Horticulture producer's willingness to participate in contract-based supply chain coordination: A case study from Queensland (Australia).

Product export provides an option for horticulture producers in Queensland (Australia) to diversify their market and increase returns from production. Vertical supply chain coordination in the form of contract-based marketing agreements between producers and export agents/distributors could facilitate increased export. The aim of this study was to investigate the willingness of horticulture producers to participate in export focused contract-based marketing agreements. To achieve this aim, a survey including a discrete choice experiment was conducted. The results from a mixed logit model and a latent class model suggest that there are three clusters of producers: a) the export interested, b) the likely risk averse, and c) those well established in the domestic markets. Only producers in group a) expressed a preference for contract-based export marketing agreements. These producers appear to be younger, already have some export experience, and have a relatively high level of collaboration in their product supply chains. Producers in groups b) and c) expressed an interest in stronger coordination within the domestic retail sector, potentially in the form of contract farming. Prices of produce and potential higher production costs are determinants identified by all producer groups as important for their decision-making about changes to their supply chain.

Analysis of technical efficiency of dry season rice production in saline and non-saline areas of Bangladesh.

Maintaining productivity and technical efficiency of salinity affected rice farming is essential for food security in Bangladesh, given trends of increasing rates of salinity incursion. Using Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) data, collected by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and a translog stochastic production estimation approach, we estimated the differences in technical efficiency between saline and non-saline Boro rice producers. The findings indicate that, although mean efficiency of Boro rice producers in non-saline areas (83%) is higher than that of saline areas (73%), the pooled model suggests that saline farmers are more technically efficient compared with non-saline farmers. Despite this, the per hectare output (productivity) of Boro rice is significantly lower in saline areas (5479.3 kg) compared with non-saline areas (5880.5 kg). Moreover, saline area farmers use more irrigation and family labour to maintain Boro rice output, but more irrigation decreases marginal productivity because of salinity effects. Results also show that there are socio-economic differences between farmers in saline and non-saline areas. The implications of this study are that increased levels of salinity will reduce rice production, as variations in farming systems and technical efficiency are not sufficient to compensate for lost productivity.

Transferring and extrapolating estimates of cost-effectiveness for water quality outcomes: Challenges and lessons from the Great Barrier Reef.

In recent decades the declining health of the Great Barrier Reef has led to a number of government policies being implemented to reduce pollutant loads from the adjacent agricultural-based catchments. There is increasing use of cost-effectiveness measures to help prioritise between different programs and actions to reduce pollutants, given limited resources and the scale of the issues. However there are a small number of primary studies available, and the consistency of cost-effectiveness measures and their application is limited, particularly given the various uncertainties that underlie the measures. Unlike Europe and the United States of America water policy or benefit transfer approaches, there are no procedural guidance studies that must be followed in the context of the Great Barrier Reef catchments. In this study we review the use of cost effectiveness estimates for pollutant reduction into the Great Barrier Reef in the context of a benefit transfer framework, where estimates of costs from a particular case study are transferred to various scenarios within different catchments. The conclusions suggest a framework be developed for the Great Barrier Reef, which is consistent, transparent, and rigorous.

Values for protecting the Great Barrier Reef: A review and synthesis of studies over the past 35 years.

Assessing the economic value of improved protection of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is important to demonstrate the consequences of loss and to evaluate the public benefits of programs to reduce pressures and address degradation. However, those values are not easy to measure, in part because of the diversity and complexity of the GBR, and because there are very different types of benefits involved. Since 1985, there have been over 40 major studies that have assessed values for these components at the whole GBR level, and many more for components at smaller scales. This study synthesises estimates from the major valuation studies in the GBR since 1985, generating estimates of average values across different benefit categories. We observe mixed results. While values are often reasonably consistent within sub-categories, there is mixed evidence about temporal trends and the small number of available studies makes it difficult to draw definitive outcomes.

Developing a population wide cost estimating framework and methods for technological intervention enabling ageing in place: An Australian case.

PURPOSE: Ageing in place is one of the greatest desires of elderly people. Assistive digital technologies could potentially delay the institutionalization of the elderly people and allow them ageing in place. This study develops a population-wide cost estimating framework for adopting digital technologies that can improve the quality of life of elderly people through examining an Australian region. METHODS: We developed a five-stage cost estimation framework, which involved progressive forecasting of elderly population and direct cost estimation methods. The forecasting and cost estimation models have been set for a 10-year period because the prediction accuracy from cross-sectional data is better in the short to medium term compared to the long-term. For cost estimation, we categorised the ageing population on the basis of the number of chronic diseases that they have contracted. Costs of assistive technologies were collected from open sources. The model has been tested in the Fitzroy and Central West, a regional area of Queensland in Australia. A stakeholder panel discussion in a workshop format was used to validate the appropriateness of the proposed framework and the study findings. RESULTS: This study identified eight common chronic diseases with different comorbidity patterns in Australia. We also identified the required assistive technologies to assist patients with chronic diseases. This study estimated that annual per capita cost for technological intervention could range from AUD 4,169 to AUD 7,551 on the basis of different price margins of the technologies. CONCLUSION: The approach of categorising the aged cohorts on the basis of the number of chronic diseases helps estimate population-wide costs compared to using single technology intervention costs for a particular chronic disease cohort. The cost estimation framework and the method developed in this study can assist the government to estimate costs for ageing-in-place programs.

Linking water quality impacts and benefits of ecosystem services in the Great Barrier Reef.

Water quality degradation in the Great Barrier Reef, associated with increased loads of nutrients, sediments and pesticides from agriculture, has become a major concern. Improved management practices and water quality targets were set in the Reef Plan 2013, but with limited success. The causality between water quality degradation, ecosystem health and benefits to society remains poorly understood, questioning the relevance of current water quality targets. We argue that ecosystem service valuation may help identify the benefits generated by ecosystems and help prioritise further investments in water quality improvement. We estimate the loss of benefits to society resulting from water quality reduction, concentrating on the influence of pollutants on mangroves, seagrass and coral reefs. Our results suggest that failing to meet Government's water quality targets by 1% would result in losses between AU$22 k/year and AU$6.9 M/year depending on the industry. We then discuss the implications stemming from these results for local policy-making.

Can paddock scale data integration achieve more cost effective outcomes in the Great Barrier Reef? A case study in the Fitzroy Basin.

The decline in health of the Great Barrier Reef and the pressure on allocating funds efficiently has increased efforts to prioritise where public funds are invested. The Fitzroy basin and coastal catchments is 152,000 square kilometres and geographically diverse. Past work has identified that sediment loads leaving the catchment are posing a high risk to the ongoing health of the Reef and that there is a need to prioritise funds to achieve cost effective outcomes. In this paper we aim to present an alternative approach to effective prioritisation of sediment reductions. The approach integrates spatial information regarding the sediment source and process, levels of adoption, bare ground cover, and cost into a function to rank neighbourhood catchments. The results demonstrate the complexity of the issue and the challenge the Fitzroy Basin Association faces when allocating funds. They also illustrate that there are effective opportunities in particular priority areas within the catchment in which on-ground actions could be undertaken, proving it to be a useful approach in prioritising future investments aimed at achieving cost effective sediment reductions to the Reef.

Factors affecting adoption of improved management practices in the pastoral industry in Great Barrier Reef catchments.

Substantial efforts are being made by industry and government in Australia to reduce adverse impacts of pastoral operations on water quality draining to the Great Barrier Reef. A key target is to achieve rapid adoption of better management practices by landholders, but current theoretical frameworks provide limited guidance about priorities for improving adoption. In this study information from direct surveys with landholders in the two largest catchments draining into the Great Barrier Reef has been collected and analysed. Study outcomes have important implications for policy settings, because they confirm that substantial variations in adoption drivers exist across landholders, enterprises and practices. The results confirm that the three broad barriers to adoption of information gaps, financial incentives and risk perceptions are relevant. This implies that different policy mechanisms, including extension and incentive programs, remain important, although financial incentives were only identified as important to meet capital and transformational costs rather than recurrent costs.