CSIRO PUBLISHING The Rangeland Journal, 2018, 40, 301–314 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ18034 Developing the north: learning from the past to guide future plans and policies Andrew Ash A,C and Ian Watson B ACSIRO Agriculture and Food, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia. BCSIRO Agriculture and Food, PMB Aitkenvale, Townsville, Qld, 4814, Australia. CCorresponding author. Email:
[email protected] Abstract. The development of northern Australia has been a policy ambition for over a century and the desire to do so continues unabated. Attempts to develop the north, especially for more intensive forms of agriculture are not new. In this paper we explore past agricultural developments, including some that persist today and those that have failed, to determine critical factors in success or failure. This was done with the aim of identifying where most effort should focus in supporting contemporary agricultural developments. Although climatic and environmental constraints, including pests and diseases, remain a challenge for agricultural development in these largely tropical rangelands, it is mainly factors associated with finances and investment planning, land tenure and property rights, management, skills, and supply chains, which provide the critical challenges. In particular, the desire to scale-up too rapidly and the associated failure to invest sufficient time and resources in management to learn how to develop appropriate farming systems that are sustainable and economically viable is a recurrent theme through the case study assessment. Scaling up in a more measured way, with a staged approach to the investment in physical capital, should better allow for the inevitable set-backs and the unexpected costs in developing tropical rangelands for agriculture.