The emergence of scientific and mechanical farming

The emergence of scientific and mechanised farming and its impacts locally

Throughout the nineteenth century many farmers throughout the NSW colony engaged with the idea of, and practiced, improved farming. Improved farming fostered evolving farming knowledge and in turn the techniques farmers used to grow crops and raise animals, so as to boost productivity and profits. This idea was brought to the colony of NSW, and in turn the northern rivers, from Europe by the settlers. Though improved farmed had been adopted by many European-origin farmers (especially farmers of greater means) for many decades, by the end of the nineteenth century it had gained greater influence – its practice in turn was more wide spread.

In tandem with the influence of improved farming, the industrial revolution saw the transition from hand to machine methods in many areas of industry – including agriculture. Steam power and factory production systems emerged from these developments which had an influence on agriculture. Farming at North Creek from the mid-1860s onwards nineteenth century reflected these ideas and influences – for example the construction by settlers such as John Sharpe of small-scale sugar processing mills in the 1870s. However, by the early 1880s the large-scale sugar mill at Broadwater super-ceded and made Sharpe’s small-scale milling operations non-viable.

By the end of the nineteenth century farmers everywhere were adopting more ‘advanced’ implements to prepare the soil, plant, harvest and process crops; new irrigation, pest and weed control systems were also emerging. These ideas were spread through newspaper features, specialist publications, professional farming or community-based associations, established typically by prominent men in the community. Through these avenues of peer exchange farmers were told that improved farming was fundamental – not only to feed more people but to return profits to individual farmers and to advance the colony. Farmers at North Creek were engaging in these developments and with each other about them.

Then the depression of the 1890s heightened calls for the adoption of improved farming methods as a means of avoiding future economic downturns. The colonial government had sought to play a more active role in fostering the take-up of improved farming practices by establishing the NSW Department of Agriculture in 1890. These changes continued to foster the idea of progressing farming practices and introduced the idea of ‘modern agriculture’. The fusion of farming and science gave authority to the modern agricultural knowledge.

Into the twentieth century modern agriculture, or science-based farming, led to a gradual increase in the use of human-made fertilisers, chemical sprays, advanced irrigation systems and eventually everyday farm-machinery such as tractors. These developments enabled farmers to increase their productivity through cultivating more land and increasing yields from already productive land.

Into the latter half of the twentieth century the application of science to agriculture also influenced the emergence of new crops grown in the region – this included the horticultural crops of macadamia nuts and avocados. This evolution has, in more recent decades, seen the introduction of macadamia nut farming in the north of the North Creek catchment.

As science brought changes to agriculture that enabled farmers to achieve efficiencies and increase yields or production it has also created or assisted in identifying, and treating, environmental problems that result from agricultural practices. Such problems include soil erosion, and nutrient pollution that results from agricultural run-off – or water that drains off farms and is contaminated by fertilisers, manure or sprays.

Aerial view looking east toward the junction of North Creek and the Richmond River, c.1920s. Along with the Creek and the River, the images show the expanding Ballina township and the course of the breakwall. Private collection.