I’m pleased to share with you that October has yielded preliminary results for a variety of research undertaken by the Centre for Agribusiness.
UNE Business School’s Dr Shawn Leu and researcher Mr Ed Lefley have formulating indicators of regional economic activity and are working towards the analysis of the role of agribusiness in the regions, particularly in New England.
PhD candidate Nikki Zhang passed her PhD confirmation exam in the UNE Business School on 28 October, to get her moving with on her topic of “Value of Information and Information Sharing in the Australian Beef and Sheep Meat Supply Chains“. Nikki has put together a short video summary of her project which we’re pleased to share.
UNE Business School’s David Hadley has commenced a study on the potential of the Glasshouse Industry in New South Wales.
UNE Business School’s Renato Villano, Stuart Mounter and I have completed data collection in a survey of retail food shoppers in Armidale. The research is investigating the effect of the opening of Aldi’s Armidale store and involved two sets of interview (6 months before, and 6 months after, the store’s opening). You can hear a summary of this project on video, recently shared on our YouTube channel. Survey staff Max Laurie, Zack Draunimasi, James Pryor and Derek Purdy did a great job, and thanks are also extended to all the shoppers who took time out for the interviews.
Myself, Professor David Lamb, and Dr David Miron travelled to Brisbane to attend the Spatial Information CRC’s design workshop on Australian Livestock Spatial Innovation Program (ALSIP) on 14 October.
Applications for our three PhD scholarships closed 31 October, but we shall accept late applications.
Our search for a Postdoctoral Fellow in Agribusiness continues and we shall re-advertise the position in November.
Progress along the project pipeline continues, and those interested in learning more about participation are invited to contact me.
In November 2016 I’ll be calling for ideas on establishing a Fund for Agribusiness research and study, to be run in association with our Centre.
Design and implementation of the SMART Region Incubator continues.
This month we saw more press on foreign ownership of large agricultural holdings, more on dairy travails, and more on backpackers.
We saw some good news for organic producers and sellers, and ambitious branding for exports.
This wet spring continues harvest and livestock sales season, and I wish you good selling, buying, banking and thinking in November 2016.
Derek Baker
Director, UNE Centre for Agribusiness
