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Published 7 Jun 2021
At the recent Global Food Forum in Sydney, delegates heard agribusiness leaders assert that “sustainability is now mainstream” for the agri-food industry. An increasing number of programs, projects and potential pitfalls are appearing in the ag sector. In this Insights edition, AFI offers a high-level look at some of the…
Published 13 Apr 2021
Industry performance measures are vital indicators for understanding return on industry investment, judging appropriate levels of government and other public support and how industries contribute to economic health and wellbeing. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is a standard measure of industry performance which describes a ratio of all outputs relevant to…
Published 13 Apr 2021
Policy-makers often talk about the need to increase productivity. What many fail to understand is that higher productivity is often associated with lower profits. This lack of understanding can lead to poor policy-making. To help remedy this situation, this paper begins by defining exactly what economists mean by the term…
Published 13 Apr 2021
Agriculture in Australia has more risk than any other agricultural sector in the world and is also riskier than other economic activity in this country. Success in farming in Australia is influenced strongly by events and forces and policies that are beyond prior experience, expectation or imagination. Profit of many…
Published 13 Apr 2021
Productivity is an important measure of Australian agricultural performance. It shows how efficiently farm inputs are used to produce outputs. At face value, productivity is a simple measure, however it has some important conceptual and technical complexities that need to be understood to make best use of it, and it…
Published 13 Apr 2021
‘You can’t manage what you don’t measure’ – the well-used adage that often appears when discussing the need for farm businesses to keep good records. It holds true no matter what scale of farm business may be discussed, and indeed equally for understanding performance of aggregates of businesses or an…
Published 26 Feb 2021
Broadacre irrigation in the southern Murray-Darling Basin is set to change dramatically: is this the creative destruction we want? In discussions about the Basin Plan and re-balancing extractive water rights in favour of environmental needs, one key reform has been consistently underestimated in its significant and permanent effect on irrigation…
Published 24 Feb 2021
Innovation is not a buzzword or a box to check on a business plan; it is a vital component for sustainable economic development. The Australian agriculture sector faces a serious and present threat in climate change, which cannot be addressed by incremental adaptation; innovative responses to this challenge are a…
Published 18 Dec 2020
Farmers can suffer significant economic consequences from land use conflict. However, this research shows the most severe impacts from these disputes are largely non-financial. In key informant interviews conducted for the study, mental health, social and physical amenity, industry decline and erosion of trust emerged as the primary impacts of…
Published 17 Dec 2020
Five years ago, the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper noted ‘a fairer go for farm businesses’ as a priority action area. This year’s AFI John Ralph Essay Competition asked respondents to consider whether current competition measures are delivering that promised ‘fair go’. The submissions covered an intriguing range of ideas and…
Published 14 Dec 2020
From Dec 7-11th 2020, the AFI and the Sydney Institute of Agriculture hosted a series of conversations about the future of conservation ag. The online conference is available as a webinar series of 5 x 2-hour videos (10 hours total) – FREE for AFI members and $49.50 for non-members. (Members…