The point of this elective is that it is all about new technology (in the syllabus it even specifies that the tech must be within the last decade) so resources such as textbooks (which can take 2 or 3 years to get out and are expected to last years, especially in a small subject like ag) are not really all that helpful. Unfortunately this means that you need to do a lot more of the work in finding the info you need.
The first dot point about research and development issues is basically about problems associated with new tech. Because the dot point uses the word 'including' you need to have some understanding of what
each of these issues is and what it involves. For example, plant breeders rights means that there may be legal reasons why you can't just use the plant developed by another company to breed your own variety, but it also means that if you put the effort in you can have your own work protected by this legislation.
Dot point 2 asks for a series of evaluations of new tech. You need to consider one example for each of the 5 categories. For a good evaluation you should have an idea of what the tech is doing for agriculture and be able to come up with some advantages and disadvantages of using the tech. Often the biggest disadvantages for this kind of new development are that it is very expensive to buy and may need special training to use. If the tech becomes more widespread over time these disadvantages tend to decrease in importance. A good evaluation will finish with a judgement on how worthwhile it is to implement the tech and you should draw on your advantages and disadvantages to make this meaningful.
Dot point 3 is another evaluation. This time you need to consider some methods used to market the new tech. Some words you might find useful in this are
frequency and
reach. Frequency is about how often a person is likely to be exposed to the marketing message over a time period, while reach is a measure of the audience number. A combination of frequency and reach is used to judge the exposure of advertising. (It might be helpful if I group the methods together here so you don't get overwhelmed with all the options.) Advertising - print (newspapers, magazines, brochures, flyers, leaflets, direct mail, packaging labels), electronic (television, radio, online, cinema), outdoor (billboards, signs, sponsoring); Personal selling (by specialist salesperson - useful for low volume, but high value products); Publicity (such as press releases or stunts); Sales promotion - point of sale material, samples, promotions, trade shows, introductory offers.
Point 4 - Need some reasons why you might use tech in agriculture. I think the main reason is that it can be used to replace labour, which is one of the most expensive inputs in ag, also can make ag more productive, more efficient. Good to have a few examples here to illustrate these reasons.
Point 5 - need to choose one tech and then learn all about it.
Point 6 - research study - You will need to locate a study and then analyse it. To guide your analysis use the resource:
Laptop wrap: Agriculture - research study - search for this on the
TalE website. (This resource can be accessed via the public section so you will not need a det login.)
Point 7 - Why you need research to develop ag tech. Use some examples to show why research is needed. An useful one might be the introduction of the cane toad.
