The classes of benefits and costs, private and external, arising from a partial movement from conventional to chemical-free farming are considered, a report is provided on a comparison of physical and financial characteristics of chemical-free and conventional cereal/livestock farming in...

Some consumers and environmentalists espouse purchasing food that is produced locally or nationally. An appealing expression of this is the food miles concept, which reflects the aim of minimizing the distance food has traveled before reaching the consumer. The concept of food miles is flawed...

Some consumers and environmentalists espouse purchasing food that is produced locally or nationally. An appealing expression of this is the "food miles" concept, which reflects the aim of minimizing the distance food has traveled before reaching the consumer. The concept of food miles is flawed...

In 2001 a survey of five organic cereal-livestock farms was undertaken to assess the economics of organic broadacre farming in recent times. In the mid-1980s a similar study carried out in Eastern Australia found that organic farmers were doing as well as their conventionally farming...

Recent calls for a UN Convention on Soils begs the question about its feasibility and advisability. International conventions are most likely to be successful where the need for action is compelling, the effects of inaction immediate, dramatic and relatively certain, and there are significant...

The focus of this paper is on food miles issues associated with the import of products from developing countries. As the concept of food miles has been an issue in organic agriculture since before the early 1990s, many of the examples quoted in this paper are from that sector. It is argued in...

The deregulation of dairy marketing that occurred on 1 July 2000 is a fascinating case study in microeconomic reform. The role of interacting industry and institutional features in the movement to deregulation is explained, with political realities being recognised. A key part of the...