An equilibrium displacement model of the world wool top industry is used to estimate the returns to the Australian wool industry from productivity improvements in farm production, in top making and in textile manufacturing. The returns to the industry from these different types of research and...

A new model for the farm-retail price spread, which accounts for both farm supply and retail demand changes, is introduced. This model is applied to beef, and its empirical performance relative to the markup pricing formulation is evaluated using nonnested testing procedures. The results are...

A contingent valuation approach has been used to estimate the willingness to pay by consumers for changes in leanness and portion size in lamb loin chops. Over 800 consumers were interviewed at four major shopping centres in Sydney. Consumers were prepared to buy loin chops with more fat cover...

Continuous Improvement and Innovation (CI&I) is both a management process and a management strategy. In this paper, we describe how CI&I principles have been used in a strategic planning context by the research economist group in the NSW Department of Primary Industries. We provide some...

Acid and acidifying soils occur extensively in Australia. Currently, some 90 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia is considered to be acidic and around 35 million hectares are considered to be highly acidic which is both a serious agricultural and environmental problem. The nature,...

Despite continuing controversy, economic surplus has continued to be used in empirical cost-benefit analyses as a measure of welfare to producers and consumers. In this paper, the issue of measuring changes in producer and consumer surplus resulting from exogenous supply or demand shifts in...