be confident the money involved (up to $3 billion in water buybacks and more than $5 billion in irrigation infrastructure investment) represents a good investment. It seems the answer is simple - just ask fishermen! View the rest of the post here

There has been a steady stream of publicity about farmers starting to make money out of carbon farming, but it seems the only way to actually generate real money will be by destocking cattle. This begs the question - if I plan to have a lot of cattle then agree not to, can I get paid more than if I just planned to have a few cattle then decide not to?!! View the rest of the post here

Two opinion pieces by journalists on agriculture this week made some interesting points about the current state of the sector in their respective nations - one in Australia and the other in the UK. While the Australian piece made some valid points about the propensity of Australian agriculture to emphasise the bad and be silent about the good, the UK piece also highlights that Australian agriculture deserves a lot more credit than some commentators are prepared to give. View the rest of the post here