Sustainability a time-honoured tradition

摘要

TOM Dunbabin doesn't have to stop for long to think of the most valuable lesson he learnt about farming from his father. "Patience — particularly when you are dealing with a natural ecosystem. When you are young, you want to change the world in a hurry. I did when I got back on the farm after studying agricultural science in the early 1970s," Dunbabin says. "But Dad taught me to stop and take a long look before you make major changes." That caution in his father produced a farming strategy for the 60 square kilometre Dunbabin property on the Forestier Peninsula in Tasmania's south-east that today would be called 'sustainable management'. The phrase wasn't invented then, but the idea was around.