Validating economic and environmental sustainability of a short-term summer forage legume in dryland wheat cropping systems in south-west Queensland.

The present study set out to test the hypothesis through field and simulation studies that the incorporation of short-term summer legumes, particularly annual legume lablab (Lablab purpureus cv. Highworth), in a fallow-wheat cropping system will improve the overall economic and environmental benefits in south-west Queensland. Replicated, large plot experiments were established at five commercial properties by using their machineries, and two smaller plot experiments were established at two intensively researched sites (Roma and St George). A detailed study on various other biennial and perennial summer forage legumes in rotation with wheat and influenced by phosphorus (P) supply (10 and 40 kg P/ha) was also carried out at the two research sites. The other legumes were lucerne (Medicago sativa), butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea) and burgundy bean (Macroptilium bracteatum). After legumes, spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) was sown into the legume stubble. The annual lablab produced the highest forage yield, whereas germination, establishment and production of other biennial and perennial legumes were poor, particularly in the red soil at St George. At the commercial sites, only lablab-wheat rotations were experimented, with an increased supply of P in subsurface soil (20 kg P/ha). The lablab grown at the commercial sites yielded between 3 and 6 t/ha forage yield over 2-3 month periods, whereas the following wheat crop with no applied fertiliser yielded between 0.5 to 2.5 t/ha. The wheat following lablab yielded 30% less, on average, than the wheat in a fallow plot, and the profitability of wheat following lablab was slightly higher than that of the wheat following fallow because of greater costs associated with fallow management. The profitability of the lablab-wheat phase was determined after accounting for the input costs and additional costs associated with the management of fallow and in-crop herbicide applications for a fallow-wheat system. The economic and environmental benefits of forage lablab and wheat cropping were also assessed through simulations over a long-term climatic pattern by using economic (PreCAPS) and biophysical (Agricultural Production Systems Simulation, APSIM) decision support models. Analysis of the long-term rainfall pattern (70% in summer and 30% in winter) and simulation studies indicated that ~50% time a wheat crop would not be planted or would fail to produce a profitable crop (grain yield less than 1 t/ha) because of less and unreliable rainfall in winter. Whereas forage lablab in summer would produce a profitable crop, with a forage yield of more than 3 t/ha, ~90% times. Only 14 wheat crops (of 26 growing seasons, i.e. 54%) were profitable, compared with 22 forage lablab (of 25 seasons, i.e. 90%). An opportunistic double-cropping of lablab in summer and wheat in winter is also viable and profitable in 50% of the years. Simulation studies also indicated that an opportunistic lablab-wheat cropping can reduce the potential runoff+drainage by more than 40% in the Roma region, leading to improved economic and environmental benefits.

Poor adoption of ley-pastures in south-west Queensland: biophysical, economic and social constraints.

The present review identifies various constraints relating to poor adoption of ley-pastures in south-west Queensland, and suggests changes in research, development and extension efforts for improved adoption. The constraints include biophysical, economic and social constraints. In terms of biophysical constraints, first, shallower soil profiles with subsoil constraints (salt and sodicity), unpredictable rainfall, drier conditions with higher soil temperature and evaporative demand in summer, and frost and subzero temperature in winter, frequently result in a failure of established, or establishing, pastures. Second, there are limited options for legumes in a ley-pasture, with the legumes currently being mostly winter-active legumes such as lucerne and medics. Winter-active legumes are ineffective in improving soil conditions in a region with summer-dominant rainfall. Third, most grain growers are reluctant to include grasses in their ley-pasture mix, which can be uneconomical for various reasons, including nitrogen immobilisation, carryover of cereal diseases and depressed yields of the following cereal crops. Fourth, a severe depletion of soil water following perennial ley-pastures (grass + legumes or lucerne) can reduce the yields of subsequent crops for several seasons, and the practice of longer fallows to increase soil water storage may be uneconomical and damaging to the environment. Economic assessments of integrating medium- to long-term ley-pastures into cropping regions are generally less attractive because of reduced capital flow, increased capital investment, economic loss associated with establishment and termination phases of ley-pastures, and lost opportunities for cropping in a favourable season. Income from livestock on ley-pastures and soil productivity gains to subsequent crops in rotation may not be comparable to cropping when grain prices are high. However, the economic benefits of ley-pastures may be underestimated, because of unaccounted environmental benefits such as enhanced water use, and reduced soil erosion from summer-dominant rainfall, and therefore, this requires further investigation. In terms of social constraints, the risk of poor and unreliable establishment and persistence, uncertainties in economic and environmental benefits, the complicated process of changing from crop to ley-pastures and vice versa, and the additional labour and management requirements of livestock, present growers socially unattractive and complex decision-making processes for considering adoption of an existing medium- to long-term ley-pasture technology. It is essential that research, development and extension efforts should consider that new ley-pasture options, such as incorporation of a short-term summer forage legume, need to be less risky in establishment, productive in a region with prevailing biophysical constraints, economically viable, less complex and highly flexible in the change-over processes, and socially attractive to growers for adoption in south-west Queensland.

Biorefineries – creating economic opportunities from biofuels and bio-products

Biorefineries, producing fuels, green chemicals and bio-products, offer great potential for improving the profitability and sustainability of tropical agricultural industries. Biomass from tropical crops like sugarcane, sweet sorghum, palm and cassava offer great potential because of the high biomass growth potential under favourable climatic conditions. Biorefineries aim to convert waste residues through biochemical and enzymatic processes to low cost fermentable sugars which are a platform for value-adding. Through subsequent fermentation utilising microbial biotechnologies or chemical synthesis, the sugars can be converted to fuels including ethanol and butanol, oils, organic acids such as lactic and levulinic acid and polymer precursors. Other biorefinery products can include food and animal feeds, plastics, fibre products and resins. Pretreatment technologies are a key to unlocking this potential and new technologies are emerging. This paper will address the opportunities available for tropical biorefineries to contribute to the future profitability of tropical agricultural industries. The importance of pretreatment technologies will be discussed.

The economic value of new tropical biorefinery industries in Australia

Biorefineries, co-producing fuels, green chemicals and bio-products, offer great potential for enhancing agricultural value, and developing new industries in the bioeconomy. Biomass biorefineries aim to convert agricultural crops and wastes through biochemical and enzymatic processes to low cost fermentable sugars and other products which are platforms for value-adding. Through subsequent fermentation or chemical synthesis, the bio-based platforms can be converted to fuels including ethanol and butanol, oils, organic acids such as lactic and levulinic acid and polymer precursors. Other biorefinery products can include food and animal feeds, plastics, fibre products and resins. In 2014, QUT commissioned a study from Deloitte Access Economics and Correlli Consulting to assess the potential future economic value of tropical biorefineries to Queensland. This paper will report on the outcomes of this study and address the opportunities available for tropical biorefineries to contribute to the future profitability and sustainability of tropical agricultural industries in Queensland and more broadly across northern Australia.

Potential economic benefit of intensification of beef production in Australian rangelands: an operational case study perspective.

In Australia, the development of rangelands has led to steady gains in pastoral productivity through more intensive and widespread land use (Stokes et al., 2006). Opportunities to benefit from intensification exist on large properties with relatively poor water and fencing infrastructure development, resulting in uneven utilisation of available forage (Ash et al.,2006). The objective of this study is to value expected economic gains from carrying out property improvements on a beef property located in Northern Australia.

Measuring the effects of mergers and acquisitions on the economic performance of real estate developers

Real estate developers in China are using mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to ensure their survival and competitiveness. However, no suitable method is yet available to assess whether such M&As provide enhanced value for those involved. Using a hybrid method of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) indices, this paper evaluates the short and medium term effects of M&As on acquirers’ economic performance with a set of 32 M&A cases occurring during 2000–2011 in China. The results of the analysis show that M&As generally have a positive effect on acquirers’ economic performance. Acquisitions on average experienced a steady growth in developer Malmquist TFP, a more progressive adoption of technology immediately after acquisition, a slight short-term decrease in technical efficiency after acquisition but followed by a marked increase in the longer term once the integration and synergy benefits were realised. However, there is no evidence to show whether developers achieved any short or long term scale efficiency improvements after M&A. The findings of this study provide useful insights on developer M&A performance from an efficiency and productivity perspective.

Violence against the adolescents of Kolkata: A study in relation to the socio-economic background and mental health

This study attempts to understand the nature of violence suffered by the adolescents of Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) and to identify its relation with their socio-economic background and mental health variables such as anxiety, adjustment, and self-concept. It is a cross-sectional study covering a total of 370 adolescents (182 boys and 188 girls) from six higher secondary schools in Kolkata. The data was gathered by way of a semi-structured questionnaire and three standard psychological tests. Findings revealed that 52.4%, 25.1%, and 12.7% adolescents suffered psychological, physical, and sexual violence in the last year. Older adolescents (aged 17–18 years) suffered more psychological violence than the younger ones (15–16 years) (p < 0.05). Sixty nine (18.6%) adolescent students stood witness to violence between adult members in the family. More than three-fifth (61.9%) adolescents experienced at least one type of violence, while one-third (32.7%) experienced physical or sexual violence or both. Whatever its nature is, violence leaves a scar on the mental health of the victims. Those who have been through regular psychological violence reported high anxiety, emotional adjustment problem, and low self-concept. Sexual abuse left a damaging effect on self-concept (p < 0.05), while psychological violence or the witnessing of violence prompted high anxiety scores (p < 0.05), poor emotional adjustment (p < 0.05), and low self-concept (p < 0.05). This study stresses the need to provide individual counselling services to the maltreated adolescents of Kolkata so that their psychological traumas can heal and that they can move on in life with new hopes and dreams.

Where to from Brahmans in the Northern Australian herd? Maintaining the economic benefit of earlier infusions of Bos indicus.

The economic performance of a terminal crossbreeding system based on Brahman cows and a tropically adapted composite herd were compared to a straightbred Brahman herd. All systems were targeted to meet specifications of the grass-finished Japanese market. The production system modelled represented a typical individual central Queensland integrated breeding/finishing enterprise or a northern Australian vertically integrated enterprise with separate breeding and finishing properties. Due mainly to a reduced age of turnoff of Crossbred and Composite sale animals and an improved weaning rate in the Composite herd, Crossbred and Composite herds returned a gross margin of $7 and $24 per Adult Equivalent (AE) respectively above that of the Brahman herd. The benefits of changing 25% of the existing 85% of Brahmans in the northern Australian herd to either Crossbreds or Composites over a 10-year period were also examined. With no premium for carcass quality in Crossbred and Composite sale animals, annual benefits were $16 M and $61 M for Crossbreds and Composites in 2013. The cumulative Present Value (PV) of this shift over the 10-year period was $88 M and $342 M respectively, discounted at 7%. When a 5c per kg premium for carcass quality was included, differences in annual benefits rose to $30 M and $75 M and cumulative PVs to $168 M and $421 M for Crossbreds and Composites respectively.

Calculations of helium separation via uniform pores of stanene-based membranes

The development of low energy cost membranes to separate He from noble gas mixtures is highly desired. In this work, we studied He purification using recently experimentally realized, two-dimensional stanene (2D Sn) and decorated 2D Sn (SnH and SnF) honeycomb lattices by density functional theory calculations. To increase the permeability of noble gases through pristine 2D Sn at room temperature (298 K), two practical strategies (i.e., the application of strain and functionalization) are proposed. With their high concentration of large pores, 2D Sn-based membrane materials demonstrate excellent helium purification and can serve as a superior membrane over traditionally used, porous materials. In addition, the separation performance of these 2D Sn-based membrane materials can be significantly tuned by application of strain to optimize the He purification properties by taking both diffusion and selectivity into account. Our results are the first calculations of He separation in a defect-free honeycomb lattice, highlighting new interesting materials for helium separation for future experimental validation.

An economic approach towards estimating health impacts of major transport investments and transport policies: A case study of transport emission abatement policy

The PhD thesis developed an economic model as an integral part of the current Health Impact Assessment (HIA) framework. Based on a Health Production Function approach, the model showed how to estimate economic benefits of positive health gains generated by transport investment programs and transport policies. Using Australian mortality and morbidity statistics and applying econometric analysis, the case study quantified health benefits induced by transport emission abatement policies in dollar terms for the Australian households. Finally, the thesis demonstrated transferability of the economic model through two example case studies, establishing a wider application capacity of the model.

The cause, distribution and economic importance of fruit speckle of banana in north Queensland

Banana Fruit Speckle.

Optimising crop and economic performance of precision overhead irrigation

This project aims to develop integrated irrigation and nutrition management strategies under limited water for irrigators currently investing in overhead irrigation systems (CPLM) to minimize the learning lag in their use and optimize crop and economic performance.

A multi-field bio-economic model of irrigated grain-cotton farming systems.

We present a participatory modelling framework that integrates information from interviews and discussions with farmers and consultants, with dynamic bio-economic models to answer complex questions on the allocation of limited resources at the farm business level. Interviews and discussions with farmers were used to: describe the farm business; identify relevant research questions; identify potential solutions; and discuss and learn from the whole-farm simulations. The simulations are done using a whole-farm, multi-field configuration of APSIM (APSFarm). APSFarm results were validated against farmers' experience. Once the model was accepted by the participating farmers as a fair representation of their farm business, the model was used to explore changes in the tactical or strategic management of the farm and results were then discussed to identify feasible options for improvement. Here we describe the modelling framework and present an example of the application of integrative whole farm system tools to answer relevant questions from an irrigated farm business case study near Dalby (151.27E - 27.17S), Queensland, Australia. Results indicated that even though cotton crops generates more farm income per hectare a more diversified rotation with less cotton would be relatively more profitable, with no increase in risk, as a more cotton dominated traditional rotation. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits and constraints from developing and applying more integrative approaches to represent farm businesses and their management in participatory research projects with the aim of designing more profitable and sustainable irrigated farming systems.