2012, Volume 20, Paper 3
ISSN: 1883-5675

Dairy Directions: A decade of whole farm analysis of dairy systems

B. Malcom
C.K.M. Ho
D.P. Armstrong
P.T. Doyle
K. A. Tarrant
J.W. Heard
C.M. Ledding
W.J. Wales

Abstract

Dairy farm systems are complex and diverse. Since the late 1990s, dairy farm businesses in Victoria, Australia have operated in particularly volatile natural, economic and policy circumstances, as well as dealing with the long-term challenge of persistently rising real costs and real prices fluctuating around a declining trend. Maintaining profitability in this environment requires sound decision making. Sound decision making in farming involves assembling, analysing and assimilating information about the whole system in a robust way. To assist this end, a decade ago, a dairy research and development project, Dairy Directions, was developed. In this program, the whole farm approach of farm management economics was used to investigate questions about options dairy farmers had to maintain and improve profitability, to achieve their goals. Commencing in one region of Victoria, with an initial focus on farm decisions, the scope of the work evolved to identifying gaps in scientific knowledge, contributing information to public policy formation, and expanded to other regions.
A steering committee of farmers, related industry representatives, scientists and farm economists proved the key to success in this research process. In this paper, the whole farm economics approach to farm systems research is described and explained; in particular the role of using information about response functions, risk, time and case studies in answering questions about alternative farm futures. The application and results of the whole farm approach to a range of research questions about dairy farming in Victoria is presented. As well as confirming the known, findings have also identified unrecognized dimensions, and challenged theory.

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