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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 46(7)

Methodology for assessing optimal rates of pasture improvement in the high rainfall temperate pasture zone

K. Behrendt A D , O. Cacho A , J. M. Scott B and R. Jones C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A University of New England, School of Economics, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

B University of New England, Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

C NSW Department of Primary Industries, Forest Road, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: kbehren3@une.edu.au

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46(7) 845-849 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA05337
Submitted: 18 November 2005  Accepted: 10 May 2006   Published: 8 June 2006

Abstract

Pasture improvement is a well-established technology for increasing production in extensive livestock grazing industries by changing pasture composition and increasing soil fertility. The Cicerone Project farmlets located at Chiswick Research Station, near Armidale in New South Wales, are providing valuable information at a credible scale on the response to 3 different management systems varying in levels of inputs and grazing management. The purpose of this paper is to outline a methodology for assessing farmlet performance in such studies. The assessment focuses on the stochastic efficiency of the different treatments. The impact of pasture persistence, climatic risk, and stochastic commodity prices on optimal rates of farm development are explored by using preliminary data from the Cicerone farmlets to calibrate the GrassGro model. The farmlets modelled represent 2 technology packages. One is a moderate-input package and the other is a high-input package. Preliminary analysis indicates that direct comparison of the 2 farmlets may produce the wrong assessment, because 1 farmlet is operating at a suboptimal level of efficiency in a stochastic sense. This means that direct comparisons of technologies based on the field data may be biased as the technologies should be evaluated at the risk-efficient frontier. The concept of a risk efficient frontier is explained and applied to aid in identifying the trade-offs between profit and risk, and identify differences in the efficiency of the 2 farmlets.

Additional keywords: pasture establishment, risk-efficient frontier, stochastic efficiency, stocking rate.


Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the members, team and board of The Cicerone Project for making data available, in particular the contribution of Libuseng Shakhane, Caroline Gaden, Justin Hoad, Colin Lord and Dion Gallagher. Support received from the CSIRO Plant Industry group, in particular Andrew Moore and Libby Salmon, is also gratefully acknowledged. Karl Behrendt is supported by an Australian Sheep Industry CRC/AWI scholarship and the Cicerone Project is supported by Australian Wool Innovation.


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