ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9892-5102
Current Organisations
Charles Sturt University - Wagga Wagga Campus
,
Charles Sturt University
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2003
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2003
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2006
Publisher: Unknown
Date: 2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1071/CP16379
Abstract: Rainfed farms in south-eastern Australia often combine annual cropping and perennial pasture phases with grazing sheep enterprises. Such ersity serves in managing diseases, pests and plant nutrition while stabilising income in the face of wide, uncorrelated variations in international commodity prices and local weather over time. We use an actuarial accounting approach to capture the above contexts to render financial risk profiles in the form of distributions of decadal cash balances for a representative 1000-ha farm at Coolamon (34°50ʹS, 147°12ʹE) in New South Wales, Australia. For the soil and weather conditions at this location we pose the question of which approach is better when establishing the perennial pasture lucerne (Medicago sativa L.): sowing with the final crop of the cropping phase, or sowing alone following the final crop? It is less expensive to sow lucerne with the final crop, which can provide useful income from the sale of grain, but this practice can reduce pasture quantity and quality in poorer years. Although many years of field research have confirmed that sowing lucerne alone is the most reliable way to establish a pasture in this area, and years of extension messages to this effect have gone out to farmers, they often persist in sowing lucerne with their final cereal crops. For this region, counting all costs, we show that sowing lucerne alone can reduce farm financial risk (i.e. probability of negative decadal cash balances) at stocking rates dry sheep equivalents (DSE)/ha, compared with the practice of sowing lucerne with a cover crop. Establishing lucerne alone allows the farmer the option to profitably run higher stocking rates for higher median decadal cash margins without additional financial risk. At low stocking rates (i.e. 5 DSE/ha), there appears to be no financial advantage of either establishment approach. We consider the level of equity, background farm debt and overhead costs to demonstrate how these also affect risk-profile positions of the two sowing options. For a farm that is deeply in debt, we cannot suggest either approach to establishing lucerne will lead to substantially better financial outcomes.
Publisher: Brill
Date: 28-01-2019
Abstract: The agriculture sector in Pakistan, as in most developing countries, is dominated by smallholder producers. Pakistan has the world’s third largest dairy industry, and milk is efficiently collected and distributed chiefly by informal value chains that market the raw product with minimal cool chain infrastructure. Formal processors have a small market share of 5%. Interview data from farmers, milk collectors and consumers from three rural-urban case study value chains were analysed to study opportunities and challenges faced by the dairy industry. Compositional analysis of milk s les (n=84) collected along these chains identified the fact that in Pakistan informal milk chains provide a cheaper source of calories for the final consumer than industrialised milk chains (USD 0.12 compared USD 0.15 per 100 calories). These three chains created an estimated 4,872 jobs from farm to market and provided access to interest-free credit for the farmers. The existing government price setting mechanism at the retail end and collusion by large processors to set farm gate prices provided significant limitations to the profitability of small-holder farms providing the product. The absence of quality and quantity standards, amid the exchange of huge numbers of small volumes of milk along these chains, are major impediments to industry growth.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-08-2001
Publisher: Unknown
Date: 2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 20-03-2014
DOI: 10.3390/RS6032514
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2002
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-12-2020
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 15-03-2023
DOI: 10.3390/AGRICULTURE13030688
Abstract: Southern Australian farming systems operate predominantly under Mediterranean climatic conditions, which limit the choice of cover crops suitable for enhancement of ground cover and soil moisture retention, erosion control, atmospheric soil nitrogen (N) fixation, and weed suppression between cash crop rotations. Given that the successful establishment of cover crops is climate-driven and also influenced by edaphic factors such as soil pH and salinity, there has been increased interest by southern Australian producers in identifying potential cover crop species well adapted to specific Australian farming systems, which provide vital ecosystem services and sustainable economic benefits through the improvement of soil properties. This review summarises recent findings on cover crop inclusion in erse farming systems in southern Australia, including continuous and mixed broadacre cropping as well as viticulture and horticulture systems, to identify opportunities and limitations related to their use. Cover crop inclusion in viticulture and pasture systems with lower moisture stress was observed to benefit the subsequent cash crop through enhanced production potential. Long-term, multi-site field experimentation incorporating summer cover crops in winter crop rotations showed that cover crops enhanced ground cover and soil water infiltration in some locations across southern Australia while sometimes increasing winter crop yield, suggesting that soil type and regional climatic conditions greatly influenced the delivery of multiple cover crop benefits. Collectively, these studies have suggested a need for longer-term field evaluations using multiple cover crop species and investigations of termination options under varying environmental and soil conditions to better quantify the legacy effects of cover crops.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2012
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1071/CP22145
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2002
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 16-12-2022
DOI: 10.1017/AAE.2021.23
Abstract: The study provides comparative risk analyses of Australia’s three Victorian dairy regions. Historical data were used to identify business risk and financial viability. Multivariate distributions were fitted to the historical price, production, and input costs using copula models, capturing non-linear dependence among the variables. Monte Carlo simulation methods were then used to generate cash flows for a decade. Factors that influenced profitability the most were identified using sensitivity analysis. The dairies in the Northern region have faced water reductions, whereas those of Gippsland and South West have more positive indicators. Our analysis summarizes long-term risks and net farm profits by utilizing survey data in a probabilistic manner.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-06-2012
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 28-06-2011
DOI: 10.2166/WP.2011.085
Abstract: This paper reports controlled experiments on markets linking downstream water entitlement holders with upstream landholders wishing to establish large tree plantations. The present study tackles the question of whether it matters who owns the initial water rights. Coase's (1960) theorem suggests initial endowments will not affect final equilibrium outcomes, in terms of water prices and water rights held by the various parties. That theorem is tested through experiments with human subjects who blindly represent different groups of water users. These are land owners in upstream water supply sub-catchments and downstream urban, irrigation and ‘stock & domestic’ water users, each with pre-specified marginal values of water. These values and equilibrium results calculated in an earlier modelling study provide the theoretical base for evaluating the new results. In the experiment the initial endowments of water rights were shifted between the up and downstream participants. Strong ‘endowment effects’ were observed participants who held the greatest initial endowments often traded away fewer units than predicted by the theoretical model and captured greater shares of the gains of trade. Including new tree plantations in the market for permanent water entitlements can engender positive changes in economic surpluses in all sectors, with greater levels of social equity and protection of downstream wetland assets. This is in sharp contrast with reductions in river volumes reaching downstream parties and environmental assets in the absence of regulations requiring purchase of entitlements to cover extra water use by new plantations.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/CP19315
Abstract: This study reviews published information on the tactical management decisions needed to maximise economic grain yield in winter-dominant rainfall regions of the Mediterranean type. Tactical decisions are defined as those relating to the period from immediately before sowing to harvest. Tactical management is the principal means by which farmers respond to changing environmental and short-term economic conditions as the season progresses. The review considers published evidence that underpins these decisions and relates to cereal crops (wheat, barley and oats), pulse crops (field pea, faba bean, chickpea and narrow-leaved lupin) and canola. The criteria used to guide management decisions during the season involve soil and tissue tests for nutrients, knowledge of weed numbers and resistance status in the current and previous seasons, weather conditions that favour disease development, and knowledge of thresholds and biology of insect pests that may warrant control measures. All of these decisions can be related to the timing of the opening rains and the length of the growing season the crop, pasture or weeds present in the previous two seasons the presence of pest- and disease-bearing crop residues and the type of tillage in use. Most of these indicators require further refinement through research across environments, soil types, crop types and production systems. The likely interactions between tactical or short-term management decisions, longer term or strategic decisions, and genetic factors are discussed. The prevalent use of chemicals in the management of biotic factors that can impact the crops is noted, as is progress towards various systems of ‘integrated’ management of these threats to crop production. Most tactical decisions in rainfed cropping systems appear to be supported by adequate evidence, although some decisions are still based on practical experience and observations. Application of tactical management practices together with strategic management and use of improved genotypes provides the possibility of achieving rainfall-limited potential grain yield at a regional scale. The papers reviewed have been selected partly on the basis that the experimental treatments achieved the estimated potential grain yield. Where the potential grain yields are not being achieved in commercial crops, it remains unclear whether this is due to inadequate adoption of existing information or inadequate research to identify and address the underlying causes. We highlight the need to devise a simple decision aid to assist farmers and their advisers to respond to the variable seasonal conditions evident since the turn of the Century.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-04-2021
DOI: 10.3390/AGRICULTURE11040366
Abstract: The resilience and profitability of livestock production in many countries can be impacted by shocks, such as drought and market shifts, especially under high debt levels. For farmers to remain profitable through such uncertainty, there is a need to understand and predict a farming business’s ability to withstand and recover from such shocks. This research demonstrates the use of biophysical modelling linked with copula and Monte Carlo simulation techniques to predict the risks faced by a typical wool and meat lamb enterprise in South-Eastern Australia, given the financial impacts of different debt levels on a farming business’s profitability and growth in net wealth. The study tested five starting gearing scenarios, i.e., debt to equity (D:E) ratios to define a farm’s financial risk profiles, given weather and price variations over time. Farms with higher gearing are increasingly worse off, highlighting the implications of debt accumulating over time due to drought shocks. In addition to business risk, financial risk should be included in the analyses and planning of farm production to identify optimal management strategies better. The methods described in this paper enable the extension of production simulation to include the farmer’s management information to determine financial risk profiles and guide decision making for improved business resilience.
Publisher: Unknown
Date: 2016
Location: Syrian Arab Republic
Location: United States of America
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Thomas Nordblom.