Reports

Find annual reports to the AGM below.

President's AGM Reports

This section contains the President's annual reports to the AGM.

1999

President's report to AGM, 1999

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



As I come to the end of my year as President, I find myself wishing I had two more years in the position. Our Society has been badly damaged financially in connection with the merger of the two journals, and the transfer to Blackwell as publisher. In my opinion this is because the contract with Blackwell is such that they keep most of the income from institutional subscriptions, while we get most of the income from ordinary members, combined with the fact that from 1996 to 1997 we suffered a decline of 9% in total ordinary membership, and then a further 2% in 1998 (see the "Total" row of Table 1). Note that there has also been a decline in institutional subscriptions, which also has a cost for us, but which was significantly alleviated by Paul O'Mara's renegotiation of our contract in 1997. While the level of institutional subscriptions is largely an issue for Blackwell, the main issue for us has been to regenerate our ordinary membership. This concern has been central to my activities as President.

In this context I would like to highlight four initiatives:

• The creation of the position of Manager: Promotion and Development on the Executive of the Society. I have commented at length in my columns in News and Views about the tremendous efforts of Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani in this position during 1998, but some of this bears repeating.

• Fredoun and Julian Alston worked together in 1998 to create a North American Branch of the Society and to promote membership of this Branch at the 1998 meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association. The last row of Table 1 shows the estimated success of this initiative.

• Fredoun and Garry Griffith worked together to organise and present the Inaugural AARES Symposium in Sydney in November 1998 on the topic of "The Asian Crisis". In my opinion this Symposium was an event of very high quality and represented an ideal foundation for the future. It did not make a lot of money, and perhaps it never will, but it was an excellent promotional event for the Society. Moreover, as registration fees for non-members included a membership fee, we picked up seven new members at the same time.

• The last initiative is one that concerns the Branches of the Society. The top eight rows of Table 1 show the changes in Total Ordinary Equivalent membership between 1996 and 1998, and certainly the top four rows represent a sad story of decline. But the row I want to highlight is that for Western Australia, because in 1998 we used a membership-enhancement technique which was borrowed from the British Agricultural Economics Society. In essence, their technique is simply a search process whereby the Secretary writes to major employers asking them only to provide names of new appointments in areas relevant to the Society. The Secretary then writes personally to these new employees with a view to persuading them to join the Society. As you can see from the last column of Table 1, our use of this technique appears to have been very successful. Consequently, I would like to take this opportunity to urge Branch officials to adopt this technique as a means of regenerating membership, particularly in those Branches which have suffered major declines.

Table 1. AARES: Total Ordinary Equivalent Members, 1996-98a

Branch	1996	1997	1998	% change 96-98
NSW	97.5	88.0	87.0	-11
VIC	98.5	94.5	83.5	-15
QLD	62.5	58.5	53.5	-14
ACT	97.0	79.0	72.0	-26
NE	32.5	32.5	30.5	-6
SA	19.0	16.0	19.0	0
WA	30.5	31.5	38.5	+26
NZ	23.0	21.0	24.0	+4
TOTAL	460.5	421.0	408.0	-11
NORTH AMERICA	22.0	21.0	31.0*	+36

Source: Annual Branch Grant Statements

*Estimate provided by Blackwell

I would like to conclude this Report by thanking some of the Society's key officers. Firstly to Fredoun, Robert Wright as Treasurer, and Peter Daniel as Secretary, who have provided me with excellent Executive support, and who have carried out their functions very professionally. Secondly, to Rod Tyers and Deborah Peterson as out-going Editors of the AJARE. You will be aware that we have been fortunate in securing the services of Geoff Edwards in carrying on this task. My best wishes Geoff. Thirdly, to Garry Griffith who has done a great job as President-Elect. My best wishes to you too for your term as President. And lastly, to Katie Bicknell and her LOC for organising such a great Conference in Christchurch.

Rob Fraser

2000

President's report to AGM 2000

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



Welcome members, and a special welcome to any new members who have joined the Society in the last year. 1999 was a year of consolidation following the many initiatives implemented by Council in the previous year and I am able to report that these initiatives are beginning to pay substantial dividends. However there are also some concerns that we need to keep an eye on.

The Good News

Membership numbers increased markedly in 1999. The latest "official" Blackwell figures available from Central Office put memberships at over 600 (although we think there are many more), compared with 521 for the 1998 year and around 440 in May 1998. There were at least 150 new members signed up during 1999, including 45 from the Christchurch Conference, some 50 from the WA Branch Symposium and more than 30 from the AARES Tax Symposium, so renewals appear to be a bit problematic at this stage. Even so, AARES will be substantially better off financially due to this concerted effort to increase membership numbers. This is reflected in Glenn Anderson’s budget below.

The second AARES Annual Symposium "For Better or Worse: Tax Reform, the Australian Economy and the Agricultural and Resource Sectors", was held in Sydney on August 20 at the Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour. Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani put together an excellent program with an impressive list of speakers who were able to give the latest analysis of the implications of the modified GST package passed by the Senate and the expected outcomes of the Ralph report. A lively debate continued into the closing session. This year there were more than 70 registered participants including more than 30 new members, and this resulted in a healthy net profit for AARES of around $8,000. There was also a significant media presence which resulted in some good publicity for the Society. The evidence is now clear that this initiative can become the second major professional activity of AARES and so provide a major avenue for increasing membership and raising revenue, if we get it right.

The publishing contract between Blackwell and AARES was renegotiated to eliminate the penalty clause on lower than promised institutional subscribers, in return for agreeing to an increased number of pages in the Journal. This saved AARES in the order of $8,000 last year and increasing amounts in this and future years. With the need to fill more pages this year and in following years, here is your chance to catch the Editor in a benevolent frame of mind!

This saving in shortfall payments, together with the profit from the AARES Symposium, means that the budgeted deficit for 1999 has been substantially reduced and the expected cash flow position for 2000 is pretty close to balance. Given the membership trends outlined above, the future financial position looks quite healthy. I would like to thank all members, and particularly members of Council, for their efforts in achieving this outcome.

Items of Concern

There are a few minor items. Not all Branches are getting as involved in the rejuvenation of the Society as I would like. In particular, there is an opportunity in the coming year for one of the Branches to be involved in the organisation and running of the AARES Symposium. The prize aspect of the membership drive was poorly supported by members, although the response through brochures and the like appeared reasonable. Finally, the introduction of GST this year will be a major headache for Glenn and Branch treasurers.

Our major item of concern is the publishing contract with Blackwell. The partnership seems to be working very well on the Journal production component, but not at all well on the component of Blackwell maintaining our membership lists in a timely and comprehensive manner. The lists supplied by Blackwell have been largely useless for the past few months and have caused embarrassment to the Society and to particular members. At a meeting with a senior editor in November, Fredoun and I were assured that problems with their changeover of computer system would be dealt with immediately, but that has not seemed to have occurred. It is only through the excellent work of Julie Rowe in Central Office, who has kept her own membership lists, that mailouts for the last News & Views, the President-Elect ballots and the constitutional information for the AGM, could be done with any reliability. There is a continuing problem however in that all the effort put into signing up new members last year may be wasted if those members do not receive the material from the Society that they are entitled to - journals from Blackwell in England, News & Views and other material from Central Office, and notices of seminars etc from their local Branches - and as a consequence do not renew their memberships. The current numbers imply that there are quite a number of non-renewals at this time.

The Blackwell publishing contract has two years to go, but Council has to make a decision by March 2001 about whether the current arrangements will be continued or whether a new publication strategy will be adopted. A sub-committee of Council has been considering these issues and will continue to do so during this year. The onus is now on Blackwell to sort out their procedures and databases and provide the level of service stipulated in the contract and expected by the Society.

Thanks

The achievements of 1999 have been very much a team effort, and I would like to record my appreciation to members of the Executive and other members of Council for their commitment to the Society and their contributions.

I should begin by thanking Rob Fraser for his counsel and advice as Past-President. It is a very good policy to have this position having an active role on Council, especially when, as last year, several new people came onto the team. The corporate history retained by the Past-President always provides a useful perspective. Likewise, David Pannell as President-Elect has made a number of significant contributions this past year, in particular fixing up the AARES web address and organising the "proceedings". I wish to thank him for his efforts to date and wish him well in the coming year.

I worked closely with Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani, our Manager, Promotion & Development, during both 1998 and 1999, and I would like to thank him for the energy and enthusiasm he contributes to the business of the Society. One of his major contributions was in implementing and consolidating the concept of the AARES Symposium, and I am personally grateful to him for his decision to give the Society another year of his enthusiasm. The other members of the Executive are Peter Daniel as Secretary, Glenn Anderson as Treasurer and Geoff Edwards as Editor of the Journal. Members should recognise the calm efficiency of these people and the commitment they have to doing their jobs well. Well done everyone, and thank you. After his lengthy contribution on Council, it is with regret that we have accepted Peter’s resignation as Secretary, but we wish him well in his new career and we hope that he will continue his involvement in Society matters. I should also like to thank the members of the Masters and PhD research prize panels. I know the workload involved, so thanks for being part of this important Society activity.

Finally, there are two other very important people who help this Society to function. One, Julie Rowe, has a formal role as manager of Central Office and editorial assisant for the Journal, but Julie’s contribution goes far beyond the job description. The other is Prue Winkler, Administrative Assistant in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney. Prue has no formal role in the Society, but has willingly assisted Fredoun with many of his tasks and the LOC with the organisation of this conference. Thank you Julie and Prue.

Garry Griffith

2001

President's report to AGM 2001

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



President’s Report for 2000

Presented at the AGM, January 24 2001

Membership

Final membership numbers for 2000 were 624. Our recovery from below 500 prior to 1999 has been successfully sustained, thanks to ongoing efforts to attract and retain members. Turnover of members is higher than we would like, but a survey of non-renewing members in 2000 did not reveal problems or concerns that are leading to non-renewal. In most cases it is due to very understandable reasons such as:

• Retirement,
• A change of jobs to an area not relevant to AARES,
• The need to rationalise memberships of numerous professional societies,
• Money constraints,
• An oversight.

The sentiments expressed towards AARES in the survey were strongly positive.

Blackwell

Blackwell’s publication of our journal has continued at a high standard, and their management of our membership list has improved substantially. They have been very responsive to our requests and concerns and now appear to provide a high quality service in both aspects of our contract.

Our contract with Blackwell is due for renewal at the end of June 2001.

Farm Management Society

The Farm Management Society of Central South Australia approached AARES with a suggestion that they should merge with us. After negotiations it was agreed that the merger should proceed. I welcome those members of the former FMS-CSA who are new members of AARES and look forward to them working with us to raise the profile of farm management within the Society. I believe that this initiative will be of substantial benefit to existing AARES members with an interest in farm management. I particularly thanks Glenn Ronan and Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani for their efforts in achieving this excellent outcome.

IAAE Conference 2006

Members of our Queensland branch took a major initiative at the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference in Berlin in August, where they submitted a bid to host the 2006 Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists. Although initially favouring a bid from China, the IAAE Executive made a late decision to accept the Australian offer. I would like to express my gratitude to the Queensland branch for their offer to stage this major international event, which will be a benefit to all AARES members. It will be important for us all to get strongly behind the conference. It will be run on a fully commercial basis around mid year. One issue for AARES to consider is delaying its annual conference in 2006 in order to stage it jointly with IAAE. This would have implications for our AGM, which our constitution specifies must be held no later than March 31.

AARES Symposium

On September 1 in Brisbane, the third annual AARES Symposium was held, on the topic "Deregulation, Competition Policy and Regional Australia." The day was an outstanding success, thanks to the work of local organisers, led by George Antony, with help from Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani and Julie Rowe. The Symposium was attended by 70 people and resulted in 35 new members of AARES.

AARES 2001 Conference and workshops

The AARES 2001 Conference in Adelaide was very successful. The two pre-conference workshops were also very well subscribed.

A feature of this conference is the number and diversity of sponsors. Sponsors for the main conference or one of the workshops include:

• Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation
• Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
• Murray Darling Basin Commission
• Productivity Commission
• Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia
• Agriculture Western Australia
• Victorian Department of Natural Resources & Environment
• Centre for International Economic Studies
• School of Economics, University of Adelaide
• International Food Policy Research Institute
• US Farm Foundation

Thanks to all of these sponsors for their great support of AARES and of the conference.

The Society will be maintaining a more professional and consistent approach to seeking sponsorship in future.

AARES 2002 Conference

In response to requests from a number of members to reduce pressures during the Christmas holiday period, the timing of the conference 2002 conference has been delayed to Feb 12-14. [Note: The ACT branch has indicated that it is going to investigate a possible change of venue for the conference, in which case the dates of Feb 5-7 may become the preferred option.]

Choices?

We have been in discussions with the Agribusiness Association of Australia regarding the possible establishment of a joint publication along the lines of Choices magazine, which is published by the American Agricultural Economics Association. The aim of Choices is to present topical and interesting issues in an accessible and non-technical style. An Australian version would combine the existing "Perspectives" publication of the AAA and the "Views" section of AARES News and Views. Council is further considering this proposal, and would welcome input from members. Relevant considerations include that the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society has recently established just such a publication, titled Current Agriculture, Food and Resource Issues. It is a freely accessible web-based publication, at www.cafri.org. Furthermore, the Agricultural Economics Society in the UK looks likely to proceed with the publication of Euro-Choices. They have approached AARES to suggest that we might offer Euro-Choices as a "bundled" service to our members, or as an optional extra.

Web Page

The Society’s web page has continued to grow and improve during 2000. Additions included

• invited papers from the AARES 2000 conference
• photos from the AARES 2000 conference
• abstracts from forthcoming AJARE articles
• past issues of the Research Evaluation newsletter, REGAE News
• minutes and office holder’s reports

Additions planned for 2001 include an online membership directory and further material from the AARES archives.

Changes on Council Executive

The present pace of change in membership of Council Executive is high. In 2000 Michele Scoccimarro replaced Peter Daniel as secretary, and both Glenn Anderson (Treasurer) and Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani (Manager Promotion and Development) have decided to stand down as of this conference. Geoff Edwards will conclude his term as editor of AJARE on June 30.

I wish to particularly acknowledge members of Council, and particularly of Council Executive, over the past three years for presiding over a major revitalisation of this Society. In 1998, membership numbers had been falling for several years and were approaching levels at which the Society would not be financially viable without substantial changes. Commentary in AARES News and Views was remarking on the changing situation for agricultural and resource economists in government agencies and universities, and questioning whether the Society had a future in its then current guise. We have responded to the challenges we faced (and still face) with energy, creativity and hard work, introducing some important innovations in what we offer members (annual symposium, web page, conference CD, improved News and Views, North American branch, merger with FMS-CSA). As a result, our membership numbers are greatly increased, and our financial situation made secure. Most importantly, the general level of participation and enthusiasm of members is high. To have achieved this through a period of rapid and dramatic change in the employment and academic environments for our members is something of which we as a Society can be proud.

Finally, with the completion of Geoff Edward’s term as editor, the Society will lose the services of Julie Rowe as office manager. Julie has done an outstanding job for the Society, and her successor will find it very difficult to match her level of care and organisation, as well as her patient, friendly and helpful manner. Best wishes to Julie in her life post-AARES.

David Pannell

2002

President's report to AGM 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



PRESIDENT’S REPORT

It has been a busy year for the AARES Federal Council. This President’s Report on the "State of the Society" encapsulates some main points about the things that have occupied our attention. Many of these topics are covered in more detail in other places: in other office bearers’ reports at this meeting or in recent issues of AARES News & Views.

General Picture

The main general message is that the Society is in good shape in terms of its membership and finances (as can be seen in the reports of the Manager: Promotion and Development and the Treasurer) but that we cannot take this for granted. The recent positive trends in both AARES membership and its financial picture are at odds with what has been happening in the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA), for instance. Bucking the global trends has taken significant effort, and it will take continuing effort to sustain the gains we have made, let alone add to them. Importantly, we have had to face up to the reality that we can no longer rely on the implicit subsidy of substantial institutional support. Everything we do in future - including the publication of the Journal, the provision of Central Office services, and the organisation of our annual Conferences andSymposia - will have to be done on a more-nearly fully commercial basis. These somewhat sobering sentiments are important background for some decisions taken in the past 12 months.

Blackwell Contract

Our original contract with Blackwell was for a five-year period, ending in 2001. This contract specifies the terms under which Blackwell manages our subscriptions, maintains lists of our members, and publishes AJARE. In October 2001 we finally concluded a long process of review and negotiation, and signed a new contract, for a three-year term. Under the new contract AARES will receive 8 percent of the revenue from institutional subscriptions, in addition to its (unchanged) share of revenue from member subscriptions. In addition, the revised contract allows for the collection of page charges from authors, with the revenue to be shared such that 8 percent goes to Blackwell and 92 percent goes to AARES, and we have introduced page charges of $20 per printed page for the 2002 volume of AJARE. These are the main changes, and we expect them to generate additional revenue of about $15,000 per year for AARES.

AARES Conferences and Symposia

Our other main source of income is Conferences and Symposia. Over the past few years we have done increasingly well at making our Conferences and Symposia financial successes as well as successes in the other ways that matter to us. The AARES 2001 Conference and the associated workshops is a good example. The 2001 AARES Symposium also generated good publicity and new memberships, as well as a very good surplus. Thanks are due especially to Mark Eigenraam, Deb Peterson, and Charlotte Duke, as well as other members of the Victorian Branch of AARES, for organising this event. Preliminary estimates for the AARES 2002 Conference indicate that it, too, has been a financial success while providing excellent opportunities for cultural, social, professional, and intellectual exchange.

Initiatives

Several initiatives that also have financial implications were introduced, aiming to economise where possible, while promoting the Society and enhancing services to the membership.

• the shift to an electronic, web-based version of AARES News & Views
• the introduction of a new web-based publication, Connections
• the AARES–AAEA Young Professionals Exchange Travel Awards

Editors of AJARE, and AARES Central Office

2001 marked the end of Geoff Edwards’ term as editor of AJARE. We owe Geoff a large debt of thanks for his excellent service as editor for three years, during which the Journal flourished. His contributions to AJARE include the innovation of a Millennium Issue, and his efforts to publish the first of these in March 2001. This also marks the end of a much longer period during which Geoff has served as a voice of reason, as well as a source of wisdom and at times a conscience, for the Council. John Mullen and Chris O’Donnell have taken over as co-editors of AJARE, with the support of four Associate Editors (Jeff Bennett, Garry Griffith, Ray Trewin, and Paul Winters), as well as a Book Review Editor (Graham Marshall), and an Editorial Board. Editing the Journal is a very big job, and a great service to the Society, and we were very happy to be able to find such an able team willing to take on the task. With the change of editors, the AARES Central Office has also moved to the University of New England, with some limited but very welcome institutional support provided by the Department of Economics. Honey Greenwood has replaced Julie Rowe to provide editorial assistance and manage the Central Office.

Personnel Changes

In addition to changes in the Journal editors and Central Office staff, there have been some other personnel changes. Bill Malcolm and Glenn Ronan have taken on the editorship of Connections. On the Federal Council, at the end of last year, Glenn Anderson and Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani concluded their terms as Treasurer and Manager, Promotion and Development, respectively. Given the issues facing the Society, these positions are critical for managing our finances and promoting membership, and both Mal Wegener and Lisa Brennan have got off to a great start in their first year in these roles, and have contributed a lot already. I welcome, in particular Lisa’s initiatives in setting out to create value for members (discussed in her report) and I would encourage the membership to do what they can to support Lisa in this effort. In addition to his duties as Treasurer, I want to thank Mal for his efforts with others in developing the proposal to hold the 2006 International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) Conference in Brisbane, which he and Roley Piggott presented to the IAAE Council in Chicago. In addition, Tracy Henderson has done a fine job in the role of Editor of News & Views, which she took over from Fredoun. Given the normal rotation of Presidents, the only position on the executive that has not changed this year has been that of Secretary, which has been very ably filled by Michelle Scoccimarro. I am sorry to have to report that Michelle has advised us that she will not be able to continue to serve, and I take this opportunity to thank Michelle for her hard work and good service to the Society as Secretary.

Absent Friends

A sad duty that befalls me is to note the passing of four of our members during 2001. John Dillon, John Quilkey, Russ Reynolds, and Ross Parish were all well known to me and collectively had significant influence on my life and career, as they did for many of our members. We will not see their like again. They will be missed.

Thanks

On a happier note, I wish to conclude by thanking the members of Council, particularly the Executive, and several past Presidents, for their hard work, support, and friendship during a busy and challenging year. We began the year, all fairly new to the task, and had to learn quickly given the issues before us. These included the need to review and revise the contact with Blackwell, to find and appoint new editors for the Journal, and to relocate the Central Office, as well as the usual business of the Society. But we also took some initiatives. As I noted earlier, this year also marked the introduction of Connections and the Young Professionals Exchange Travel Award, the implementation of our merger with Farm Management Society-Central South Australia, and the formal agreement that Australia would host the 2006 IAAE conference. I hope you will join me in congratulating and thanking the Council for their effort in getting this all done.

Julian Alston

2003 (pdf)

The President's report to the 2003 AGM is contained within the 1st edition of News and Views in 2003 (pdf).

2004

President's report to AGM 2004

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



 

In 2003, core membership numbers remained reasonably stable, with the usual fluctuation with the addition of new members associated with Symposium attendees, and decline in numbers associated with members who signed as a consequence of attending the previous years Symposium.

During the year, members of the AARES had the benefit of a couple of outstanding professional events — the annual conference organized by the W.A. branch and held in Fremantle and the annual symposium organized by the Canberra branch and held in Canberra. The latest disciplinary research and thinking was presented to highly appreciative audiences at both of these outstanding events. The membership is indebted to these branches for providing such high quality professional opportunities.

 

The AARES is in a sound financial position, largely as a result of cash surpluses delivered by the successful annual conference and the symposium, which in turn derive from strong sponsorship of these events. In total, these two events contributed a cash surplus of over $30,000. The AARES needs to be in a strong financial position in order to deliver the International Conference of Agricultural Economists in 2006 in Queensland.

 

The AARES ordinary operating income (before conference and symposium surpluses that derive largely from sponsorship) still barely meets operating expenses, that have risen steadily over the past 6-8 years. The bulk of AARES operating expenses are related to the administration and publication of the AJARE and the operation of the central office. Change is needed and changes are to be made in 2004 to reduce the proportion of total income accounted for by journal publishing and central office expenses. In essence, journal administration services are going to be provided by Blackwells who came up with a competitive quote to do so, and the central office operation is to be separated from the journal administration, enabling the true costs of central office administration to be identified clearly, trimmed and contained. Under the new arrangements the ratio of annual operating expenditures resulting from the journal and the central office to annual operating income before conference and symposium surpluses will be reduced to a level that we can be more confident is sustainable.

 

Two teams of potential AJARE editors, one from WA and one from NSW, submitted bids to take over editorship of the AJARE when the term of the current editors expires during 2004. Details of these two bids were widely publicized amongst the membership, and feedback from members was provided to Executive and Council about members’ preferred editorial team. During discussions with Blackwells about renewing the contract to publish the journal, Blackwells expressed interest in providing the administration of the journal on a contract basis. The two editorial bid teams were informed of this, and they were invited to provide another set of bids for consideration under a hypothetical scenario where Blackwells provided the journal administration and the central office functions were located with the office of President.

 

Further discussion ensued with Blackwells about the administrative systems they have established for handling articles (they currently provide administration services to 13 professional journals, including several international ones). As well, input from editors of several journals that are currently administered by Blackwells was sought. The strong judgements of these editors were that Blackwells administered their journals very well indeed. The systems used were at high standards of professionalism, and represented significant improvement on their previous situations which were similar to our own current systems. Having a settled set of administrative arrangements was considered to be a considerable advantage over having to relocate and re-establish administrative systems every time editors changed. One editor regarded it as a significant advantage that Blackwells provided the scope for continual improvements by being connected to innovations in journal administration and publication that develop internationally.

 

All things considered, Council decided that a Blackwells-WA editorial team would have a very good probability of meeting the objectives of members, viz., delivering a journal efficiently and in a sustainable manner, and facilitating the achievement of the medium term aim of containing journal and central office costs to a satisfactory proportion of operating income.

 

Planning is proceeding for the International Agricultural Economics Association Conference to be held in Queensland in 2006. Treasurer Malcolm Wegener attended the IAAE conference in Durban during 2003 and started to pave the way for the delivery of the 2006 conference. A contract between the AARES and the IAAE is being negotiated at present. The AARES Council is taking particular care to minimize the exposure of AARES to risk of losses from uncertain happenings that could have an impact on the financial viability of the conference.

 

Lisa Brennan has just completed her term as Manager, Development and Promotion. Lisa has done a wonderful job in this role, especially in the area of establishing relationships with sponsors. She attacked with admirable enthusiasm and energy the often onerous tasks involved in maintaining and building profile and membership numbers of the Society. Members owe Lisa a great debt and are extremely appreciative of her efforts. Thanks Lisa. Lisa is going to mentor her replacement in the early days.

 

It is a great privilege to be President of the AARES, and even more so when one gets to know better more members, and gets the opportunity to work closely with Council members. I was particularly privileged to work closely with the President–Elect Jeff Bennett, and the members of the Executive, Liz Peterson, Mal Wegener, Lisa Brennan, and John Mullen. Tracy Henderson again did a terrific job producing the very informative and useful electronic publication ‘News and Views’. The membership is being exceptionally well served by all the members who work in Council and the Executive.

 

Sadly, during 2003 AARES lost a very dear friend to many of us, Mike Read, and the world is a lesser place.

 

Thanks to all members for their support of the position of AARES President 2003.

 

Bill Malcolm

2005 (pdf)

Secretary's AGM Reports

This section contains the Secretary's annual reports to the AGM.

1999

Secretary's report to AGM 1999

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



The 1998 AGM was held on 20 and 21 January 1998 at the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales. At the meeting, the following office bearers were elected:

• President Rob Fraser
• President-Elect Garry Griffith
• Secretary Peter Daniel
• Treasurer Robert Wright
• Manager: Promotion Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani
• and Development
• AJARE Editors Deborah Peterson and Rod Tyers
• Paul O’Mara automatically assumed membership of Council on becoming Immediate Past President.

During 1998, Rod Tyers and Deborah Peterson retired as Editors of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. After seeking expressions of interest, Council appointed Geoff Edwards to the position of Editor.

During 1998, the following members represented their Branches:

• New South Wales John Mullen
• Australian Capital Territory Peter Warr
• Victoria Peter Daniel
• Queensland Christine Williams and Mal Wegener
• Western Australia David Pannell
• New England Oscar Cacho for Euan Fleming
• South Australia Geoff Page and Andrew Manson
• New Zealand Katie Bicknell

Business of Council

Council met four times since the last AGM on 21 January, 15 May, 11 September and 19 January.

Some of the more important matters considered by Council in 1998 were:

Constitution

Following the adoption of changes to the Constitution at the 1998 AGM, the changes were approved by the Registrar of Incorporated Associations.

Committees

The following members were appointed to committees of the Society:

President-Elect Nominating Committee Paul O’Mara, Tony Chisholm, Carolyn Tanner, Bob Lindner

PhD Research Award Panel Roley Piggott, Iain Fraser, Donald MacLaren

Masters Research Award Panel David Pannell, Katie Bicknell, Deborah Peterson

North American Branch

Council approved the establishment of a North American Branch of the Society. The new branch was launched at the Annual Meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association in Salt Lake City in August 1998, which also agreed to process membership applications on behalf of the Society and Blackwell.

Alan Lloyd Fellowship

The Inaugural Alan Lloyd Fellowship was awarded to Professor Alan Olmstead of the University of California at Davis.

Central Office

After Council appointed Geoff Edwards to the position of Editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the Central Office and Journal Office were relocated to La Trobe University. The move went smoothly and the office is now being capably managed by Julie Rowe.

PhD Conference in Economics and Business

Council agreed to provide sponsorship of $250 to the PhD Conference in Economics and Business held at the Australian National University in November. Promotional material on the Society was included in the registration kits.

AARES Symposium

The Society held its Inaugural Symposium on ‘The Asian Crisis and Australia’s Agricultural and Resource Sectors’ in Sydney on 20 November 1998.

Peter Daniel

2000

Secretary's report to AGM 2000

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



The 1999 Annual General Meeting was held on 21 January 1999 at the Christchurch Convention Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand. At the meeting, the following office bearers were elected/announced:

• President: Garry Griffith
• President-Elect: David Pannell
• Secretary: Peter Daniel
• Treasurer: Glenn Anderson
• Manager: Promotion and Development: Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani
• AJARE Editor: Geoff Edwards
• Rob Fraser automatically assumed membership of Council on becoming Immediate Past President. Andrew Thornton attended as Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the 2000 Conference.

During 1999, the following members represented their Branches:

• Australian Capital Territory: Ron Duncan
• New England: Christy Chang
• New South Wales: John Mullen
• Queensland: Mal Wegener, Paul Riethmuller and Christine Williams
• South Australia: Andrew Manson and Venton Cook
• Victoria: Peter Daniel
• Western Australia: David Pannell
• New Zealand: Katie Bicknell and Rod Forbes
• North America: Julian Alston and Phil Pardey

Business of Council

Council has met four times since the last AGM on 22 January 1999, 14 May 1999, 21 August 1999 and 22 January 2000.

Some of the more important matters considered by Council in 1999 were:

• The 2nd Annual Symposium held on 20 August 1999.
• The relationship between AARES and Blackwell Publishers
• The Conference held in Christchurch and the upcoming Conferences in Sydney and Adelaide
• Ways of increasing the number of members in AARES
• The new AARES web site
• Sponsorship of the PhD Conference in Economics and Business

Committees

The following members were appointed to committees of the Society in 1999:

• President-Elect Nominating Committee Rob Fraser (Chair), Katie Bicknell, Colin Brown, Alistair Watson
• PhD Research Award Panel David Godden (Chair), Alicia Rambaldi, Ross Kingwell
• Masters Research Award Panel Deborah Peterson (Chair), David Pannell, Katie Bicknell

Peter Daniel

2001

Secretary's report to AGM 2001

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, Inc.
Registered Number A0018301S

Secretary’s Report
Activities of the Society during 2000

1. Council of the Society

The 2000 Annual General Meeting was held on 24 January 2000 at the University of Sydney. At the meeting, the following office bearers were elected:

President David Pannell
President Elect Julian Alston
Secretary Michelle Scoccimarro
Treasurer Glenn Anderson
Manager Promotion and Development Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani
AJARE Editor Geoff Edwards

Garry Griffith automatically assumed membership of Council on becoming Immediate Past President. Doug Young attended as Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the 2000 conference.

During 2000, the following members represented their Branches:

New South Wales John Mullen, Andrew Thornton
Australian Capital Territory Michelle Scoccimarro
Victoria Peter Daniel, Geoff Edwards
Queensland Mal Wegener, George Anthony
Western Australia David Pannell, Laura McCann
New England Christy Chang, Garry Griffith
South Australia Andrew Manson, Randy Stringer, Doug Young, Kym Jervois, Mandy Wallace
New Zealand Rod Forbes
North America Julian Alston

2. Business of Council

Council has met four times since the last AGM on 24 January 2000: 25 January 2000, 12 May 2000, 31 August 2000 and 22 January 2001.

Some of the more important matters considered by Council in 2000 were:

The third annual symposium held on September 1 2000 in Brisbane.

The relationship between AARES and Blackwell Publishers

The conference held in Sydney and the upcoming conference in Adelaide

The new AARES web site

3. Committees

The following members were appointed to committees of the Society:

PhD Thesis Award Panel: David Godden, Ross Kingwell and Christie Chang.

Masters Thesis Award Panel: Katie Bicknell, Deb Peterson, Rodney Beard

4. Branch Activities

Branch office bearers listed are those as at 31 December 2000.

New England

President: Brian Hardaker

Immediate Past President: Christie Chang

President Elect: Geoff Kaine

Secretary: Garry Griffith

Treasurer: Garry Griffith

Councillor: Garry Griffith

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

9 May AGM

8 September Professor Kurt Dopfer and Dr Jason Potts, University of Queensland An Evolutionary Theory of Production Functions

15 September Dr Donna Brennan, ACIAR

Opportunities in ACIAR's Agricultural Policy Development Program

14 December Professor Ellen Goddard, University of Melbourne

Reflections on Agricultural Economics Education in Australia

Western Australia

President: Ross Kingwell

Secretary: Sallie James

Treasurer: Michael Burton

Councillor: Laura McCann

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

1 February Prof Al Weersink, The Economics of Voluntary cost-share programs

4 February Prof Al Weersink, Female Participation and Labour Market Attachment in Rural Canada

3 March Sally Marsh, Current Issues in Vietnam

10 March Prof Rob Fraser, Quotas, Lease Markets and Multiplicative Yield Uncertainty: Production and Timing Decisions

17 March Dr Steven Schilizzi, Economics and Ethics: How Do They Interact?

24 March A/Prof Michael Burton, Market Structure and Entry Deterrence in the Commons

31 March Dr Laura McCann, Agri-environmental issues in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

7 April Dr Greg Hertzler, The Proportion of on-farm/off-farm salinity benefits

14 April Ben Henderson, Investigating the Efficiency of Western Australian Farmers

5 May Sallie James, Food Safety Policy and Risk Management: A case study of GMOs

12 May Dr Hild Rygenstad, A Regional Analysis of Uniform and Targeted Policy Measures in Denmark

16 May A/Prof David Godden, Economics of Obligations

19 May A/Prof David Godden, Australian Agricultural Economics in the Last Quarter of the 20^th Century

26 May Prof Bill Wilson, Bidding Models and Competition in International Grain Trading: Theory, and Analytics of 3 Case Studies

30 May Prof Bill Wilson, Procurement Strategies and Wheat Quality: Integrating Interregional and Intertemporal Factors in End-Use Variability

21 July Current changes in EU CAP and consequences on Spanish farming systems

4 August Agricultural policy and extensive farming systems: the case of Spanish cereal steppes

11 August International wheat trade and market structure

18 August Perceptions of economics and the environment: the view of ordinary people

1 September Michael Burton et al, Some simple models of markets and gm food

8 September Rick Llewellyn, Adoption of integrated weed management

15 September Dave Pannell, Who will win: the irresistible force, or the immovable object? Economics and herbicide resistance management

29 September Ross Kingwell and Brad Plunkett, New generation co-operatives in Australia: principles and practicalities

6 October Marta Monjardino, Mulitple species bio-economic model for weed management

13 October Andrew Bathgate, The role of lucerne in salinity management: an economic approach

20 October Ray Challen, Third party access for gas pipelines in WA

26 October Dr John Mullen, Enhancing our Creativity as Economists

1 November Prof John Quiggan, Adverse selection: A state-contingent approach

7 November Dr Martin van Bureren, Community values for environmental attributes: results of a national valuation study

17 November Prof Bob Chambers, Standards vs. Incentives

Australian Capital Territory

President: Paul Morris

President-elect unfilled at present

Immediate Past President: Prof. Jeff Bennett

Secretary: Michelle Scoccimarro

Treasurer: Martin Van Bueren

Councillor: Prof. Jeff Bennett

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

21 March Dr Mark Rosegrant, Modelling water markets at the river basin scale: the Maipo River Basin in Chile

22 March Prof Kevin Boyle, The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Benefits of Enhancing Grassland Bird Populations

27 April Warren Musgrave, Steve Beare, Stuart Blanch, Gary Donnovan, Audrey Hardman, Ian Thompson, Water Symposium.

13 July Mark Bonner, Emissions Trading

9 August Bernard Wonder, Recent Developments and Future Policy Options for Natural Resource Management

11 October David Miles, Innovation: Unlocking the Future - Report of the Innovation Summit Implementation Group

31 October David Orden, A forward looking perspective on US agricultural policies

23 November Dr Martin van Bueren, Community values for environmental attributes: results of a national valuation study.

5 December Roger Beale, Natural Resource Management – an environmental perspective

New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society

President: Irene Parminter

Secretary: Phil Journeaux

Treasurer: Dan Marsh

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

30 June NZAARES Annual Conference with the following speakers:

Dr John Yeabsley, Trade policy: how to be effective as a small country

Prof Tony Zwart, Corporate governance in marketing structures

Dr Warren Parker, Research challenges and issues in introducing new technology to New Zealand agriculture

Calvin Sanderson, Maori primary sector enterprise

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker Topic

South Australia

President: Randy Stringer

Secretary/Treasurer: Andrew Manson

Councillor: Doug Young (also LOC chair)

Date Speaker and topic

15 March Dr. Günter Schamel, Individual and Collective Reputation Indicators Of Wine Quality

18 April Ross Cullen and Ken Hughey, Economic evaluation of threatened species recovery programmes and projects

11 May Julian Alston, Beggar-thy-Neighbour Advertising: Theory and Application to Generic Commodity Promotion Programs

29 June Lawrie Stanford and Stephen Strachan, The Australian wine industry –entering a new phase of development

17 August Philip Pardey, Agricultural R&D Policy: New Issues and New Research

25 October Garry Griffith, Competition in the Food Marketing Chain

Queensland

President: Lisa Brennan

Immediate Past President: George Antony

Secretary: Mary Ann P. Franco-Dixon

Treasurer: Joseph Evans

Councillor: Malcolm Wegener

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

25 Feb George Passmore, Economic Implications of the Water Reform Agenda in Queensland

28 March Jeff Bennett, Private Sector Participation in National Park Provision

19 April Bill Malcolm, Issues in Modern Farm Management

26 May Rod McInnes, Behind the Scenes: the South-East Queensland Regional Forest Agreement

28 July Christine Williams, Drivers of Queensland’s Economic Growth

1 Sept Deregulation, Competion Policy and Regional Australia - 3rd AARES Annual Symposium

29 Sept Lisa Brennan, Dam Ea$y – Software for Farm Investment Decisions

27 Oct Xiaoping Lu, Review of North Korean Agricultural Policy Following Severe Flood Damage in 1995, 1996 and 1997

24 Nov Ian Jarratt, Demand for, and Supply of, Farmer Association Services in Queensland

15 Dec George Antony, The Political Ecology of Conservation Conflicts in Australia

New South Wales

President: Michael Clarke

President Elect: Nick Milham

Secretary: Bryony Mika

Treasurer: Phillip Pagan

Immediate Past President: Scott Davenport

Councillor: John Mullen

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

13 June Dr Peter Abelson, the key concepts in benefit cost analysis with reference to major transport

projects

6 July Dr Ramesh Chand, Trade liberalisation and Indian Agriculture

19 October Mr Robert Gillespie, A critique of multi-criteria analysis.

6 December Prof Dodo Thampapillai, Aggregate Valuation of Environmental Capital and the Scarcity Debate.

North American Branch

President: Nick Piggott

Secretary: Jennifer James

Treasurer: Jennifer James

Councillors: Julian Alston, Phil Pardey

Meetings held in 2000

Date Speaker and topic

31 July Branch meeting.

 

PhD, Masters and Undergraduate prize winners

PhD Prize winner for 2000: Xueyan Zhao

Zueyan’s two main supervisors are Garry Griffith and William Griffiths. The title of her PhD is "The economic impacts of new technologies and promotions on the Australian beef industry". She studied at UNE.

The AARES PhD pannel would also like to commend Anna Hewgill for the quality of her thesis.

Masters Prize winner for 2000: no prize awarded

Undergraduate prize winners:

New England Skye MacPherson, UNE

Western Australia: Tenille Winter, University of Western Australia

New Zealand: Graeme John Doole, Massey University

South Australia: Narelle Potocki

Queensland: Rhonda Toms, University of Queensland

New South Wales: Vanessa Lee, University of Sydney

2002

Secretary's report to AGM 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



SECRETARY’S REPORT

Michelle Scoccimarro

Council of the Society

The 2001 Annual General Meeting was held on 24 January 2001 at the Stamford Plaza, Adelaide.

At the meeting, the following office bearers were elected:

President: Julian Alston

President-Elect: Ron Duncan

Secretary: Michelle Scoccimarro

Treasurer: Mal Wegener

Manager: Promotion and Development: Lisa Brennan

Editor, AARES News and Views: Tracy Henderson

David Pannell automatically assumed membership of Council on becoming Immediate Past President. Max Lawrence attended as Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the 2002 conference.

During 2001, the following members represented their Branches at Council meetings:

New South Wales: John Mullen, Jason Crean, Nick Milham

Australian Capital Territory: Michelle Scoccimarro, Jeff Bennett, Paul Morris

Victoria: Geoff Edwards, Bill Malcolm

Queensland: Mal Wegener

Western Australia: David Pannell, Laura McCann, Ross Kingwell

New England: Garry Griffith, Chris O’Donnell

South Australia: Doug Young, Randy Stringer, Glenn Ronan

North America: Julian Alston, Nick Piggott, Michelle Marra

New Zealand: Robyn Johnson, Rod Forbes

Business of Council

Council has met four times since the last AGM on 24 January 2001: 25 January 2001, 6 June 2001,

4 October 2001 and 12 February 2002.Some of the more important matters considered by Council

in 2001 were:

• the renewal of the contract between AARES and Blackwell Publishers;
• new editorship of AJARE;
• the fourth annual symposium held in Melbourne on 5 October 2001;
• the conference held in Adelaide and the upcoming conference in Canberra;
• the new electronic joint AARES/AAA publication called Connections;
• merger with the Farm Management Society – Central South Australia;
• financial management of the Society; and
• proposal for electronic distribution of AARES News and Views.

Committees

The following members were appointed to committees of the Society in 2001:

PhD Thesis Award Panel: Phillip Hone, Ross Kingwell and Christie Chang.

Masters Thesis Award Panel: Paul Winters, Deb Peterson, Rodney Beard

Branch Activities

Branch office bearers listed are those as at 31 December 2001.

New England

President: Geoff Kaine
Treasurer: Garry Griffith
Secretary: Garry Griffith
Councillor: Garry Griffith

Western Australia

President: Steven Schilizzi
Treasurer: Michael Burton
Secretary: Tennille Winter
Councillor: Ross Kingwell

Australian Capital Territory

President: Paul Morris
Secretary: Michelle Scoccimarro
Treasurer: Martin Van Bueren
Councillor: Jeff Bennett

South Australia

President: Randy Stringer
Secretary: Philip Taylor
Treasurer: Julian Morison

Queensland

President: Mary-Ann Franco-Dixon
Treasurer: Dinesha Emmery
Secretary: Tracy Henderson
Councillor: George Antony

New South Wales

President: Nick Milham
Treasurer: Phillip Pagan
Secretary: Jillian Hartley
Councillor: Jason Crean

Victoria

President: Mark Eigenraam
Treasurer: Arthur Ha
Secretary: Charlotte Duke

North American Branch

President: Nick Piggott
Treasurer: Jenni James
Secretary: Jenni James
Councillors: Julian Alston and Phil Pardey

This is my final report as Secretary, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Executive for all their help during my term of office. All the best to Liz Petersen who will be taking over as the new Secretary.

2003 (pdf)

The Secretary's report to the 2003 AGM is contained within the 1st edition of News and Views in 2003 (pdf).

2004

Secretary's report to AGM 2004

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



SECRETARY’S REPORT

 

Activities of the Society during 2003

 

1. Council of the Society

 

The 2003 Annual General Meeting was held on 13 February at the Esplanade Hotel, Perth.  At the meeting, the following office bearers were elected:

President:                                                        Bill Malcolm

President Elect:                                               Jeff Bennett

Secretary:                                                       Elizabeth Petersen

Treasurer:                                                       Mal Wegener

Manager Promotion and Development:           Lisa Brennan

 

Ron Duncan automatically assumed membership of Council on becoming Immediate Past President. The Editors of The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics are John Mullen and Chris O’Donnell – Chris O’Donnell is the member of the Executive Council representing AJARE. Tracy Henderson is Editor of News and Views (but is not a member of the Executive Council).

 

During 2003, the following members represented their Branches at Council meetings:

New South Wales:                  Jason Crean

Australian Capital Territory:  Jeff Bennett, Ron Duncan

Victoria:                                  Bill Malcolm

Queensland:                            Mal Wegener, George Antony

Western Australia:                  Atakelty Hailu, Ross Kingwell

New England:                         Bob Farquharson

South Australia:                      no representation

North America:                       Julian Alston

New Zealand:                          Frank Scrimgeour

 

2. Business of Council

 

Council met four times since the last AGM: 15 February 2003, 31 May 2003, 1 September 2003 and 11 February 2004.

 

Some of the prominent matters considered by Council in 2003 were:

·       The 2003 (Perth) and 2004 (Melbourne) conferences

·       The 2006 Annual Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists to be held in Brisbane

·       The Annual Symposium held in Canberra on 2 and 3 September 2003

·       Progress with AJARE and Connections

·       Election of the new AJARE editors

·       Sponsorship of the undergraduate prize winners to attend the Melbourne conference

·       Financial management of the Society

                       

3. Committees

 

The following members were appointed to committees of the Society in 2003:

PhD Thesis Award Panel:       Kevin Parton (chair), Steve Schilizzi and Robyn Hean.

Masters Thesis Award Panel: Michael Burton (chair), Mark Morrison and Sarah Lumley.

 

4. Branch Activities

 

Branch office bearers listed are those as at 31 December 2003.

 

Australian Capital Territory

President         Martin van Bueren

Treasurer         Michael Potter

Secretary         Debbie Templeton

Councillor       Paul Morris

 

Meetings held in 2003

Date	Presenter	Topic
6/3/03	Stephan Tangermann	Agricultural policy reform – why wait?
2-3/3/03	AARES National Symposium	Market based tools for environmental management
28/8/03	Ben Gramig	Considering market-based alternatives to improve the management of livestock feedlots and similar nutrient sources
24/9/03	Dodo Thampapillai	Revisiting the debate on natural resource scarcity
13/11/03	Geoff Kerr	Off site mitigation of stream impacts: Community preferences revealed by choice modelling.
9/12/03	John Kerin	AARES ACT end of year cocktail function.

 

 Other branch activities

• A glossy promotional postcard was produced for the ACT Branch.

• Martin van Bueren and Jeff Bennett (Committee member) made a presentation to economics undergraduates at the ANU, outlining the merits of AARES and advertising the Undergraduate Award.

•  AARES is now being promoted through the graduate recruitment programs operated by ABARE and the Dept of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

•  ACT Branch hosted the 2003 National Symposium. Highlights of the symposium were:

• • 189 delegates attended, of whom 21 were speakers.

  • Delegate feedback indicated that, overall, the majority of speakers were considered to be of high quality.

  • $50 000 of sponsorship was secured.

  • Profits to AARES of between $8 000 to $12 000.

  • Over 100 new members for the society

Proceedings from the Symposium are being published by RIRDC and will be available through RIRDC for $20 per copy.

 

New England

President         Bob Farquharson

Treasurer         Garry Griffith

Secretary         Robyn Hean

Councillor       Bob Farquharson

 

Meetings held in 2003

 

Date	Presenter	Topic
22/5/03	Michael Hayward, General Manager, Overseas Operations, Meat and Livestock Australia	Seminar entitled “Threats and opportunities in Australia’s beef and sheepmeat trade”
22/5/03		Annual General Meeting
22/5/03		Branch dinner at the Jitterbug Mood Restaurant
17/6/ 03		Meeting to form a Local Organising Committee for the AARES Annual Conference to be held in Armidale in February 2005

 

Other branch activities

The following branch members attended the 25th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) in Durban, South Africa, from August 16-22, 2003: Oscar Cacho, Euan Fleming, Garry Griffith and Roley Piggott.

 

They presented the following papers, which are published in the IAAE conference proceedings:

Cacho, O.J. and Marshall, G.R., Designing smallholder agroforestry projects for carbon sequestration: the role of abatement costs and transaction costs.

Coelli, T. and Fleming, E., Diversification economies and specialisation efficiencies in a mixed food and coffee smallholder farming system in Papua New Guinea.

Griffith, G.R., Farquharson, R.J., Barwick, S.A., Banks, R.G. and Holmes, W.E., Estimating returns from past investment into beef cattle genetic RD&E in Australia.

 

They also engaged in the following activities:

·       Euan Fleming chaired an IAAE conference session on Agricultural Trade Liberalisation.

·       Garry Griffith attended two meetings of the IAAE Council as an Australian representative and attended a meeting with the IAAE Executive Committee as a member of the organising committee for the 2006 conference.

·       Roley Piggott attended the IAAE Executive Committee meeting.

 

New South Wales

President:                    Jason Crean

President Elect:           John Madden

Secretary:                    Inderpal Singh

Treasurer:                   Zhanghue Zhou

Federal Councillor:     Jason Crean

 

Meetings held in 2003

Date	Presenter	Topic
March 2003	Jason Crean, Technical Specialist, Economic Policy Research	“Agri-environmental conservation – the case for an environmental levy”
June 2003	Dimity Podger, Program Manager – Environmental Economics Hassall & Associates Pty Ltd, Sydney	“Impact assessment: Integrating economic and social analysis”
July 2003	Dr David Godden, Manager, Conservation Economics Group, NPWS	“Theoretical issues in using offsets for managing biodiversity”
November 2003	Carolyn Davies, Director Regulatory Innovation, NSW Department of Environment and Conservation	“Green offsets for sustainable regional development”
December 2003	Dr John Mullen, Principal Research Scientist, NSW Agriculture	“The contribution of ACIAR to domestic grain market reform in China”

 

The NSW Branch would like to thank the Australian Retailers Association for their continued support of AARES by again hosting the seminars throughout the year. We look forward to a productive 2004 and invite members to actively participate in Branch activities.

 

Queensland

President:                     Neil McLeod

President-elect:            Nicole Stehn

Secretary:                    Tracy Henderson

Treasurer:                    Lili Pechey

Councillor:                  George Antony

Committee Member:    Michael Blakely

 

Meetings held in 2003

The AARES Queensland Branch met six times in 2003 after the 24^th January 2003 AGM

Date	Presenter	Topic	Attendees
24/1/03	Mary-Ann Franco-Dixon, QDPI	Water and its role in the Queensland economy	16
4/4/03	Rob Cramb, UQ	Landcare in the Philippines: Preliminary findings of an evaluation study	10
23/5/03	Mal Wegener, UQ	Regional resource allocation in the Fremantle-Swan Valley region, WA	10
26/6/03*	Prof. John Quiggin, UQ	Property rights and water	40
29/8/03	Bernard Milford, Canegrowers	Ethanol and cane growers	20
21/11/03	Lew Williams, QDPI	Are Gulf barramundi viable?	9

* Joint AARES/Economics Society of Australia meeting 

 

South Australia

President:        Thea Mech

Secretary:        Jack Langberg

Treasurer:       Julian Morison

Committee:      Hugh Wynter: Ian Cooper: Mandy

 

Meetings held in 2003

Presenter	Topic
Jeff Connor, Ecological Economist, CSIRO Land and Water	River Murray salinity policy economics
Matthew Ferris and Julian Morison DN check spelling EconoSearch Pty Ltd	The risk of phylloxera in South Australia’s viticultural regions
Ralph Edwin Townsend	Beyond "cap-and-trade" regulation of fisheries:  Self-management

 

Victoria

President:        Mark Eigenraam

Secretary:        Charlotte Duke

Treasurer:       vacant

Councillor:      vacant

 

Activities:

Organisation of the 2004 Conference, Members of the Local Organising Committee were: Mark Eigenraam, Charlotte Duke, Deborah Peterson, Bill Malcolm, Jeff Bennett, Rukman Wimalasuriya

 

Western Australia

President         David Feldman           

Treasurer         Michael Burton          

Secretary         Tennille Graham        

Councillor       Atakelty Hailu

 

Meetings held in 2003

A Seminar Series was held for each university semester of 2003. The presenters and topics are provided below

Date	Presenter	Topic
March 7	Prof Bob Lindner	Privatising the production of knowledge: Some simple welfare analytics of intellectual property rights
March 14	Annette Baumann PhD Student	Western Australian consumers attitudes towards genetically modified canola (Brassica napus)
March 21	Dr Donna Brennan REAP Research	Transaction costs and organisation of agricultural marketing chains
March 28	Nanni Concu PhD Student	A methodological approach to spatial aggregation of values
April 4	Dr Ross Kingwell	Salinity in broad acre farming regions: Some big picture findings
April 11	Jonelle Black PhD	Investment options for the management of dryland salinity in WA: generating feedback on survey design
May 2	Dr Greg Hertzler