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Issue 16, July 2004
In This Issue
Editorial
In brief
* Positions available * Natural resource management on Australian farms * House of Representatives salinity report
Articles
* Economics and the conservation of native biodiversity, by David Pannell
* Effects of climate change on optimal farm plans in a low rainfall Mediterranean environment of Australia, by Michele John and Ross Kingwell
* Envelopes of catchment water-yield and salt-load targets attainable with plant-based management of dryland salinity, by Tom Nordblom, Iain Hume and Andrew Bathgate
* Lucerne-based pasture for the central wheatbelt region of Western Australia – whole-farm economics, by Felicity Flugge, Amir Abadi and Perry Dolling
Coming events
Regular items
* Overview of the Economic and Social Assessment Subprogram of the CRC
Welcome to the second issue of SEA News for 2004. SEA News readership is continuing to grow with new subscribers all the time. We welcome feedback from readers on the articles we feature. Direct any comments to us at seanews@agric.wa.gov.au and we will pass them to the relevant parties.
This issue contains four articles; firstly Dave Pannell gives some insight into a relatively new area - the economics of biodiversity conservation. The other three papers are from the 2004 AARES conference and they cover issues such as economic impacts of climate change, catchment salinity and whole-farm economics of perennial options.
For anyone interested in government policy for salinity be sure to see the House of Representatives Science and Innovation Committee's report of its inquiry into the coordination and extension of the science to combat Australia’s salinity problem. The report Science overcoming salinity: Coordinating and extending the science to address the nation’s salinity problem was tabled on the 21st June 2004 (details below in "In Brief").
As usual, if you have any news or views, or would like to submit an article, please contact either of us at seanews@agric.wa.gov.au. Happy reading and see you in September.
Felicity Flugge and Robyn Hean
Positions available
Postgraduate scholarship
The University of Western Australia currently has a PhD
scholarship available to research "Water management strategies for
controlling urban salinity". The closing date for applications is 31st July
2004. More information can be found at the website:
http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu.au/home/postgrad/current/urban_salinity
or contact:
Ms Jan Taylor, Discipline/School of Agricultural and Resource Economics,
Telephone (08) 6488 2539, Fax (08) 6488 1098 or Email
Jan.Taylor@uwa.edu.au
Research Economist (x3)
The Department of Agriculture, Western Australia has three positions available for Research Economists (two regional, one metropolitan). Applications close Monday 19th July. For further details see the website http://www.agric.wa.gov.au
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Natural resource management on farms
ABARE released a report in May, entitled Natural Resource Management on Australian Farms. The results of the survey provide insights directly from farmers into land degradation & the adoption of sustainable farming practices. An understanding of the influences on the adoption of sustainable farming assists the design & implementation of government programs to better support natural resource management & prevent future land degradation.
The publication can be downloaded free of charge from the ABARE website: http://www.abareonlineshop.com/
***
House of Representatives salinity report
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Science
and Innovation released a report on 21st June 2004, entitled Science
overcoming salinity: Coordinating and extending the science to address the
nation’s salinity problem. The reports contains the findings of an
national inquiry into the coordination of the science to combat the nation's
salinity problem. The Committee made 24 recommendations including a greater
emphasis on developing new, economically viable land and water use systems,
continued support for salinity R&D and encouragement of private sector
investment in salinity research.
More information, including the full report and background
on the terms of reference of the inquiry can be found at
www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/scin/salinity
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Economics and the conservation of native
biodiversity by David Pannell "There is a critical need to be able to specify the elements of biodiversity that are or should be important to the community, and to be able to justify the selection of these elements." |
Biodiversity conservation is a human endeavour and economic drivers play a key role in shaping human behaviour. This is particularly true of human behaviour in management of businesses (such as farms) and in relation to the resources that underpin businesses (such as land and water). For this reason, the theories and models of economics have a lot to offer people concerned with biodiversity conservation. The paper outlines a number of theories and insights from economics that are relevant to biodiversity, particularly from the point of view of governments wishing to make efficient and cost-effective decisions about investment priorities for biodiversity. There is a need for better definition of biodiversity objectives, and for improved information about cause and effect relationships between interventions and outcomes. The importance of paying adequate attention to the farm-level economics of proposed changes in land management is emphasised. This is an important influence on farmers’ responses, particularly if large-scale changes are sought. The selection of policy approaches and policy instruments for biodiversity needs to be sophisticated, based on science, and sensitive to different biodiversity-related problems and opportunities.
The full paper is available here (130KB)
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Effects of Climate Change on Optimal Farm Plans in a Low Rainfall Mediterranean Environment of Australia by Michele John and Ross Kingwell "The distribution of profit across years alters, decreasing the frequency of very favourable cash surplus years. This has adverse ramifications for debt repayment and funding of investments" |
This paper examines the farm-level production and financial impacts of climate change for representative farms in a major agricultural region of Australia. Using a discrete stochastic programming model of representative farms, the base case reveals that the altered distribution of rainfall associated with forecast climate change towards 2050 is predicted to reduce expected farm profit by between 44% and 53% depending on the soil type mix of farm. Less rainfall and higher temperatures, in general, generate lower crop and pasture yields causing a small shift away from cropping and a reduction in the size of sheep flocks. The distribution of profit across weather-years alters causing a lesser frequency of very favourable cash surplus years. The ramifications for farm businesses are that debt repayment and funding of lumpy investments, such as land and machinery, will become more problematic as farmers typically rely on boom years to support such investments.
The full paper is available here (358KB)
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Envelopes of catchment water-yield and salt-load targets attainable with plant-based management of dryland salinity by Tom Nordblom, Iain Hume and Andrew Bathgate "These new tools could result in better informed water and salinity policies that recognise the full value of plant-based management of dryland salinity." |
This paper examines the impacts on water yields and salt loads in streams of different vegetation covers across a catchment. The paper considers a case study catchment, the Little River catchment in New South Wales – Australia. This catchment comprises 80 sub-catchments. The study shows how the different characteristics of each sub-catchment, when combined with different types and proportions of vegetative cover in each sub-catchment, affects the water yield and stream salt load from the catchment. The study reveals what are technically feasible targets for water yield and salt load.
The full paper is available here (PDF - 747KB).
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Lucerne-based pasture for the central wheatbelt region of Western Australia – whole-farm economics by Felicity Flugge, Amir Abadi and Perry Dolling "Whole-farm management changes will drive the profitability of lucerne" |
Lucerne has the potential to aid salinity mitigation because of its higher water use relative to annual pastures and crops. However its wide-scale adoption will depend on its profitability when compared with current land uses. In addition to profitability, a grower must also consider the management and cash flow consequences of making the transition from the current land use to one with lucerne. This analysis evaluates the economics of lucerne-based pasture for a typical central wheatbelt farm in Western Australia. Using a whole-farm model, the analysis found that including lucerne-based pasture increased farm profit by 3%. However, including lucerne-based pasture and allowing the option of running merino prime lambs and cross-bred lambs increased farm profit by 23%. Management changes, such as a change of rotations and a change in livestock structure, were necessary in order to realise the gains in profit. Furthermore, results indicated that as the new system of lucerne-based pasture and prime lambs was adopted, there was an initial reduction in cash flow before it increased to above the original level.
The full paper is available here (77KB)
Salinity Solutions: Working with Science and Community is a
national conference being convened by the CRC for Plant-based Management of
Dryland Salinity in conjunction with the Victorian Departments of Primary
Industries, and Sustainability and Environment. The conference will take
place in Bendigo, Victoria on the 2nd-5th of August 2004. More details can
be found on the conference website:
http://www.cdesign.com.au/salinity2004/index.htm
***
The 4th International Crop Science Congress in
conjunction
with the 12th Australian Agronomy conference and the 5th Asian Crop Science
Congress is being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre,
Queensland, Australia from the 26th September to 1 October 2004. More
details at:
http://www.cropscience2004.com/
***
The Asia-Pacific Productivity Conference 2004 (APPC2004)
will be held at he University of Queensland, Brisbane from July 14-16 2004.
More information can be found at the conference website:
http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/appc2004/
***
If you have been looking for an excuse to visit Africa then here is one - Ecoagriculture: Science, Policy and Practice An international conference and practioners' fair being held in Nairobi, Kenya September 27 - October 1, 2004. See their website for more details http://www.ecoagriculturepartners.org/Meetings/Nairobi04.htm
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2004 Australian Farm Business and Farming Systems Management Conference, held by the Australian Farm Business Management Network, 5th-7th December 2004, Orange, NSW, Australia. For more information visit their website: http://www.afbmnetwork.orange.usyd.edu.au/conferences/index.htm
***
Engineering Salinity Solutions 1st National Salinity and Engineering Conference, 9th-12th November, Burswood International Resort, Perth, Western Australia. This conference aims to bring together scientists, engineers, managers, landowners and farmers to share the current understanding of the salinity problems of land and water and to provide opportunities to examine and discuss technical and engineering options. Further details from their website: http://www.congresswest.com.au/salinity2004/
***
SEGRA 2004 The 8th Sustainable Economic Growth for
Regional Australia Conference is being held in Alice Springs from 6th to 8th
September 2004.
Visit their website for more details
http://www.segra.com.au/segra/index.html
SEA News is a newsletter on bioeconomic and social research on Sustainability and Economics in Agriculture. SEA News contains unpublished and working papers which focus on a wide range of sustainability and economic issues for agriculture. Issues covered include salinity, market-based instruments, adoption of innovations, greenhouse, ethics, policy and more. Through SEA News, we hope to introduce you to a large and diverse area of research which might otherwise escape your notice.
Overview of the Economic and Social Assessment Subprogram of the CRC
The objective of the Economic and Social Assessment subprogram of the CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity is to evaluate economic performance of actual and potential CRC outputs and develop policy options recognising the socio-economic opportunities and constraints that lead to the adoption of new land use systems. Research involves computer modelling, surveys, experimental economics, and analysis of a range of economic, social and bio-physical data. More information about the projects of the subprogram can be found on the CRC website: http://www1.crcsalinity.com.au/pages/subprograms.aspx?SUBPROGRAMID=13
A full list of articles featured in this and previous issues of SEA News as well as articles not featured can be found using either the topic index or author index.
Copyright note: Some articles in SEA News have subsequently been submitted for publication in journals or books. SEA News contains pre-publication versions of these articles. They have not been subject to peer review, and copyright rests with the authors. When an article is formally published, the version on the SEA News web site is not updated to the published version, as this would violate copyright. However, the citation shown on the web page is updated to allow readers to identify the published version. Readers are encouraged to make use of the material present on the web site, provided that its source is acknowledged. Readers who wish to make direct quotes from an article in SEA News should not attribute the quote to a more formal (e.g. journal) published version of the paper without checking the published version, since the quote may have been altered or even omitted from the published version.
© Copyright CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity 2004