Skip to Navigation
Home ›

Innovation

Seasonal labour is the most profitable use of labour in broadacre crop dominant farms

Many broadacre farms in Western Australia (WA) experience problems in attracting and retaining farm labour. A survey of WA farmers (Rabobank 2007) reported that of the 69 percent of farmers who required additional labour over the previous 12 months, 14 percent said it was ‘impossible’ to find labour. A further 62 percent said they had experienced some difficultly attracting adequate labour. To overcome this labour shortage, 41% of the survey (more)...

Farmers do not want to outsource their sheep enterprise

In many regions in Western Australia farm size is increasing and there is less labour available. To combat this many farmers are putting more priority into cropping and less effort into their less profitable enterprises such as livestock production. The resulting decrease in stocking rates makes the enterprise even less profitable. The farmers are also less likely to establish perennial pastures due to the perceived workload increase. One solution to this problem is for farmers to get a professional (more)...

Economic analysis of investment in stream–aquifer interaction technical and management challenges

return on investment report

Return on investment report Land & Water Australia investmented in this project through a Senior Research Fellowship granted by Land & Water Australia to Dr Richard Evans. The project was initiated in November 2004 and the final report submitted in March 2007. The rationale for this Land and Water Australia project included the lack of a national approach for managing Australian groundwater resources and no nationally (more)...

The increasing density of shrubs and trees across a landscape

Woody thickening is a global phenomenon whereby the density of trees and woody shrubs is increasing in the landscape. Although most commonly seen in arid and semi-arid landscapes, it also occurs in other environments. This process has a number of impacts on landscape function. Woody thickening can be a naturally occurring phenomenon but is being enhanced by climate change, changes in fire regimes and other human land use activity. Woody thickening influences carbon storage and (more)...

Modelling impacts of vegetation cover change on regional climate

This study provided new evidence of the interactions, feedbacks and risks of natural climate variability, climate change and land use/land cover change impacting on the Australian continent and how they vary regionally. We reviewed evidence of climate change and underlying processes resulting from interactions between global warming caused by increased concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases and modification of the land surface. The consequences of ignoring the effect of land use/land cover change (more)...

Drought, the “creeping disaster”

 An interview with Senior Research Fellow, Professor Sam Lake Karin Holzknecht spoke to Professor Sam Lake about his Fellowship, his research, and about Australia’s “creeping disaster”: drought. To begin, could you please summarise your experience of being a Land (more)...

Future transport fuel options laid bare

Australia could supply 90 per cent of its transport fuel needs by 2030 with bio-alcohol derived from wood, generating a $10 billion annual turnover for industry, according to a recent study. This is one of the conclusions of research undertaken by former CSIRO scientist Mr Barney Foran, now a visiting fellow at Charles Sturt University’s (more)...

Powerful Choices: transition to a biofuel economy in Australia

The Powerful Choices study uses a biophysical-economics model of the Australian economy to explore the capability of discrete low-carbon technologies to maintain economic growth, ensure energy security and reduce CO2 emissions out to 2051. The approach applies physical laws of thermodynamics and mass balance to established economic structures to ensure that financial dynamics are constrained by physical reality. Renewable electricity (bio-electricity, wind, solar thermal and (more)...

Dynamic non market valuation of Ecosystem Services

We all agree that valuing ecosystem services is crucial for better management of the ecosystem. We don’t seem to agree on how to do it. Current methods do not model the dynamics of economic or ecological systems. Dr Greg Hertzler’s (USyd) research project developed a dynamic model to value ecosystem services and natural resources. It found natural resource managers (who often value the ecosystem using their preferences and knowledge) are crucial, particularly if they consult (more)...