ESTIMATION:

Amount of food to be produced within the region as a percentage of the amount consumed within the region.

KEY FIGURES:

500% = 5 times the amount of food required for the population is produced.
100% = total self sufficiency.
0% = no food is produced.

DESCRIPTION:

Estimates have been made for the amount of food required for the average Australian population. For your carrying capacity estimate to include all food for a given population, choose 100%. Choosing less than 100% implies that some food will be imported from outside the region and choosing more than 100% implies that some food might be exported.

REFERENCES:

Estimates of average food intake - National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Estimate of average production - ABS

ESTIMATION:

The amount of meat and eggs consumed by the population as a percentage of all food consumed.

KEY FIGURES:

13% = Average Australian consumption estimate.
7.5% = Recommended healthy level including meat, eggs and dairy.
2.5% = Vegetarian diet with no meat but including eggs and dairy.
1.5% = Vegetarian diet with no meat or dairy but including eggs.
0% = Vegan diet with no meat, eggs or dairy.

DESCRIPTION:

In carrying capacity assessment it is important to consider a range of potential dietary choices. This category allows you to alter the protein source of a population’s diet. As such, it infers an average across the entire population even if individuals eat varied sources of protein. Please note that all diets for 7.5% (recommended healthy diet) and less are modelled on the recommended intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat (as well as micro nutrients in some cases). However, diets of more than this percentage may not be as balanced as they reflect average Australian consumption patterns rather than recommended intake. In order to balance the diet, the amount of dairy tends to vary considerably, whereas meat and egg consumption change less dramatically. This is merely a consequence of making extrapolations from the NHMRC diets. It should also be noted that as meat, eggs and dairy decrease in the diet, nuts and legumes increase considerably while vegetables and grains increase to a lesser extent.

REFERENCES:

Average Australian consumption: ABS
Recommended healthy level and Vegetarian diet with no meat but including eggs and dairy: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
All other diets are extrapolated from the NHMRC by calculating similar intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat.

ESTIMATION:

The percentage of red meat as a proportion of all meat (red and white) consumed by the population.

KEY FIGURES:

100% = Only red meat is eaten (no white meat).
64% = Average Australian consumption estimate.
0% = Only white meat is eaten (no red meat).

DESCRIPTION:

This category allows you to regulate the proportion of red and white meat in the average diet of the population. Please note that if you have chosen a vegetarian diet in the Meat-eggs-dairy category, then any choices made in the Red meat amount category will have no impact on the carrying capacity estimate.

REFERENCES:

ABS

ESTIMATION:

The average level of physical activity for the population.

KEY FIGURES:

3 = High level of physical activity (eg. more than 90 minutes of daily strenuous activity).
2 = Moderate level of physical activity (eg. 30-90 minutes of daily strenuous activity).
1 = Sedentary level of physical activity (eg. less than 30 minutes of daily strenuous activity). This is the current Australian average estimate of activity.

DESCRIPTION:

The activity level of the population will affect the amount of food that the population needs to consume as higher levels of activity require more energy.

REFERENCES:

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

ESTIMATION:

The cumulative average amount of otherwise edible food that is wasted in the process of production, transportation, retailing and consumption, as a proportion of all food produced.

KEY FIGURES:

12% = Average Australian estimate.

DESCRIPTION:

This represents just the waste that theoretically could be avoided. There is also unavoidable waste which includes inedible portions (eg. banana peal) and weight loss through cooking and processing.

REFERENCES:

There is little detailed Australian-based data available for avoidable wastage so in many cases U.S. data was used: US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Agriculture.

ESTIMATION:

The average amount of recycled food wastage fed to farm animals including pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, farmed fish and farmed seafood.

KEY FIGURES:

0% = Average Australian estimate. At present a negligible amount of food waste is fed to farm animals at a commercial level.

DESCRIPTION:

This category allows the waste from food processing and consumption to be recycled back into food production by feeding it to farm animals. It is acknowledged that food wastage can also be recycled as compost but at this stage a calculation has not been determined which would indicate how the amount of food recycled as compost would directly correlate to the amount of food produced from that compost.

ESTIMATION:

Continuous years of production in which carrying capacity is to be met.

KEY FIGURES:

1 year = average anticipated yearly production.
150 years = anticipated worst production in 150 years.

DESCRIPTION:

When planning for self sufficiency, it is important to anticipate the years when production may be reduced by climatic factors such as to droughts and floods. The ABS have recorded yields for wheat, oats and barley since 1861. Based on this historic data, an estimate of long-term production can be made for likely timeframes ranging from 1 to 150 years. Consequently, the Dashboard’s Timeframe factor reduces carrying capacity by the percentage of anticipated production of the worst year within a given timeframe. For example, the lowest yields in 100 years for Queensland were 65% less than average, so the carrying capacity would reflect this lesser productivity. In this instance, it could be said that the carrying capacity estimate is anticipating a one in one hundred year event. The original data was only collected on a state-wide basis so all smaller NRM regions are estimates only, based on the state-based figures.

REFERENCES:

ABS

ESTIMATION:

The percentage of organic farmland as a proportion of all farmland.

KEY FIGURES:

100% = all agricultural production comes from organic farms and none from conventional farms.
2% = Average Australian estimate.
0% = all agricultural production comes from conventional farms and none from organic farms.

DESCRIPTION:

There is some debate about the productivity of organic agricultural systems versus conventional systems. For the purposes of the Dashboard, only credible, peer reviewed research which made direct comparisons of organic and conventional production was analysed. Only two such studies were found to be available for Australian conditions, so it was decided to include a further forty studies from other western countries (eg. NZ, Europe, North America). From these studies, the organically produced yield for each food component was extracted separately and compared to the equivalent conventional yield. Then, an average difference in percentage between the organic and conventional was derived (the actual tonnes per hectare was not relevant, only the difference in tonnes per hectare from one system to the other). It was hoped that poly-cultural production (eg. under-cropping, multi-cropping, permaculture) could also be included as an alternate agricultural system in the Dashboard, but the lack of existing yield information meant that there was not enough data to credibly include it.

ESTIMATION:

The percentage of irrigated farmland as a proportion of all farmland.

KEY FIGURES:

100% = All agricultural land is irrigated.
0.5% = Average Australian estimate.
0% = No agricultural land is irrigated.

DESCRIPTION:

Irrigating crops can have a significant effect on production. Ideally, the calculation of the effect of irrigation should occur on a crop by crop basis, but unfortunately this data was not available. Consequently, an overall figure of 55% was applied, based on the ABS estimate that, "Farms that irrigated generated, on average, 55 per cent more output per farm in 2003–04 than farms which did not irrigate."

REFERENCES:

ABS

ESTIMATION:

The amount (kilograms) of textiles consumed by the population each year, calculated on a per person basis.

KEY FIGURES:

23 kg = Average Australian consumption estimate.

DESCRIPTION:

This amount includes both personal usage (eg. clothing) and shared usage (eg. office furnishings).

ESTIMATION:

The percentage of natural fibre consumed as a proportion of all textiles.

KEY FIGURES:

100% = Only natural fibre is consumed and no synthetic fibre.
50% = Average Australian consumption estimate.
0% = Only synthetic fibre is consumed and no natural fibre.

ESTIMATION:

The percentage of wool fibre consumed as a proportion of all natural fibre.

KEY FIGURES:

100% = Only wool is consumed and no cotton fibre.
12% = Average Australian consumption estimate.
0% = Only cotton is consumed and no wool fibre.

DESCRIPTION:

Even though timber and bamboo fibre account for a minor proportion of natural textile fibre, the vast majority is either wool or cotton so this section just focuses on the proportion of wool and cotton in fibre consumption.

ESTIMATION:

The amount (litres) of liquid fuel consumed by the population each year, calculated on a per person basis.

KEY FIGURES:

2600 lt = Average Australian consumption estimate.

DESCRIPTION:

This amount includes both personal usage (eg. petrol in own car) and industrial usage (eg. diesel in mining trucks). It also represents both petroleum and biofuels.

ESTIMATION:

The percentage of biofuel consumed as a proportion of all liquid fuels.

KEY FIGURES:

100% = Only biofuel is consumed and no conventional liquid fuel (petroleum).
1% = Average Australian consumption estimate.
0% = Only conventional liquid fuel (petroleum) is consumed and no biofuel.

DESCRIPTION:

This category allows you to alter the proportion of biofuel compared to petroleum used by the population. This is calculated as a percentage of the Liquid Fuel previously chosen.