This unit introduces the principles and practices relevant to the social licence to operate in the agricultural industry. You will explore how agricultural industries are dealing with the increase in global food and fibre demand while facing social and political scrutiny to cease or alter certain practices. In this unit you will examine how the agricultural industry can respond to these pressures to maintain their social licence to operate. You will use case studies to consider a range of current and emerging social licence challenges in agriculture such as animal husbandry practices, water use and contamination, environmental stewardship and the use of agri-chemicals. You will gain an understanding of the levels of the social licence to operate and the tools to measure this. You will also learn how to develop a plan for an agricultural business which will allow them to maintain their social licence to operate in a changing world.

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from SUTE and Assessment 3, Part 2, Written Assessment component.

Students appreciated the inclusion of a guest facilitator of the third workshop.

While guest speaker inclusion is reflected heavily in the unit's podcast series, it appears that the inclusion of a guest as a facilitator of class activities was well-received, Future offerings should seek to include two or three guest speakers in the tutorial sessions.

Feedback from Unit Coordinator Reflections; workshop attendance

Return to weekly tutorial delivery mode rather than workshops.

Workshops were originally designed to increase the student attendance in class. However replacing tutorials with four workshops, each held on Saturday and each running for four hours, did not improve the level of attendance. Furthermore, this mode of delivery made the attendance of guest speakers a challenge. In the event of IT difficulties, which occurred on two occasions during these workshops, there were no technical staff on hand to resolve issues. Therefore, a return to weekly tutorials presents less complexity, and will allow any guest speakers to attend during more reasonable times.

Feedback from Student assessment, certification of grades meeting.

Adjustments to assessments are needed to better reflect the requirements of a third year unit.

The marking rubric of Assessment 1 should be adjusted to increase the relative weighting of the evidence based and communication criteria, with a reduction in the relative weighting of the 'adherence to assigned position' weighting. The composition of Assessment 3 should also be adjusted from a written assessment and presentation to presentation only. The weighting of these assessments should also be adjusted to reflect the relative volume of work required (Assessment 1 from 30% to 40%, Assessment 3 from 40% to 30%)