Occasional Papers
Occasional papers released by the Australian Farm Institute are available for free download.
Published 30 Nov 2020
The Federal Government has announced that part of Australia’s strategy to deal with the economic impacts of COVID-19 will be a ‘gas-led recovery’. However, increasing gas production in Australia creates obstacles to the agriculture sector’s economic viability, social cohesion, environmental stewardship and ability to meet sustainability goals.
Published 26 Nov 2020
The production of dairy products is associated with environmental impacts, and these impacts have resulted in calls within the popular media to reduce dairy consumption for the benefit of the environment (e.g. Carrington, 2018; Eating Better, 2020). Impacts of current production are estimated by environmental footprints; the use of environmental…
Published 22 May 2020
Regenerative agriculture describes a set of practices and principles which aim to increase biodiversity, enrich soils, improve watersheds, and enhance ecosystem services. These are goals which are obviously desirable and are understandably generating significant interest in regenerative agriculture methods amongst farmers and the wider community more generally.
Published 16 Jan 2018
Destinations of agriculture graduates from Australian universities and Marcus Oldham College were considered using the database of the GradLink program operated by Rimfire Resources for the period 2004-2014. This accounted for around 1000 graduates or one in six graduates for the period and comprised a gender balance similar to that…
Published 16 May 2013
Too often we see ‘economic projections’ or ‘forecasts’ used unwarily. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) failing to estimate the consequences of European austerity measures on the European Union (EU) growth rates is a prime example. A core assumption of the IMF model in 2010 was that a 1% decrease of…
Published 23 Feb 2012
The agricultural industry is at the crossroads in terms of workforce capacity. Evidence is present that there is a sizeable job market i agriculture and more than 4000 jobs per year are consistently being advertised seeking agricultural professionals. Conversely the number of graduates being supplied by Australian universities continues to…
Published 31 Jan 2011
Australia’s river systems, particularly the Murray-Darling Basin, are under considerable stress. The condition of the basin’s rivers has been well documented, such as through the Sustainable Rivers Audit, which found that twenty of the twenty-three river valleys are in poor or very poor health.
Published 7 Apr 2010
Demand by employers in the agricultural sector has been variously estimated. However there has been no systematic comprehensive analysis of the job market based on actual advertisements. This paper addresses that deficiency.
Some of the papers included above were previously published as the Primary Report, a monthly publication from the NSW Farmers’ Association. Authored by Mick Keogh, former Executive Director of the Australian Farm Institute, these occasional papers are included on the Institute’s website for your information.