Farms systems are open to financial systems. Financing matters. Analysis of questions about management of farms is a multi-dimensional task; focusing on economic efficiency only partly does the job. A financial system channeling funds efficiently from the non-farm sector to the farm sector,...

The ‘openness’ of farming systems that is the focus of this paper is ‘open to information’, in particular the way that new information from the farming systems research project, Dairy Directions, flows from research outputs to dairy farmers. Dairy Directions is a multidisciplinary...

In this study, the possible impacts of different prices of carbon on farm profitability in two dairy farm businesses with different feeding systems operated over five years were analysed. The feeding systems were a ryegrass pasture-based system (RM) and a complementary forage-based system (CF)....

The capacity of farmers to adapt their businesses and adopt management practices that improve environmental outcomes varies greatly from case to case. Factors influencing this include the state of the farm business and its resources, the extent of the environmental problems, condition of native...

An equilibrium displacement model of the Australian dairy industry is being developed for estimating the net benefits from dairy research undertaken by DPI Victoria. In this initial version, the dairy industry is represented by a system of aggregate demand and supply relationships for two input...

Information deficiencies make selecting investments in R,D & E projects a difficult and uncertain task. Gardner (2004) likened the challenges and uncertainties of choosing the right mix of R,D&E projects to that of recruiting football players or breeding racehorses. In this paper approaches are...