Springer Agriculture and Resilience in Australia’s North: A Lived Experience

This book examines the mechanisms and strategies farmers in North Australia adopt to manage the setbacks and challenges they face. This social research is based on farmers’ experiences, but also draws on the author’s own experience after his tropical fruit farm was destroyed by two Category 5 cyclones in five years. Through historical analysis, the book compares historic and contemporary aspirations for northern development, and discusses the influence of the built environment on individuals as well as access to health and other social services. Exploring the implications of individual resilience strategies for policy development within the broader context of northern development and evolving environmental governance, the book also highlights the fact that this is occurring in a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. The book will provide a unique perspective and understanding to government, individuals and industries interested in northern Australia and its relationship to the world From the Back Cover This book examines the mechanisms and strategies farmers in North Australia adopt to manage the setbacks and challenges they face. This social research is based on farmers’ experiences, but also draws on the author’s own experience after his tropical fruit farm was destroyed by two Category 5 cyclones in five years. Through historical analysis, the book compares historic and contemporary aspirations for northern development, and discusses the influence of the built environment on individuals as well as access to health and other social services. Exploring the implications of individual resilience strategies for policy development within the broader context of northern development and evolving environmental governance, the book also highlights the fact that this is occurring in a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. The book will provide a unique perspective and understanding to government, individuals and industries interested in northern Australia and its relationship to the world About the Author Keith Noble trained as an Agricultural Extension Officer and worked in a range of industries before focusing on farming in Queensland’s Wet Tropics. With cross-cultural communication skills and expertise, particularly with regional Australians and their communities, Keith is able to solve problems, identify opportunities, and provide solutions that build on the inherent strengths of people and their place. Keith chairs Terrain NRM, the Regional NRM body for Queensland’s Wet Tropics bioregion. Tania Dennis is an architect from the top end of Australia, who has designed an impressive series of places and buildings that allow people access to healthy living. Winner of numerous architecture awards, including the National Award for Small Project Architecture and Commendation for Sustainable Architecture, Tania’s projects respond to and offer positive built spaces that influence how communities function and are perceived. By working with local people, makers and artists, and using skills applied through local culture to architecture, interior and urban design, Tania’s work offers intricate and insightful interpretations of place. Sarah Larkins is an academic general practitioner and Associate Dean of Research at the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University.  Sarah has particular skills and experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and health services as well as workforce research, and is an internationally recognised expert on social accountability in health professional education. Sarah is also Co-Director of the Anton Breinl Research Centre for Health Systems Strengthening, a centre of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine. Sarah's particular focus is on collaborating to improve equity in health care services for underserved populations, particularly rural, remote, Indigenous and tropical populations, and o