Intensification of agricultural practices is occurring in Canterbury. Dairy farm conversions continue with land use increasing 132% since 1995. Current concerns emanate predominantly from issues of water quantity and quality, in particular the degradation of lowland streams. These and other...

“There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water badly – such that billions of people and the environment suffer.” (World Water Vision 2000).The management of water resources is becoming increasingly...

The Fitzroy basin in central Queensland is the largest basin in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area. The large quantities of sediment and nutrient export are of concern and come predominantly from diffuse sources in the grazing industry. The focus of the research reported in this paper was on...

Australian wool producers are being told that exchange rate have driven systematic fluctuation in the price of their wool at auction. This paper presents some key findings of a major collaborative study on the effect of exchange rates on Australian wool prices with the Economic Research Centre...

Following a historical agreement on the EU enlargement, 10 new member states (NMS) acceded to the European Union on May 1, 2004. Although the European Union has expanded its membership in the past, this enlargement is unique in terms of its scope and diversity of the countries, area, and...

Australian research and development organizations invest substantial grower and/ or taxpayer (public) funds, on the control of weeds in broad-acre cropping using herbicide. Benefits from this research are distributed between growers, consumers and the agrichemical industry depending on the...

Ricecheck, an extension program for rice developed by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, is based on eight best management practice recommendations (“key checks”) considered essential for achieving high yields. The program comprises grower meetings and field days. The Ricecheck...

Data from experimental sites at Maindample and Ruffy was extrapolated to a 100 ha paddock on a commercial property. Incorporated into the analyses were risk assessments to allow for sowing failures due to adverse seasonal conditions and price variability for meat and wool during the life of the...

Extending the previous work by Bessler et. al. (2003), this paper examines dynamic relationships in the international wheat markets by employing five different base (country) currencies and a basket of currency. The stable aggregate currency (SAC) is proposed as the basket currency to be used in...

The wide use of artificial insemination by dairy farmers has facilitated the development of a multi-billion dollar international market in animal genetics. In the major western dairy producing nations, each country has developed a single index to rank bulls, based on the value of traits they are...