One approach to rationalising policies for addressing potentially catastrophic climate change when such policies may prove unnecessary is to suppose the policies provide a form of social insurance even in the presence of pure uncertainty. Then, provided the policies are effective, such insurance...

Australian crop and livestock farmers face uncertain climate change and variability and a challenge for adaptation decisions. These decisions can be (1) adjustments to practices and technologies, (2) changes to production systems, or (3) transformation of industries, for example, by relocation...

Economic evaluation of climate policy is notoriously dependent on assumptions about time and risk preferences, since reducing greenhouse gas emissions today has a highly uncertain payoff, far into the future. These assumptions have always been much debated. Rather than occupy a position in this...

Since the mid-1970s the south-west of Australia has displayed a warming and drying trend in its climate. Using parametric and non-parametric methods this paper provides a decadal assessment of the profitability, productivity and productivity components of over 250 farms in the region. The farm...

In the last decade, the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia faced a severe drought which affected its agriculture production. Sustainable diversion limits as proposed in the Australian Government’s basin plan together with climate change is expected to impact on future agriculture production...

Dryland farming is commonplace in Australia so the profitability of dryland farms often depends on the amount and timing of rainfall. With drier weather conditions featuring in climate change projections for southern Australia, it is important to understand the relationships between rainfall,...

Two different methodologies are linked to determine the effects of climate change on the Western Cape farm sector in South Africa. First, it uses a general circulation model to model climate change. Second, a sectoral mathematical programming model is used to determine these effects on key...