The UNE Business School was well represented at the 2020 Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) conference at the University of Western Australia in Perth in February.  The annual conference provides a welcome opportunity to share current research and catch up with UNE Business School alumni – many of whom are in roles in Universities across Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, as well as in research and policy institutions. Below are summaries of what our representatives presented at the conference. 

Katie Bassett, a Master of Economics and Region Development student, presented findings from her thesis on mapping the professional agribusiness services sector in Australia. Katie’s findings make visible the evolving off-farm agribusiness services that are not captured in the traditional counting of employment in the agricultural industry. Her work points to a method that allows for the broader count of the agriculture workforce and deepens our understanding of the skills and qualifications being utilised to support Australia’s growing agricultural production.

Susie Hester’s presentation ‘Under what conditions is biocontrol of established pests justified?’, reported on research funded by CEBRA (Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis), with focus on European Wasps, a pest that can cause severe damages to the environment, human health and the agricultural industry by damaging fruit, killing pollinators and competing with native species.Susie Hester and Oscar Cacho are using simulation modelling and economics to understand whether biological control should be used to manage the impacts of European wasp (Vespula germanica), a widespread pest in south-eastern Australia. The wasps not only damage horticultural crops, beehives, and honey production, they also sting people and pets and interfere with Australia’s outdoor way of life. Recently, while at a workshop in Canberra to discuss their modelling, Oscar and Susie had a first-hand experience of the nuisance that these pests can be. Thanks to a tip-off from a local wasp controller they were able to witness hundreds of European wasps enjoying the pancakes and maple syrup at Canberra’s Balloon festival. A wasp nest was located under a nearby hedge, and workshop attendees were able to witness the control operation.

Note that sightings of European wasps may be reported via the eWasp hotline 02 6258 5551 and App.

Oscar Cacho was a presenter and panel discussant at the mini-symposium ‘Where to next for applied economics and policy research in Australia’s international development effort?’, organised by ACIAR (the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research). Oscar’s paper was on ‘Managing natural resources to benefit smallholders’. The paper consisted of an overview of ACIAR projects in which he has participated over the last two decades, looking at lessons learned and recommendations to improve the benefits of this research in the long term.

Rene Villano’s presentations were based on collaborative ACIAR-funded projects, High-Value Beef Partnerships (HVBP) in South Africa and the Farmer Behavioural Insights Project (FBIP) in Eastern Gangetic Plains and focused on the role of psychological and behavioural insights in designing intervention strategies and understanding farmers’ decision-making process.  The first paper examined the relationships between behavioural profiles of smallholder beef and poultry farmers in South Africa and their farm business performance for the purpose of developing intervention strategies to improve profitability, productivity, and efficiency.  The second paper focused on using behavioural insights in understanding the uptake of conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification technologies in Bangladesh.

Masood Azeem presented cross-country empirical evidence on the role of human capital endowments and firms’ best practices in promoting firm-level innovation. This work is part of Masood’s postdoctoral research program on innovation, which has recently been published in the International Journal of Innovation Management. The key takeaway from his presentation was that human capital endowments are more effective in delivering innovation when they are combined with establishments’ best practices such as providing employees slack time i.e., allocation of work-time on self-chosen projects of personal interests.