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83-532: The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia . The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland . The name was generally applied to an area approximating to that of the Condamine River catchment upstream of Condamine township but is now applied to a wider region comprising

166-399: A hill farm , while large estates growing cash crops such as cotton or coffee may be called plantations. Many other terms are used to describe farms to denote their methods of production, as in collective , corporate , intensive , organic or vertical . Other farms may primarily exist for research or education, such as an ant farm , and since farming is synonymous with mass production,

249-530: A semi-arid or subtropical highland climate . Summer maximum temperatures range from 28 to 34 °C (82 to 93 °F), while winter maximums range from 13 to 19 °C (55 to 66 °F). The annual rainfall ranges from 600 mm (24 in) in the far west of the region, to 1,000 mm (39 in) in the east. In the south-east of the Darling Downs winter temperatures can drop below −5 °C (23 °F) with heavy frost and occasional snow , while in

332-478: A sheep property at Canning Downs on the Condamine River in 1846. Other well-established residences on the southern downs include Glengallan Homestead, Talgai Homestead, Pringle Cottage and Rosenthal Homestead. One of the first stations to be established was Jimbour House. It was also the point where Leichhardt launched his expedition to the Northern Territory in 1844. By 1844 there 26 properties including

415-525: A concern by landholders, as stock water bores drilled into the coal seams can be affected by reduced water flows or gas. Under Queensland law, gas companies are required to " make good " if there is an impairment on a landholder's bore. The Walloon Coal Measures are hydraulically connected to the aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin (within the Surat Basin) and in some locations immediately underlies

498-418: A greater share of total farming input expenditures towards the purchase of locally sourced input?(e.g. labour and organic fertilisers) and a local multiplier effect is expected to kick in. Overall, green farming practices tend to require more labour inputs than conventional farming (e.g. from comparable levels to as much as 30 per cent more) (FAO 2007 and European Commission 2010), creating jobs in rural areas and

581-512: A higher return on labour inputs." Where most of the income is from some other employment, and the farm is really an expanded residence, the term hobby farm is common. This will allow sufficient size for recreational use but be very unlikely to produce sufficient income to be self-sustaining. Hobby farms are commonly around 2 hectares (4.9 acres) but may be much larger depending upon land prices (which vary regionally). Often very small farms used for intensive primary production are referred to by

664-567: A holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare to several thousand hectares. A farm may operate under a monoculture system or with a variety of cereal or arable crops, which may be separate from or combined with raising livestock. Specialist farms are often denoted as such, thus a dairy farm, fish farm, poultry farm or mink farm. Some farms may not use the word at all, hence vineyard (grapes), orchard (nuts and other fruit), market garden or "truck farm" (vegetables and flowers). Some farms may be denoted by their topographical location, such as

747-472: A key indicator of status and power, especially in Medieval European agrarian societies . The distribution of farm ownership has historically been closely linked to form of government. Medieval feudalism was essentially a system that centralized control of farmland, control of farm labor and political power, while the early American democracy, in which land ownership was a prerequisite for voting rights,

830-525: A large farm becomes a station . A farm in Africa includes various structures. Depending on climate-related areas primarily farming is the raising and breeding of grazing livestock, such as cattle, sheep, ostriches, horses or goats. Predominantly domestic animals are raised for their meat, milk, skin, leather or fiber wool). You might even come across silk farms. Furthermore, there are plenty of hunting farms, guest farms and game farms . Arable] or irrigated land

913-663: A number of power stations situated on the Downs, including the Millmerran Power Station , Oakey Power Station , Darling Downs Power Station and the Kogan Creek Power Station . Tarong Power Station is building the state's largest grid battery storage project. The Dingo Fence starts at the town of Jimbour across the country to the Great Australian Bight . Mining exploration leases cover more than 90% of

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996-523: A number of reasons for the methane releases, but conceded that "depressurisation of the Walloon Coal Measures during gas production could generate horizontal migration of methane gas. However, this flux of methane is likely to be small because of the shallow dip of the coal beds and the distance to gas production fields." Other reasons for variation in bubbles includes changes in water flow, or flooding changing groundwater patterns. Hydraulic fracturing

1079-407: A number of sheep stations with more than 150,000 head. Local aboriginals and European squatters co-settled the area from the late 1840s onwards. Darling Downs then became known as the 'jewel in the diadem of squatterdom' with an elite 'pure merino' class living in comfortable houses. In 1854, Charles Douglas Eastaughffe settled in the area. Spicers Gap Road opened up the area in the 1850s. Later

1162-517: A radio series. Farm There are about 570 million farms in the world, most of which are small and family-operated. Small farms with a land area of fewer than 2 hectares operate on about 12% of the world's agricultural land, and family farms comprise about 75% of the world's agricultural land. Modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In the United States, livestock may be raised on rangeland and finished in feedlots , and

1245-501: A site where a tourist operator has collected numerous related structures. The region has also a small zoo, Darling Downs Zoo near Clifton. The region has uncovered important megafauna fossil finds. The rich discoveries have lent weight to the theory that humans were not a factor in the extinction of the ancient megafauna species. Many of the fossils in the region date to the Pleistocene and include species such as Diprotodon optatum ,

1328-662: A system of subsidies and market intervention. Until the 1990s, the policy accounted for over 60 per cent of the European Union's annual budget, and as of 2013 accounts for around 34 per cent. According to the World Bank , "most empirical evidence indicates that land productivity on large farms in Pakistan is lower than that of small farms, holding other factors constant." Small farmers have "higher net returns per hectare" than large farms, according to farm household income data. Nepal

1411-647: Is a growing backlash, due mostly to companies using intellectual property law to prevent farmers from having the legal right to fix their equipment (or gain access to the information to allow them to do it). This has encouraged groups such as Open Source Ecology and Farm Hack to begin to make open source hardware for agricultural machinery. In addition on a smaller scale Farmbot and the RepRap open source 3D printer community has begun to make open-source farm tools available of increasing levels of sophistication. Condamine River The Condamine River , part of

1494-461: Is a tall building where grains, such as wheat and oats are stored. Farmers also use small round metal buildings to store their grain. These buildings are called grain bins . Dairy farming is a class of agriculture, where female cattle , goats , or other mammals are raised for their milk , which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy for processing and eventual retail sale There are many breeds of cattle that can be milked some of

1577-553: Is also extracted from streams, off-stream reservoirs and on-farm dams. The lower temperatures of the milder summers in the Stanthorpe and Killarney regions allows farmers to grow lettuce, celery, brassicas and potato. The Darling Downs contains the largest deposit of rich black agricultural soils in Australia. A commonly grown grass species Panicum coloratum , also known as Bambatsi, is well-suited for pastures used for grazing because it

1660-602: Is an agricultural country and about 80% of the total population are engaged in farming. Rice is mainly produced in Nepal along with fruits like apples. Dairy farming and poultry farming are also growing in Nepal . Farming is a significant economic sector in Australia . A farm is an area of land used for primary production which will include buildings. According to the UN, "green agriculture directs

1743-634: Is called the Neolithic Revolution and first began around 12,000 years ago, near the beginning of the geological epoch of the Holocene around 12,000 years ago. It was the world's first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture. Farming spread from the Middle East to Europe and by 4,000 BC people that lived in the central part of Europe were using oxen to pull plows and wagons. Subsequent step-changes in human farming practices were provoked by

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1826-510: Is fed directly to the cows, or stored as silage for use during the winter season. Additional dietary supplements are added to the feed to improve milk production. Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens (egg layers or broilers ), turkeys , ducks , and other fowl , generally for meat or eggs . A pig farm is one that specializes in raising pigs for bacon, ham, and other pork products. They may be free range , intensive, or both. Farm control and ownership has traditionally been

1909-689: Is joined by Bungil Creek at Surat followed by the Cogoon River (Muckadilla Creek) before a major junction with the Maranoa River at Lake Kajarabie above St George from where it continues southwest to Dirranbandi . Below Dirranbandi the Balonne forks into a series of anabranches with a western distributary being called the Culgoa River which, in turn, flows into the Darling River . The eastern branch of

1992-507: Is not considered to be the cause as there has been no hydraulic fracturing in those fields. Natural gas seeps are not altogether uncommon in Queensland, but there are no recorded instances of bubbles occurring in a river. The Queensland Gasfields Commission (a government agency) identified 17 soil gas surveys undertaken during the 1980s and 1990s, from locations around the state that record naturally occurring methane releases. The nearest one to

2075-583: Is now called The Downs include Dalby , Warwick , Stanthorpe , Wallangarra , Goondiwindi , Oakey , Miles , Pittsworth , Allora , Clifton , Cecil Plains , Drayton , Millmerran , Nobby , and Chinchilla . The New England Highway , Gore Highway and the Warrego Highway traverse the region. The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing has been constructed so that heavy traffic can avoid passing through Toowoomba. Coolmunda Dam , Leslie Dam , Cooby Dam , Perseverance Dam , Cressbrook Dam , Storm King Dam and

2158-462: Is often used for raising crops such as feed grains and hay for animal feeding. On some farms (Astro Farm) star-gazing became very popular because of the excellent optical quality in the desert. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) which investigates cosmic gamma rays is situated on Farm Göllschau in Namibia . Farm equipment has evolved over the centuries from simple hand tools such as

2241-411: Is one of the most important policies of the European Union and is helping in the change of farms from traditional family farms to larger production units. The policy has the objectives of increasing agricultural production, providing certainty in food supplies, ensuring a high quality of life for farmers, stabilizing markets, and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers. It was, until recently, operated by

2324-572: Is significantly below the 2005 U.S. poverty level of $ 19,874 for a family of four. In 2007, corn acres are expected to increase by 15% because of the high demand for ethanol, both in and outside of the U.S. Producers are expecting to plant 90.5 million acres (366,000 km ) of corn, making it the largest corn crop since 1944. In the UK, farm as an agricultural unit, always denotes the area of pasture and other fields together with its farmhouse, farmyard and outbuildings. Large farms, or groups of farms under

2407-513: Is suitable to the heavy-cracking clay soils found in the area. The eastern Downs feature a wide range of soil types. Brothers Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Ziesemer and Theodor Martin Peter Ziesemer were significant pioneers of large scale wheat farming on the Darling Downs. The area is home to Australia's largest concentration of feedlots. In 2010, two abattoirs at Pittsworth and Killarney owned by Dudley Leitch were closed. Several other plants in

2490-424: Is the norm, with either government ownership of the land or common ownership by a local group. Especially in societies without widespread industrialized farming, tenant farming and sharecropping are common; farmers either pay landowners for the right to use farmland or give up a portion of the crops. Agribusiness is the industry , enterprises , and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in

2573-425: Is the only natural lake on the tablelands. The town of Jandowae gained fame after offering vacant blocks of land for just $ 1. This was done to encourage residents to settle in the small town which had less than 1,000 people in 2001. The Cobb & Co Museum has displays of horse-drawn vehicles and material on the history of the Darling Downs. The Jondaryan Woolshed is a heritage-listed shearing shed situated at

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2656-599: Is used for town water supply and for irrigation . Leslie Dam on Sandy Creek, a tributary of the Condamine, is the main water reservoir for Warwick . Talgai Weir is a small weir that can hold 640 megalitres (140 × 10 ^  imp gal; 170 × 10 ^  US gal) near Clifton . Other water storage facilities on the Condamine River include the Yarramalong Weir, Lemon Tree Weir, Loudoun Weir, Tipton Weir and

2739-574: The Balonne catchment that is part of the Murray-Darling Basin , drains the northern portion of the Darling Downs , an area of sub-coastal southern Queensland , Australia. The river is approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) long and rises on Mount Superbus , South East Queensland 's highest peak, on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range , approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) from

2822-562: The Baranggum people . The Baranggum language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Western Downs Regional Council , particularly Dalby , Tara , Jandowae and west towards Chinchilla . Originally, the Darling Downs was covered with a wealth of indigenous grasses which created an ideal verdure for stock eight months of the year. The Darling Downs Aboriginals had an annual burning season at

2905-614: The British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century, and the Green Revolution of the second half of the 20th century. Farming originated independently in different parts of the world, as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than food capture. It may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in western Asia, soon to be followed by

2988-685: The Bunya Mountains National Park . The region to the north is the South Burnett and the Maranoa lies to the west. A section of the western downs lies over coal deposits of the Surat Basin . Towards the coast, the mountains of the Scenic Rim form the headwaters of the westward flowing Condamine. The majority of the Darling Downs has a humid subtropical climate although some areas experience

3071-593: The Glenlyon Dam are some of the major water storage facilities in the area. West of Toowoomba is the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport . The Darling Down is situated in the drainage basins of the Condamine River and Maranoa River and tributaries. The Condamine River flood plain is noted for its good soils formed by basaltic alluvium . On the northern boundaries of the Downs are the Bunya Mountains and

3154-470: The Great Artesian Basin , light planes crop -dusting, rusty old woolsheds and other scattered remnants from a bygone era of early exploration and settlement. The region is recognised as a cultural icon on the list of Queensland's Q150 icons. The largest city and commercial centre of the Darling Downs is Toowoomba about 132 kilometres (82 mi) west of Brisbane . Other towns situated on what

3237-455: The Hunter Region and travelling north. In June 1827, Cunningham climbed to the top of Mount Dumaresque (near what is now Clintonvale close to Maryvale ) and after wrote in his diary that this lush area was ideal for settlement. Exploring around Mount Dumaresque, Cunningham found a pass, now known as Cunninghams Gap . Cunningham returned to Moreton Bay in 1828 and with Charles Fraser charted

3320-508: The Q150 celebrations, the Darling Downs was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "location". Steele Rudd (Arthur Davis) wrote a series of comic novels on rural life, starting with On Our Selection (1899), about Dad, Mother and Dave Rudd of Snake Gully. The Rudds had four (or six) acres adjoining a sheep run in the Darling Downs. The stories were made into films and

3403-698: The Southern Downs , Western Downs , Toowoomba and Goondiwindi local authority areas. The name Darling Downs was given in 1827 by Allan Cunningham , the first European explorer to reach the area and recognises the then Governor of New South Wales , Ralph Darling . The region has developed a strong and diverse agricultural industry largely due to the extensive areas of vertosols (cracking clay soils), particularly black vertosols, of moderate to high fertility and available water capacity . Manufacturing and mining, particularly coal mining are also important, and coal seam gas extraction experienced significant growth in

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3486-577: The bio-economy , in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology , farms, food , forestry , fisheries , fuel , and fiber . Studies of business growth and performance in farming have found successful agricultural businesses are cost-efficient internally and operate in favorable economic, political, and physical-organic environments. They are able to expand and make profits, improve

3569-612: The hoe , through ox- or horse-drawn equipment such as the plough and harrow , to the modern highly technical machinery such as the tractor , baler and combine harvester replacing what was a highly labour-intensive occupation before the Industrial Revolution . Today much of the farm equipment used on both small and large farms is automated (e.g. using satellite guided farming). As new types of high-tech farm equipment have become inaccessible to farmers that historically fixed their own equipment, Wired magazine reports there

3652-532: The "farmstead". Enterprises where livestock are raised on rangeland are called ranches . Where livestock are raised in confinement on feed produced elsewhere, the term feedlot is usually used. In the US, in 1910 there were 6,406,000 farms and 10,174,000 family workers; In 2000 there were only 2,172,000 farms and 2,062,300 family workers. The share of U.S. farms operated by women has risen steadily over recent decades, from 5 percent in 1978 to 14 percent by 2007. In

3735-733: The Balonne River in turn branches again - into the Bokhara River on the right and the Narran River on the left (eastern) side. The Narran flows to Narran Lake , an endorheic lake between Brewarrina , Walgett and Lightning Ridge . The Birrie splits from the Bokhara before these join with the Barwon River west of Brewarrina which also flows into the Darling River. Water from the Condamine River

3818-527: The Balonne River on St George's Day, 23 April 1846. The next year 1847 Ludwig Leichhardt went to examine the course of the Condamine River. In 1985, it was proposed by the Water Research Foundation of Australia to transfer water from the Clarence River to the Condamine water basin. The Condamine River and its catchment area were involved in the 2010–11 Queensland floods . During the floods

3901-459: The Cecil Plains Weir. The Condamine River is reduced to a series of drying ponds during droughts in Australia . The Chinchilla Weir was built in 1973 and is located on the Condamine River, eight kilometres south of the town of Chinchilla. The weir has the dual purpose of providing supply of irrigation water along the alluvial flats of the Condamine River and of augmenting the water supply to

3984-579: The Condamine Alluvium. In 2012 methane gas was observed escaping from the river. The gas that is seeping is derived either from the underlying Walloon Coal Measures and/or the Springbok Sandstone. The Queensland Government undertook an investigation into the gas seeps and the technical study concluded that the bubbling was unlikely to be caused by coal seam gas (CSG) activities in the region, but that further studies were required. In relation to

4067-508: The Darling Downs were fertile wilderness . For example, around Ma Ma Creek, rich swampy wetlands provided a haven for many animal species not currently found on the downs. The Darling Downs hopping mouse and paradise parrot have both become extinct since cattle farming began. The New Acland Mine expansion, north of Oakey, has been delayed by the largest environmental public interest court cases in Australian history. In 2009 as part of

4150-460: The Darling Downs. The western Downs has seen a massive installation of coal seam gas wells. After agriculture and mining and manufacturing are the next most important sectors. Manufacturing focuses on food and beverages but also the production of machinery, equipment and metal products. The region produces around one quarter of the state's agricultural output. Water for irrigation is mostly sourced from groundwater from alluvial aquifers . Water

4233-506: The Kamabroi dialect. The Downs tribes spoke one common dialect, called Waccah and so to all other surrounding tribes were known as the Wacca-burra. The Goonnee-burra were once situated where Warwick stands today. Goonnee meant "the ones who hunt with fire". Allan Cunningham set out to explore the area to the west of Moreton Bay in 1827, crossing to the west of the Great Dividing Range from

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4316-498: The United States, there are over three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers; 72% are foreign-born, 78% are male, they have an average age of 36 and average education of 8 years. Farmworkers make an average hourly rate of $ 9–10 per hour, compared to an average of over $ 18 per hour for nonfarm labor. Their average family income is under $ 20,000 and 23% live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. One-half of all farmworker families earn less than $ 10,000 per year, which

4399-460: The area were also closed leaving the remaining meat processor at Yangan in high demand. By late 2012, the industry was recovering with smaller processing facilities at Crows Nest and Inglewood opening. In 2014, the Oakey Abattoir which is the fourth largest meat processing plant in Australia, launched an environmental initiative to extract green energy biogas from its waste water streams. It

4482-667: The best producing ones include Holstein , Norwegian Red , Kostroma , Brown Swiss , and more. In most Western countries, a centralized dairy facility processes milk and dairy products, such as cream , butter , and cheese . In the United States, these dairies are usually local companies, while in the southern hemisphere facilities may be run by very large nationwide or trans-national corporations (such as Fonterra ). Dairy farms generally sell male calves for veal meat, as dairy breeds are not normally satisfactory for commercial beef production. Many dairy farms also grow their own feed, typically including maize, alfalfa , and hay. This

4565-428: The bubbling in the Condamine river was 16 km distant and not linked to the river. These measured low levels of mixed gas ranging from less than 10 parts per million ( ppm ) to 240ppm occurring in the subsoil at depths of up to one metre. In 2017, the gas company that holds the tenure over this area of the river reported a 90% reduction in the level of the seep compared to the peak rate recorded in early-2016. This

4648-406: The cultivation of crops. Modern units tend to specialize in the crops or livestock best suited to the region, with their finished products being sold for the retail market or for further processing, with farm products being traded around the world. A farm may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation or a company, may produce one or many types of produce, and can be

4731-558: The decade up to 2016. The landscape is dominated by rolling hills covered by pastures of many different species, vegetables , legumes such as soy beans and chick peas, and other crops including cotton , wheat , barley and sorghum . Between the farmlands there are long stretches of crisscrossing roads, bushy ridges, winding creeks and herds of cattle. There are farms with beef and dairy cattle , pigs , sheep and lamb stock. Other typical sights include irrigation systems, windmills serving as water well pumps to get water from

4814-500: The domestic market, the industry grew quickly with the advent of the CSG/LNG industry and building of export facilities in Gladstone . The gas is found in the coal seams and is adsorbed to the coal by water pressure. To extract gas from coal seams it is necessary to remove the water from the coal seams to allow the gas to flow. The de-watering of the Walloon Coal Measures has been raised as

4897-459: The east coast of Queensland, and then flows north west across the Darling Downs, then west. The Condamine River is a tributary of the Darling River . The headwaters of the river rise on the slopes of Mount Superbus , part of the Main Range , before passing through Cambanoora Gorge . The river flows through the towns of Killarney , Warwick , and Chinchilla and the tributary Gowrie Creek drains

4980-412: The expansion of Queensland Rail 's train networks and Cobb and Co 's stagecoach transport greatly assisted access to the region. Gold was found in the district around this time, however it was agricultural activity that provided for the boom times ahead. The 1891 Australian shearers' strike started at Jondaryan . The Darling Downs experienced a water crisis as the Condamine River dried up during

5063-495: The largest-ever marsupial . In 2021, examination of a partial skull revealed a site on the Darling Downs was the location for a new species of Tomistominae crocodile, representing the largest extinct crocodile species ever discovered in Australia. The Darling Downs Golf Association has 21 affiliated golf clubs on the Darling Downs. The Carnival of Flowers attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to Toowoomba each September since 1950. Before European settlement many areas on

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5146-428: The majority of rural residents are subsistence farmers , feeding their families and selling any surplus products in the local market. The word in the sense of an agricultural land-holding derives from the verb "to farm" a revenue source, whether taxes, customs, rents of a group of manors or simply to hold an individual manor by the feudal land tenure of "fee farm". The word is from the medieval Latin noun firma , also

5229-402: The mechanization of crop production has brought about a great decrease in the number of agricultural workers needed. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are very large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, and

5312-481: The north-west summer temperatures can surpass 45 °C (113 °F). Severe thunderstorms and damaging floods are a threat at times, as are bushfires in dry years. Part of the Darling Downs, which includes the towns of Allora, Clifton, Warwick, Killarney and the rocky district in the south known as the Granite Belt , is known as the Southern Downs . The phrase is also used to define political boundaries and in

5395-560: The population of the Darling Downs was estimated to be 241,537 people. In 2022, the Wieambilla police shootings took place, marking the first fundamentalist Christian terrorist attack in Australia. The Queensland Gas Pipeline oil pipeline and the Roma to Brisbane Pipeline, Australia's first natural gas pipeline both cross the region from west to east. There are three coal mines , New Acland Mine , Kogan Creek Mine and Cameby Downs coal mine and

5478-399: The presence of methane in the river, the report concluded that “… there is no safety risk or evidence of environmental harm occurring in the immediate area from the Condamine River gas seeps." In April 2016 the Condamine River seeps were brought to the forefront of media attention by New South Wales Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham , when he allegedly set alight the methane gas bubbling from

5561-402: The productivity of land , labor , and capital , and keep their costs down to ensure market price competitiveness. Agribusiness is not limited to farming. It encompasses a broader spectrum through the agribusiness system which includes input supplies, value-addition , marketing , entrepreneurship , microfinancing , and agricultural extension . The land and buildings of a farm are called

5644-530: The promotion of tourism in the area. The Dumaresq and the MacIntyre are found in this part of the region. (This is different to the IBRA subregion also known as The Southern Downs Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia , which is further west, around the towns of Roma, Mitchell and Injune). Baranggum (also known as Barrunggam, Barunggam Parrungoom, Murrumgama) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by

5727-605: The rest of Queensland due to its elevation. Altitudes from 680 m to over 1200 m above sea level make it ideally suited to premium wine production. The region is popular with tourists because of its many natural and heritage attractions, including the Goomburra State Forest, Cunninghams Gap , Spicers Gap and the Queen Mary Falls near Killarney in the Main Range National Park . Lake Broadwater

5810-459: The river reached a record peak at Condamine of 15.25 metres (50.0 ft) and another peak of 14.67 metres (48.1 ft). The Coal Seam Gas industry (often referred to as Coal Bed Methane ) started exploring for unconventional gas in the Chinchilla region, through which the Condamine River flows, around 2000 when Bob Bryan formed The Queensland Gas Company (QGC). Initially supplying gas into

5893-558: The riverbed. He claimed that " hydraulic fracturing " was the likely cause for the problem, but to date there is no direct link. In 2017 CSIRO researchers with expertise in hydrogeology, geology, ecology and biogeochemistry assessed the Condamine River to determine what is currently known about the methane seeps in the River including natural and human causes, and the potential human and environmental health and safety impacts of methane escaping from underground. They concluded that there could be

5976-417: The route through the pass to the Darling Downs. Ludwig Leichhardt in 1844 saw the remains of a camp showing the signs of white men through ridge poles and steel axes. News of the lush pastures quickly spread resulting in a land grab that authorities in the distant New South Wales colony found difficult to stop. Patrick Leslie was the first European person to settle on the Darling Downs in 1840, establishing

6059-411: The same ownership, may be called an estate. Conversely, a small farm surrounding the owner's dwelling is called a smallholding and is generally focused on self-sufficiency with only the surplus being sold. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units where industrial agriculture and mechanization brings large crop yields. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

6142-515: The severe drought of 1994/1995. During the early 20th century dairy was a significant industry for Queensland. The 1930s saw the peaking of the dairy industry on the Downs with 6,500 farms and over 200,000 milking cows. The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association expanded, constructed or purchased at least 10 butter and cheese factories across the Darling Downs. The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory in Toowoomba closed in 2006. In 2010,

6225-413: The slopes around Toowoomba . At the junction with Dogwood Creek, south of Yuleba , the Condamine turns to the south-west and becomes known as the Balonne River. The Condamine descends 516 metres (1,693 ft) over its 657-kilometre (408 mi) course , with a catchment area of 13,292 square kilometres (5,132 sq mi). The water basin contains more than 1,800 wetlands. The Balonne River

6308-597: The source of the French word ferme , meaning a fixed agreement, contract, from the classical Latin adjective firmus meaning strong, stout, firm. As in the medieval age virtually all manors were engaged in the business of agriculture, which was their principal revenue source, so to hold a manor by the tenure of "fee farm" became synonymous with the practice of agriculture itself. Farming has been innovated at multiple different points and places in human history. The transition from hunter-gatherer to settled, agricultural societies

6391-473: The specialization they are being used for, such as a dairy rather than a dairy farm, a piggery, a market garden, etc. This also applies to feedlots, which are specifically developed to a single purpose and are often not able to be used for more general purpose (mixed) farming practices. In remote areas farms can become quite large. As with estates in England, there is no defined size or method of operation at which

6474-472: The time when the indigenous grasses were ripe and dry. The annual fires gave the local Aboriginals of the Darling Downs the name "Goonneeburra" or "Fire Blacks" – "goonnee" being a name for fire and "burra" a generic word for the whole race. This is what the Downs tribes were known as to the coastal Aborigines who inhabited the Moreton Bay area. Murri is a wider-spread generic word meaning the whole race but in

6557-598: The town of Chinchilla. Chinchilla Weir is a concrete faced earthfill structure and is known for the unique curved design of its wall. The weir is the only storage for the Chinchilla Weir Water Supply Scheme. At the official opening of the Weir in 1974, approximately 5000 people were counted through the gates. Chinchilla Weir remains a freshwater playground for locals and visitors with waterskiing, canoeing, swimming and fishing being popular activities. Parts of

6640-460: The water catchment were settled by the Bundjalung people . The Condamine River was named by Allan Cunningham in 1827 for Thomas de la Condamine, a former aide-de-camp to Governor Ralph Darling who became the colony's first Collector of Internal Revenue. Patrick Leslie was the first white settler in the area. He established Canning Downs in 1840, near Warwick. Major Thomas Mitchell crossed

6723-449: The word "farm" may be used to describe wind power generation or puppy farm . Farms have special buildings. Some buildings, such as barns , may hold animals. There may be separate buildings for chickens and pigs. On dairy farms, a milking parlor is an important building. It is where dairy cows are milked. The milk is kept in a milking parlor until a milk tanker comes to get it. There are also special buildings for keeping grain . A silo

6806-422: Was built on relatively easy paths to individual farm ownership. However, the gradual modernization and mechanization of farming, which greatly increases both the efficiency and capital requirements of farming, has led to increasingly large farms. This has usually been accompanied by the decoupling of political power from farm ownership. In some societies (especially socialist and communist ), collective farming

6889-404: Was the first ever use of a covered lagoon to treat effluent. In the Southern Downs region surrounding Stanthorpe in an area called the Granite Belt there are now over sixty cellar doors, wineries, and vineyards. The industry first began as a table grape growing region that by the mid-1960s was starting to plant wine grape cultivars. This region has a subtropical highland climate atypical to

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