Tasmania has just claimed to have grown the southernmost wheat crop in the world in Bruney Island. Murrayfield, the area in which the wheat was grown, has historically been used for growing wool. 40,000 kg of wool are exported each year from Murrayfield. The wheat is especially useful because it will be used as a source of cheap feed on the Island. This is an extremely interesting development for Bruney and raises some important questions. Firstly, why has wheat not been grown here before? How many jobs will the wheat production generate? Who will benefit the most from the wheat production? What other crops are suited for the climate of southern Tasmania but have not yet been explored. The ability to grow wheat and other grain crops was one reason why areas in the fertile crescent and other parts of Eurasia were able to gain a headstart over other regions of the world in terms of development, according to Jared Diamond. Does the climate of southern Tasmania support large scale wheat growing, and if it does, why was it never introduced here in the past?
Rehan
Sources:
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-23/bruny-island-wheat/6042950?section=tas
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