This paper uses variance decomposition modelling to explore how wheat revenuevolatility in Australia has changed spatially and temporally. The components ofrevenue variance are the variances and covariances of wheat prices, the area of wheatharvested and the yield of wheat. The key finding is...

Improving farm productivity is often touted as essential for the future prospects of Australian agriculture, particularly for the export-oriented broadacre farm sector. This paper draws on farm panel data for the period 2002 to 2011. The annual components of productivity of the same group of 223...

Modern farming in Australia is no longer simple. Farms are large, multi-enterprise businesses underpinned by expensive capital investments, changing production technologies, volatile markets and social challenges. The complexity of modern broadacre farming leads to the question: what is the...

This study reports findings from a mail survey of Western Australian broadacre farmers participating in quality assurance (QA) accreditation. A 50 percent response rate generated a sample size of 78 usable replies. The average farm in the survey spent $13,470 gaining QA accreditation, upgrading...

The science, funding and organisation of plant breeding in Australia has changed greatly since the 1980s. This paper explores the institutional change in plant variety provision in Australia. The roles of key economic and political agents are emphasized, along with the impact of changes in...

Few studies of farm technical efficiency consider differences in the physical environments of the farms. This study examines rain-fed broadacre agriculture and shows how neglect of rainfall differences between farms affects measures of farm technical efficiency (TE). Applying data envelopment...

Impacts on Australian agriculture of projected climate change are likely to be spatially and temporally diverse, with many regions likely to experience increased downside risk in agricultural production. Some regions, such as south-west Australia, are projected to be particularly at risk of...

This paper uses variance decomposition modelling to explore how wheat revenue volatility in Australia has changed spatially and temporally. The components of revenue variance are the variances and covariances of wheat prices, the area of wheat harvested and the yield of wheat. The key finding is...