1.

Lecturer: OK, I've asked you all here today to talk about the changes in farming
practices over the last 20 years. I did ask you to think about this last time we
met and to do some research. James, how about you?

James: [attempting to be confident] I think the main thing that changed is machinery. We have
more tractors and they are bigger. When I was 16 I learned to drive a small
tractor and it was easy. Nowadays, they have so many more things inside
them. Things like more gears, more controls. I imagine that 20 years ago, it
was more like driving a car. Now it's like driving an aeroplane.

Lecturer: Thanks, James. I'm not quite sure I know what you mean by ‘things' but I
certainly get the main gist of what you're saying. Ashram - what about you?

Ashram: It's the computer technology that has enabled all of the advances to be
made in farm machinery. It's not just tractors though - you can see
computer chips influencing almost every part of how a farm operates and is
managed. On my field trip recently to an arable farm, I was shown how a
piece of software manages the flow of spray of fertiliser in a spraying
machine. It was amazing. The individual spray nozzles can be turned on or
off by the computer without the driver even knowing. This now means that
99% of a field, no matter what shape it is, is only covered once with
fertiliser. That's compared to 70% 20 years ago where it left to driver skill.

Lecturer: That's a great example, Ashram of what we mean yes. Sabina?

Sabina: I don't really know what Ashram means. I think the main change is time.
Over time we know more and we get better. On farms, we have more
technology so we get better results. With less technology, of say 20 years
ago, the results would not have been so good. Farms look the same to me
but time and computers make them look different. Animals haven't changed
though. A sheep is still a sheep and a cow is a cow. But maybe time has
changed how they eat and grow?

Lecturer: OK Sabina, that's an interesting way of looking at it. What would the three of
you say is the main difference now with people who work in agriculture?

Sabina: Oh that's easy. They work harder because of all the changes. They work
harder and go to college to learn about technology.

James: It's a different ball game on a farm nowadays. You need training. You need
qualifications. You also need to concentrate in a particular area really as it's
so technical now we seem to have lost the general farm manager role. I
know farms that have sections or departments; on the farm itself.

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Ashram: I can see what James is getting at there. The key difference is specialisation,
yes. Even when you complete a degree in agriculture now, you need to
nominate an area in which you will gain a much deeper knowledge. I'm
training to be an agronomist - so crop welfare and production is what
interests me. I'd like to contribute to developing environmentally-friendly
crop management systems.

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