Premium
The Agri‐Gas Fields of A ustralia: Black Soil, Food, and Unconventional Gas
Author(s) -
Rijke Kim
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
culture, agriculture, food and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2153-9561
pISSN - 2153-9553
DOI - 10.1111/cuag.12004
Subject(s) - boom , opposition (politics) , natural gas , agriculture , natural resource , natural resource economics , economy , political science , business , geography , geology , economics , archaeology , engineering , politics , law , oceanography , waste management
Underneath some of the most exceptional A ustralian farm lands lie far more unconventional natural resources: huge methane reserves contained inside deep underground coal seams. In the last few years, A ustralia has seen a veritable boom in high capital foreign investments to extract and export this coal seam gas ( CSG ), particularly in the state of Q ueensland, where a few thousand gas wells have now been constructed despite significant opposition and concern. Based on the public record and ongoing anthropological fieldwork in the agricultural region of the D arling D owns in southern Q ueensland, this paper sets out some of the key issues of what might be described as the A ustralian agri‐gas field conflict. It takes a view of agri‐gas fields as sites of socioeconomic transformation where cultural boundaries of place and matter are contested, forcing farmers and others to reassess variously imagined future human–environment relationships in the region, A ustralia, and beyond.