In this paper we analyse the technical efficiency of cotton farmers in the Punjab Province in Pakistan. Technical efficiency is measured relative to a stochastic frontier production function (SFPF). The estimated model includes a function in which technical efficiency is made an explicit...

Genetic diversity in agricultural systems relies on both the supply of diversity through varieties produced by breeding programs, and the demand for that diversity, through farmers' usage of varieties. Variety choice by farmers is demonstrated through the mix of varieties that is grown in a...

Acid and acidifying soils occur extensively in Australia. Currently, some 90 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia is considered to be acidic and around 35 million hectares are considered to be highly acidic which is both a serious agricultural and environmental problem. The nature,...

In recent years, output on genetic diversity in the economic literature has included conceptual pieces on the definition and measurement of crop genetic diversity, methodologies for estimating its value, and efforts to analyze its contribution to productivity and stability. However, because...

Variety change and genetic diversity are important means of combating crop losses from pests and diseases in modern agricultural systems. Since the Green Revolution, genetic diversity among wheat varieties released in India has increased but variety change on farms continues to be slow. In this...

In the 1980s and early 1990s, wheat imports accounted for about four-fifths of China's import of cereals, and imported wheat accounts for about 30 percent of wheat supply. As a result of the many recent developments in Chinese government’s policy on wheat production and marketing as well as...

Feed grains researchers have abundant technical opportunities to select various options for improvement of nutritional characteristics of feed grains. Choosing between those opportunities is a difficult issue for research funding organisations. In this paper, efforts to address the relative...

Sugarcane farmers in many districts are considering on-farm water storages (OFWS’s) as a means of countering ongoing water shortages. OFWS’s are attractive because they can be used to capture runoff and tailwater, and for the temporary storage of surplus water from other irrigation sources...