Melanie Bryant

Managing the grand challenge of biological threats to food production: The importance of institutional logics for managing Australian biosecurity

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Date: 23-08-2019

DOI: 10.1177/0312896219867997

Abstract: This article argues that an institutional logics framework is critical for developing a shared responsibility approach to managing the grand challenge of biosecurity in Australian agriculture. We identify the dominant logics evident in the Australian biosecurity context. In doing so, we draw attention to how a shared responsibility approach is compromised by tensions created by multiple logics, such as varying interpretations of biosecurity roles and responsibilities that different actors hold. However, in reframing such tensions from an institutional ambidexterity framework, we argue that a shared responsibility approach is achievable and, through ex les from the Australian context, highlight the sites and spaces through which it may be fostered. We argue that identifying these sites and spaces requires that scholars conceptualise logics as blended rather than as discrete modes of operation. JEL Classification: M19

Transforming the Australian agricultural biosecurity framework

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 18-12-2022

DOI: 10.1111/1467-8500.12572

Abstract: The Australian government has transformed the national biosecurity framework by shifting from a quarantine to a shared responsibility approach. This reflects a move from centralised to network‐based governance. While network governance enables the development of private and public networks needed to enact a shared responsibility approach, it can sit in tension with this approach, which requires the sharing of risk and legitimacy across an array of non‐government actors. Further, little is known about how the beliefs and values of in iduals involved in biosecurity decision‐making influence whether or how a shared responsibility approach is enacted. We use an institutional logics framework to investigate these issues and found that despite risk‐shifting and scale and efficiency logics underpinning a shared responsibility approach, a bureaucracy logic has remained dominant. While a dominant bureaucracy logic can enable a shared responsibility approach by providing clear guidelines around biosecurity compliance, it can also create barriers by creating ambiguity, or increasing reliance of actors on government in the event of a biosecurity outbreak. It can also reflect shadows of hierarchy in which governments moving to network‐based governance are either not ready to share power or seek to retain authority over the direction of their policy intention. Enacting a shared responsibility approach is subject to an array of challenges. However, little is known about how the beliefs and values of in iduals involved in biosecurity decision‐making influence whether or how a shared responsibility approach is enacted. Problems can arise with implementation of a shared responsibility approach particularly related to the different and conflicting ways in which decision makers can interpret and understand a policy intention. Despite efforts from public and private partners to work together, a shared responsibility approach is dominated by a bureaucracy logic. This can provide clear guidelines for actors around compliance but can also create further dependence on government in the event of a biosecurity outbreak.

Ordering adoption: Materiality, knowledge and farmer engagement with precision agriculture technologies

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 10-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.JRURSTUD.2017.08.011

Charles Sturt University

Location: Australia

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Monash University

Location: Australia

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Swinburne University Of Technology

Location: Australia

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University Of Tasmania

Location: Australia

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Social Factors Influencing Technology Adoption In The Rice Industry

Start Date: 2014

End Date: 2016

Funder: Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

Farm Biosecurity Practices And The Management Of Emergency Animal Disease

Start Date: 2013

End Date: 2015

Funder: Department of Agriculture, Australian Government

Protecting Australia’s Food Future: Shared Responsibility For Biosecurity

Start Date: 2019

End Date: 2021

Funder: Australian Research Council

ARC Research Hub For Sustainable Onshore Lobster Aquaculture

Start Date: 2019

End Date: 2023

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP190102517

Start Date: 03-2019

End Date: 12-2024

Amount: $303,763.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH190100014

Start Date: 2020

End Date: 12-2024

Amount: $5,000,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council