The Crawford Fund’s Annual Parliamentary Conference for 2012, ‘The Scramble for Natural Resources’, addressed a question of fundamental importance to Australia and to the international community: that is, how to feed, adequately, an extra 2 or 3 billion people within a few decades without...

Moderators: Dr Denis Blight AO (Tuesday) Professor Shaun Coffey (Wednesday) Panels: The conference speakers on each day

Cover Matter Includes: Cover; Contents; Acknowledgements

The Sir John Crawford Memorial Address has been presented since 1985, in honour of the distinguished Australian civil servant, educator and agriculturalist in whose name the Crawford Fund was established. Sir John Crawford was a remarkable Australian who contributed at the highest levels, and...

This paper provides an overview of first- and second- generation biofuels. First-generation biofuels are ethanol-derived from food crops such as grains and sugar cane, and biodiesel, which use feedstocks of vegetable oils and animal fats. The technologies for manufacturing first-generation...

Millions of small farmers are reached commercially every day as they buy seeds and crop protection products, fertiliser, cell phones, machinery and tools, taking advantage of the science and research embodied in these products. The market for agricultural inputs is large, and the role of the...

So far, world food supply has managed to stay ahead of rising population due to increasing productivity and a modest expansion of cultivated area. However, finite resource reserves, the increasing cost of energy and the increasing environmental cost of opening new land pose new challenges....