Investment in R&D has long been regarded as an important source of productivity growth in Australian agriculture. Perhaps because research lags are long, current investment in R&D is monitored closely. Investment in R&D has been flat while productivity growth has remained strong, relative both...

Agricultural productivity growth has been strong relative to other sectors in the Australian economy, and relative to the agricultural sectors of other developed countries. However, as commonly observed among other developed economies, growth in productivity in the broadacre sector of Australian...

The occurrence of low night temperatures during reproductive development is one of the factors most limiting rice yields in southern Australia. Yield losses due to cold temperature are the result of incomplete pollen formation and subsequent floret sterility. Researchers have found that in 75%...

Previous research has found inconsistencies in the valuation of weight and fat characteristics of lamb carcasses between the saleyard and wholesale markets. In this paper, recent New South Wales saleyard and wholesale price data on different classes of lamb are analysed using hedonic methods to...

We examine whether there has been a decline in the returns from Australian public investment in research on broadacre agriculture. Complementing a forthcoming paper by Mullen, we use alternative specifications for the regression equation, which employs the log of total factor productivity (TFP)...

Mullen (2004,2005) conducted an impact assessment of two ACIAR funded economics research projects enquiring into domestic grain market reform in China. The benefit cost ratio to ACIAR was estimated to be in the range 5:1 to 33:1. The impact assessment was conducted when grain policy was viewed...

Continuous Improvement and Innovation (CI&I) is both a management process and a management strategy. In this paper, we describe how CI&I principles have been used in a strategic planning context by the research economist group in the NSW Department of Primary Industries. We provide some...

Research into IPM technologies has been conducted by NSW DPI for over 20 years. Evaluating the returns from investment in specific research and development projects is an important component of the NSW DPI science and research program. An economic evaluation has been conducted of IPM in managing...

This paper uses time-series data to examine the relationship between public research and development (R&D) and extension investment and productivity growth in Australian broadacre agriculture. The results show that public R&D investment has significantly promoted productivity growth in...

A model of fertilizer response is outlined which makes a distinction between conventional fertilizer response curves, and the relationship between product yield and maintenance application of fertilizer. The derivation of optimal fertilizer rates for two enterprises on three soil types is used...