Place-based agricultural development: A new way of thinking about an old idea in northern Australia

The establishment of a northern food bowl has been a central theme in discussions about the development of Australia north of the Tropic of Capricorn (Australian Government, 2014; Australian Labor Party, 2013; Liberal Party of Australia, 2013). This policy drive has remained despite over a century of failed attempts to develop broad-scale cropping in the north beyond central and coastal North Queensland. This cycle of publicly expressed expectation for Northern Australia to produce food and fibre through broad-acre cropping is discussed as a ‘circular conundrum’ (Andrews, 2014, p. 2). This circular conundrum begins with the setting of high expectations, moves to cropping attempts, then usually to project failure, and back around to high expectations (Andrews, 2014). This chapter argues that we must learn from these past mistakes by building on this experience to embrace new models of agriculture grounded in place-based approaches. Place-based approaches emphasise the importance of local context including sociocultural, physical and institutional factors in development (Barca, et al., 2012; Hildreth & Bailey, 2014; Tomaney, 2010). Australia has traditionally relied on agri-.industrial models of agriculture characterised by a focus on production and marketing of bulk commodities (Lawrence et al., 2013). Internationally, however, new models have emerged that characterise agriculture as being multifunctional, contributing not only through production but to the environmental and social sustainability of a region (Renting et al., 2009). Marsden (2003) defined a post-productivist model of agriculture that leveraged the importance of environmental sustainability and amenity and a rural development model that leveraged the links between agriculture and local communities to support development that reflected more broadly the needs for economic, environmental and social sustainability