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)

2010 President's Report

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	Weather derivatives and yield index insurance
May 9	Dr Sophie Thoyer Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Agronomie de Montpellier	A review of negotiation support tools: application to water management conflicts
May 16	Dr Adam Ozanne	Agri environmental contracts and asymmetric information
May 23	Dr Steve Schilizzi	Deciding with long term environmental consequences: what role for discounting
May 30	Sallie James PhD	TBA
June 6	A/Prof Michael Burton	A fair go, again: further results on equity and efficiency in NRM
August 1	Amir Abadi Department of Agriculture, Western Australia and CRC for Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity	Adoption of Farm Management Deposit scheme as a tax-linked risk management by primary producers in Western Australia
August 8	AARES (WA Branch) Presidential Address Ben White	Efficient contracts to manage dryland salinity
August 15	Frank D’Emden (MSc)	Duration analysis of conservation tillage adoption: A Masters research proposal
August 29	Steve Schilizzi	Market based instruments: issues of equity and efficiency
September 5	Liz Petersen Natural Resource Economist, Advanced Choice Economics	Iraq's prospects for resource-rich economic growth
September 12	E.J. Milner-Gulland Renewable Resources Assessment Group Imperial College London	The changing use of Kazakhstan's rangelands by nomadic pastoralists
September 19	E.J. Milner-Gulland Renewable Resources Assessment Group Imperial College London	Politics and ecology in the conservation of the saiga antelope
October 10	Rick Llewellyn	Economic aspects of glyphosate management: a roundup
October 17	Martin Brent	Seasonality of pricing and supply of prime lambs
October 24	Atakelty Hailu	Enhanced productivity analysis using long term crop rotation trials data from WA experiment stations: soil quality, salinity and productivity
October 31	Michael Burton	A fair go, again: equity and NRM

 

Other branch activities

·        The WA Branch hosted the AARES Annual Conference held in Fremantle, WA during February 2003.

·        The WA Branch sponsored a Contracts Workshop held at The University of Western Australia (UWA). International and local speakers included Professor Bob Chambers, Dr Ben White and Dr Ross Kingwell.

·        The Branch AGM was held August 8^th at UWA.

·        The AARES Undergraduate Award for 2003 was awarded to Julia Horgan in the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics from The University of WA.

 

New ZealandBranch

President:         Brian Spiers

Secretary:        Julie Murphy

Treasurer:        M Doak

Councillor:      Frank Scrimgeour

 

A Branch Report was not provided.

 

North American Branch

President                     Jenni James   

Secretary/Treasurer    Laura McCann

Co-Councillors           Nick Piggott and Julian Alston                      

 

Meetings held in 2003

Branch meeting and reception in Montreal, 28 July 2003

 

Other branch activities

At the Branch meeting held in conjunction with the AAEA meetings in Montreal, the third winner of the “Heading South” Travel Award was announced – Jonathan Yoder from Washington State University.  He will be attending the AARES meetings in Melbourne.  The next Branch meeting will be held in conjunction with the AAEA meetings in Denver in August, 2004. 

 

5. Prize winners

 

Undergraduate prize winners: [1]

New England:             Stuart Mounter of the University of New England

New South Wales:      Amanda McBride of the University of Sydney

                                    Nalini Prasad of the University of Sydney

Queensland:                Cameron Bosch of the University of Queensland

ACT:                           Sarah Crooks of the Australian National University

New Zealand:              No prize awarded

Western Australia:      Julia Horgan of the University of Western Australia

South Australia:          Gregory Smith of the University of Adelaide

Victoria:                      No prize awarded

 

Masters Prize winners:

Emma Moran of Lincoln University

The title of her thesis is “An analysis of the costs of the New Zealand threatened species programmes”.

Supervisors: Ross Cullen and Ken Hughey

 

Jing Zhang of the University of Western Australia

The title of her thesis is "Valuing recreational fishing in WA using a random utility model".                       

Supervisors: Greg Hertzler and Michael Burton

 

PhD Prize winner: Rick Llewellyn of the University of Western Australia

The title of his PhD is “Adoption of integrated weed management by grain growers”

Supervisors: Bob Lindner, David Pannell and Stephen Powells

 

Prize for the Best Article in the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics: Michael Burton, Dan Rigby and Trevor Young

The title of the article is “Modelling the adoption of organic horticultural technology in the UK using duration analysis”

 

AARES /AAEA Young Professionals Exchange Travel Award - Heading South

Jonathan Yoder of Washington State University

 

AARES /AAEA Young Professionals Exchange Travel Award - Heading North

Stuart Whitten of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystem, Canberra

 

Distinguished Fellows

Julian Alston

Geoff Miller

John Quiggin

 

Distinguished Life Member

There were no nominations for a Distinguished Life Member

Liz Petersen

2005 (pdf)

Editor's AGM Reports

This section contains the AJARE Editor's annual reports to the AGM.

1999

Editor's Report to AGM 1999

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



Key points of the Editor of AJARE’s Report were:

• The Journal is on schedule, and there is a good supply of quality papers in review.

• A feature of the new-format AJARE has been the regular inclusion of survey papers and a policy forum section, as well as the usual research papers and book reviews.

• The first two issues for 1999 contain surveys of literature on property rights for water and on futures markets. Ideas on other areas that members would like to see surveyed are welcomed — including suggestions on who might be willing to write them!

• The development of the policy forum section is an even bigger challenge. Obtaining two or more short, insightful and readable papers on a topical policy issue is not easy. Roger Rose is working on it. Again, members’ thoughts will be welcomed (Roger’s Email address is rrose@abare.gov.au).

• The most widely read section of every journal that publishes them is the book reviews. Iain Fraser (Email: i.fraser@latrobe.edu.au) will be pleased if you bring to his attention books you would like to see reviewed in AJARE, and will also welcome offers to review books.

• It is intended to have a new millenium issue of AJARE in December 2000. Further information on this is provided separately in the Newsletter.

Geoff Edwards

2000

Editor's report to AGM 2000

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS SOCIETY, SYDNEY, 22 JANUARY, 2000.

Summary Information on Volume 43 (1999) of AJARE, with comparative information for Volumes 42 (1998) and 41 (1997).

	Volume 43 (1999)	Volume 42 (1998)	Volume 41 (1997)
Issues	4	4	4
Pages	555	467	591
Articles	16	12	18
Surveys	3	3	3
Notes/Comments	0	3	0
Policy Forum Papers	5	6	7
Book Reviews	14	11	4
Obituaries	1	1	0

 

Summary of Papers Received and Decisions 1999

Papers received(with comparative information for 1998) ^(a).

	1999	1998
New	67	65
Revised
- original paper submitted in 1998/1997	17
- original paper submitted in 1997/1996		12
Total	84	77

Decisions taken/pending ^(b)

1999

Original paper submitted in	1999	1998	1997
Accepted	11	7	1
Major revision and resubmission invited	9	4
Rejected	22	2
Decision pending – paper in review	25	2	1
Total	67	15	2

a. Book reviews and obituaries are not included.

b. If a paper was received in 1999 and also one or more revisions of the paper, or if just multiple revisions of it were received, only the last decision on that paper in the year is included in the table.

Comments

1. A larger journal - In June 1999, Astrid Kogelman, Blackwell’s Managing Editor responsible for economics and sociology journals, initiated discussions with Council about increasing the page budget for future volumes of AJARE. After some discussion, the decision was taken that, beginning with Volume 44 (2000), the page budget for each volume will be 672 pages, an increase of 128 pages, or 23.5%, over the page budget for volumes 41-43. The financial benefits to the Society from this change have been covered in other reports to this Meeting.
2. "Millenium issue" of AJARE – Several expressions of interest have been received from potential authors of papers for the "millenium issue" planned for March 2001, and I hope to receive a flow of submissions over the next couple of months.
3. Relationship with Blackwell Publishers - The relationship with Blackwell on producing AJARE has been smooth, and I have found them always very professional and helpful. The editorial office in Bundoora is in regular contact with Production Editor, Stephen Raywood in Oxford and copy-editor, Susan Dunsmore, in Glasgow. Copy for individual issues has been sent either on or before scheduled deadlines, and quarterly issues have been despatched to individual subscribers in a timely fashion.
4. Status of 2000 Issues – Contents pages for the March 2000 and the June 2000 issues (subject to change) are provided.
5. Visit by Senior Journals Editor - Sarah Phibbs, Senior Journals Editor at Blackwell, visited the editorial office at La Trobe in November. Useful discussions took place about AJARE, the current climate and future of journal publishing, and possible marketing strategies. Sarah brought with her the good news that, in the ISI database of social science journal citations for 1998, AJARE was ranked 57th in a list of 160 economic journal titles.
6. Acknowledgements – Very large contributions to AJARE in 1999 were made by: the Associate Editors – Jeff Bennett (Resource Economics), Roger Rose (Policy Forum) and Iain Fraser (Book Reviews); members of the Editorial Board; my administrative assistant Julie Rowe; and authors. I thank all these people very appreciatively.

Geoff Edwards

Editor, AJARE

2001

Editor's report to AGM 2001

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



AJARE Editor’s Report

A larger Journal – Reflecting the increase in the page budget from 544 to 672 agreed between Blackwell and the Society in 1999 from Volume 44 (2000), the size of AJARE was larger in 2000 than ever before.

Compositional changes – Compared with recent volumes, the number of regular research papers was higher in volume 44, the number of survey papers was lower, and the number of policy forum papers was at least as high. In my view, the seven policy forum papers – on tax policy, water policy, agriculture and the WTO, and extension policy – were a strong feature of Volume 44. I would prefer to publish more than one survey paper per volume, but obtaining the requisite material is not always easy.

Submissions down slightly – The number of new submissions was higher than in recent years, but marginally below the number for 1999 when allowance is made for the "millennium issue" factor – which resulted in additional submissions. The flow of papers is satisfactory, but the increase in the page budget means that more papers – especially good ones – would be better. Authors please note!

Decision pattern little-changed – As in 1999, decisions made in 2000 divided approximately 33% accept, 27% revise and resubmit, and 40% reject.

The millennium issue – The March 2001 issue includes five papers that address in a reflective way topics of high interest to agricultural and resource economists in Australia - and elsewhere. These papers, listed on the Society’s web site, contain much food for thought. Some of them are likely to prove controversial – they will be the more valuable if they stimulate debate in the pages of AJARE.

Relationship with Blackwell Publishers – As in the past, there has been a good working relationship between Blackwell and the Editor’s Office. As members have been advised in a previous newsletter, Blackwell from 2001 offers AJARE on-line to all financial members.

Media interest – With assistance from the Public Relations Office at La Trobe University, media releases were distributed to promote some of the articles appearing in AJARE in 2000. Some resulting publicity was obtained, especially for the tax reform articles by Peter Dixon/Maureen Rimmer and by John Freebairn that appeared in the March issue.

Acknowledgements – Editors can only do their job satisfactorily with a lot of help from many people. Again, I express my gratitude to the following: Associate Editors – Jeff Bennett (Resource Economics), Roger Rose (Policy Forum), and Iain Fraser (Book Reviews); members of the Editorial Board; reviewers; authors; Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, and Public Relations Office, La Trobe University. I also express my thanks to the AARES Council for its support. Last, and very importantly, I express my appreciation to Julie Rowe who makes sure things get done, and well, and who always knows what has been done.

Adieu – My three-year term as Editor ends in early July. It has been a good experience for me, largely because of the interaction with many people – authors, reviewers and Blackwell personnel. I believe the Journal is in good shape, with a bright future. I wish the new Editor(s), to be chosen by Council, success, and will be pleased to help them if I can.

– Geoff Edwards

2002

Editor's report to AGM 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



AJARE EDITORS' REPORT

Editors - For the first six months of 2001 the editor was Geoff Edwards from La Trobe University. We took over the editorship in July 2001. We thank Geoff for leaving the Journal in good shape.

Relocation of Editorial Office and appointment of Administrative Assistant - The transfer of the AJARE/AARES Office from La Trobe to UNE took place in July. Honey Greenwood has been appointed to the position of Administrative Assistant and is contracted to work for AARES and AJARE for 2.5 days per week.

Submissions - The number of new and revised submissions in 2001 was similar to that in previous years. Although the flow of papers is satisfactory, we are still actively seeking high quality articles in any area of agricultural and resource economics. We are particularly interested in articles that focus on the relationship between resource industries and the community (eg. through environmental outcomes).

Acceptance rate down - In 2001, approximately 25% of papers were accepted, 25% were sent back for revision, and 50% were rejected (in the three years to 2000 the acceptance rate was approximately 33%).

Blackwell Publishers - The Journal is now produced out of Blackwell's Melbourne office. We continue to enjoy a good working relationship with Jennifer McDonald (Journal Publishing Co-ordinator), Elly Babic (Production Editor) and their staff.

Acknowledgments - We would like to thank the Associate Editors (Jeff Bennett, Garry Griffith, Ray Trewin, Paul Winters), the Book Review Editor (Graham Marshall), members of the Editorial Board, authors and reviewers for their contributions to AJARE over the last twelve months. Special thanks also go to the AARES/AJARE administrative staff, Julie Rowe and Honey Greenwood.

Summary Information 1998-2001

	1998	1999	2000	2001
Published Volumes
Volume number	42	43	44	45
Number of issues	4	4	4	4
Page budget	480	544	672	672
Pages a	488	568	680	662
Articles	12	16	19	23
Surveys	3	3	1	0
Notes/comments	3	0	0	0
Policy forum papers	6	5	7	2
Book reviews	11	14	13	22
Obituaries	1	1	1	0
Papers Receivedb
New	65	67	72	66
Revised	12	17	16	21
Total	77	84	88	87
Decisions Taken
Accept	35	24	26	17
Revise and resubmit	19	27	39	21
Reject	24	33	38	36
Withdrawn	0	0	1	1
Totalc	78	84	104	75
Papers under review at 31 Dec.	27	27	11	23

^a Includes editorial text and Blackwell advertising as per agreement with Blackwell.

^b Book reviews and obituaries are not included; each resubmission of the same paper is counted separately.

^c Total decisions does not always equal papers received because some decisions are made in respect of papers received in the previous year(s).

Chris O'Donnell and John Mullen

2003 (pdf)

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

2004

Editor's report to AGM 2004

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



AJARE EDITORS' REPORT

 

This report covers the twelve month period to 31 December 2003. 

1.      Statistics.  Summary statistics on numbers of pages and articles printed, papers received, decisions taken, papers under review and the ranking of the Journal are provided in the table overleaf.  Highlights include:   

• The number of new and revised papers received by the editors in 2003 was 87, well down on the 118 papers received in 2002, but similar to the numbers of papers received in each of the years 1999 to 2001.

• The Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) recorded 18 citations to the 52 articles published in AJARE 2000 and 2001 (Volumes 44 and 45), giving an impact factor of 18/52 = 0.346, down from 0.569 in the previous year.  Consequently, the Journal has fallen down the rankings of ISI-listed economics journals, from 79/160 to 121/166. 

• The acceptance rate for new papers continues to be about 30%. 

2.      Publishing.  All issues in the 2003 volume were published on schedule.  Proofs for the March 2004 issue are still with authors and the Blackwells Production Editor, Elissa Wilson.  One paper is available for despatch to the publishers for the June issue, with five more papers on the verge of being accepted for publication.  Looking further ahead, we can identify another seven papers that are very likely to be accepted for publication in the September and December issues.    

 

3.      Book Review Editor.  In mid-2003 Graham Marshall was forced to step down as Book Review Editor.  We thank Graham for his outstanding contribution to Volumes 46 and 47.  The new Book Review Editor is John Rolfe from Central Queensland University.

                                                       

4.      Editorial Board.  It is AJARE policy to replace three members of the Editorial Board each year (usually the longest serving members).  At last year's AGM we reported that seven members had been replaced – the large number of retirements came about because there had been no changes in the composition of the Board for the previous two years.  In 2004 a further three members will be rotated off the Board.  New members in 2004 will include Mike Wohlgenant and Bill Griffiths; an invitation to join the Board has also been extended to Julie Caswell.  These members will replace Jock Anderson, Roley Piggott and Vic Wright, each of whom has served for a minimum of six years on the Board.  We are grateful for their years of service and the prestige they brought to the Journal as members of the Board.

 

Finally, we would like to thank the Associate Editors (Jeff Bennett from ANU, Ray Trewin from ACIAR, Garry Griffith from NSW Agriculture and Paul Winters from the Inter-America Development Bank), the Book Review Editors (Graham Marshall from UNE and John Rolfe from CQU), authors and reviewers for their contributions to AJARE over the last twelve months.  Our thanks also go to Honey Greenwood in the AJARE/AARES office.

 

Summary Information 1999-2003

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Published volumes
Volume Number	43	44	45	46	47
Number of Issues	4	4	4	4	4
Page Budget	544	672	672	672	672
Pagesa	568	680	662	648	594
Articles	16	19	23	20	17
Surveys	3	1	0	1	0
Notes/Comments	0	0	0	2	2
Policy Forum Papers	5	7	2	3	4
Book Reviews	14	13	22	22	21
Obituaries	1	1	0	3	0
Papers Receivedb
New	67	72	66	89	57
Revised	17	16	21	29	30
Total	84	88	87	118	87
Decisions Taken
Accept	24	26	17	26	17
Revise and resubmit	27	39	21	43	25
Reject	33	38	36	39	36
Withdrawn	0	1	1	0	0
Total c	84	104	75	108	78
Acceptance Rate (%)d	36	36	26	29	30
Papers under review at 31 Dec.	27	11	23	33	42
ISI Ranking	99/165	99/166	79/160	121/166	n.a
ISI Impact Factore	0.392	0.417	0.569	0.346	n.a

^a   Includes editorial text and Blackwell advertising as per agreement with Blackwell.

^b  Book reviews and obituaries are not included; each resubmission of the same paper is counted separately.

^c   The total number of decisions does not always equal the total number of papers received because some decisions are made in respect of papers received in the previous year(s).

^d Acceptance rate in year x = (papers accepted in year x)/(new papers received in year x) × 100.

^e Impact factor in year x  =  . 

 

Chris O'Donnell and John Mullen

2005 (pdf)

Manager: Promotion and Development's AGM Reports

This section contains the annual reports of the Manager: Promotion and Development to the AGM.

1999

Manager: Promotion and Development's report to AGM 1999

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



Objectives and Scope

The responsibilities of the newly-created position of Manager: Promotion and Development consist of enhancing membership of the AARES, facilitating Annual Conferences and workshops, general promotion and development, and improving the Society’s professional and financial performance including fundraising and sponsorship development. To these ends, a three-year plan was developed and tabled in the Council meeting of 15 May 1998. Council broadly agreed with the growth goals proposed in the plan, the main components of which were:

• Increase membership by 30% via designing aggressive recruitment strategies overseas and in Australia targeted at members of other professional societies and associations, women, young professionals and agricultural and resource economics students.

• Increase the Annual Conference attendance by 50% via developing aggressive promotional strategies, coupled with enhancing Conference program contents.

• Increase perceived member satisfaction by 50% via consistently delivering high quality products and services, together with enhancing the overall benefits of membership.

• Increase the professional and public visibility of the Society by 50% via significantly changing the current image of a stereotyped agricultural and resource economics Society, and becoming much more innovative, enterprising, dynamic and diverse.

New Initiatives

The main initiatives taken in 1998 were briefly as follows:

• North American Branch: This branch was created last August during the Salt Lake City Meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA), and subsequently announced in the AAEA Newsletter. The idea of establishing such a branch originated in Julian Alston who, together with Phil Pardey, represents the Society in North America. Julian also sits on Council to represent the branch. With Blackwell’s support, we offered a 10% introductory discount as a demand-inducing strategy in the AAEA Meeting. This branch is expected to enhance the Society’s membership in North America, and contribute to the supply of high quality papers for the AJARE.

• AAEA Membership Renewal Form: To complement our efforts in creating the North American Branch, we negotiated an agreement with the AAEA via which the Society was included on the AAEA membership form. This will, effectively, allow our colleagues throughout the world to join the AARES, or renew membership, when renewing their membership of the AAEA and other regional associations/societies. Subsequently, we received Blackwell’s further support to extend the 10% discount offer to 1999. These initiatives were announced in the AAEA Newsletter, and are expected to further help boost the Society’s membership.

• News and Views: In its May 1998 meeting, Council decided to transfer the Editorship of News and Views to the Manager: Promotion and Development. Seizing this opportunity, I introduced a number of changes in the format and design of our newsletter. These changes are expected to continue through 1999. As indicated previously, I still intend to make News and Views "the meat and drink" of the Australian agricultural and resource economics profession. To achieve this aim, however, I will require much more substantial support from members, in particular with respect to submissions for the Views section, than has been forthcoming. Please send your contributions to the Central Office with copies emailed to me.

• AARES Symposium: Although much appears to have been said about the Inaugural AARES Symposium on the Asian Crisis, it bears repeating that this was probably the most significant initiative last year. The Symposium achieved its central objective in that it allowed the Society to actively contribute to a key debate facing the Australian economy. It also helped to enhance our professional and public visibility, and to promote a new image of the Society. In addition, the Symposium yielded other benefits including the promotion of the Society’s major activities which appeared in the brochure, 2000 copies of which were distributed in the agribusiness, financial and general business community, the enhancement of the set of products and services provided by the Society for its members, the provision of a new source of supply of articles for AJARE, and the attraction of seven new members. On the other hand, the Symposium was also the riskiest of all the initiatives. It did not attract a lot of participants (approximately 40), and it was a very costly exercise in terms of my time and Garry Griffith’s. So far as I am concerned, however, most of these costs constitute the set-up costs of tapping a new market, and are expected to gradually decline as we move our way through this market. Branches’ more active involvement in organising the Symposia could see these costs spread out more evenly. Finally, on the financial front, the total revenues (comprising registration fees, late penalty and funds from sponsorship by the Universities of Sydney and Western Australia) amounted to $6070.00, and the total costs (covering the venue, catering, accommodation for invited speakers, printing the brochure, postage and transportation) were $4563.60. Thus, the Symposium yielded a modest profit ($1506.40).

Future Plans/Activities

There are still a number of challenges facing the Society that require a lot of thinking, planning and hard work. These include:

• Membership Recruitment Drive: The Society and Blackwell Publishers are developing a new membership leaflet that may include a significant introductory discount to enhance demand for membership. We are planning to pursue a very aggressive membership recruitment drive in Australia, New Zealand and North America. Blackwell is expected to assist in membership recruitment in the rest of the world. To facilitate these efforts, I intend to write to alumni associations, universities, other professional societies, etc. to access their mailing lists. All members are encouraged to help us make a success of this exercise. It is, however, important that we endeavour to maintain our current membership by providing "value for money", that is, by consistently delivering high quality products and services. These must include a decent Membership Directory and a useful and dynamic website containing various editions of News and Views. The website is now being capably managed by David Pannell, and he is expected to report on his progress in due course.

• Branches: All branches are encouraged to try to achieve a membership growth rate of 10% per annum to help realise the overall 30% growth rate for the Society for three years. They are additionally urged to organise at least four meetings per annum, and take a much more pro-active role in enhancing the professional and public visibility of the Society. To that end, branches need to promote our products and services in the annual meeting and gatherings of other professional societies and associations such as the Economic Society of Australia and Agribusiness Association of Australia, and industry and public bodies, for example, by setting up booths and displays. Organisation of joint symposia/workshops/ seminars may also assist in this venture. Additionally, branches should take a much more pro-active role in the local and national debates of public policy. Similarly, the importance and relevance of the results of our research as presented in the AJARE and our previous publication outlets as well as Annual Conferences and pre- and post-Conference workshops must also be emphasised and publicly demonstrated. It is essential that all positions on State Committees be routinely advertised in advance both locally and nationally (in News and Views) to encourage members, in particular women and young professionals, to take up the leadership positions of the Society. I intend to visit branches this year to further explore these ideas. Finally, I propose to organise a professional development pre-Conference workshop for office bearers and interested members of the Society in January 2000. Should you wish to assist/participate in the workshop, please advise me as soon as possible.

• Constitutional Matters: Unfortunately, despite several previous attempts at reforming the AARES Constitution, this important document continues to suffer from a number of fundamental flaws the debate on which "ain’t over till it’s over"! We will, therefore, need to work very hard toward being perceived by our current and prospective members as a much more democratic Society than is currently reflected in our Constitution. I believe that the proposed three-year plan will help pave the way for us to achieve this outcome, and to revisit the outstanding issues posed in the 1998 AGM in Armidale in due course.

Acknowledgement

In concluding, I wish to take this opportunity to thank Rob Fraser for his unwavering support throughout the year, Garry Griffith for his valuable assistance as the Co-Organiser of the Symposium, and Julian Alston for his consistent efforts in helping to establish the North American Branch, and attracting new members in the United States. I am also very grateful to all the other members of the Executive as well as Julie Rowe, Alison Dunn and Prue Winkler for their help in various activities. Finally, thanks must go to Karin Azzopardi and Zoe Briault, for their active support of our promotional ventures in 1998.

I look forward to another active and prolific year.

Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani

2001

Manager: Promotion and Development's report to AGM 2001

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



Manager: Promotion and Development’s Report

It has been three years since I took over the position of Manager: Promotion and Development (M:P&D). During this period, we have made major headways toward our goals to revitalise the AARES. The revitalisation is already reflected in our products and services, in the interest and enthusiasm exhibited by our members, in our financial performance, and in the standing of our Society in the professional and larger community. The purpose of this report is to succinctly evaluate the outcomes of the three-year plan which guided this phenomenal success, and to provide some broad areas for the future activities of the Society. The report will also briefly examine Blackwell’s performance during this period.

The Plan and Its Outcomes

Members may recall that the very first initiative that I, as M:P&D, took was to develop a three-year plan which was endorsed in principle by Council on 15 May 1998 (Ahmadi-Esfahani 1999, pp.7-8). This plan, effectively, constituted the main platform for the Society during my tenure. One of the unique features of this plan is that it was results-oriented, allowing Council, the membership at large, and the wider profession and community to objectively assess the Society’s performance in its various activities. This is precisely what I seek to achieve in this terminal report. The four performance measures articulated in the plan are presented and discussed below.

i. "Increase membership by 30% via designing aggressive recruitment strategies overseas and in Australia targeted at members of other professional societies and associations, women, young professionals and agricultural and resource economics students " (Ahmadi-Esfahani 1999, p.7)

The central problem facing the Society in most of the 1990s was the faltering demand for membership. This situation further deteriorated following the merger with Blackwell in 1997, and appears to have been the main motivation underlying the creation of the position of M:P&D in 1998. Intuitively, a declining demand calls for a revitalisation strategy and this is what we consistently pursued during the period 1998 - 2000. A new image of the Society was developed and promoted, a range of new or improved products and services was produced and marketed, and a very aggressive set of demand-inducing strategies was implemented. More specifically, with Blackwell’s support, we offered new joining members a 20% discount on membership fees. With Julian Alston and Phil Pardey’s support, we established a new branch in North America. We were also able to include the AARES on the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) membership renewal form which significantly boosted our access to both the US and other overseas markets. Another significant initiative implemented during the period was the AARES Annual Symposium whose registration fee structure included membership of the Society for one year. The same fee structure was also applied to the Annual Conference. Finally, the benefits of membership were promoted via a glossy leaflet, which had been developed jointly by the Society and Blackwell, among others, in the AARES, AAEA, American Economic Association (AEA), International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), Economics Society of Australia (ESA), Agribusiness Association of Australia (AAA) Conferences, in the AAEA newsletter (the Exchange) and web site, and via frequent mailouts targeted at various groups such as conference or symposium delegates and agricultural economics alumni and students. Table 1 captures the overall impact of these initiatives on membership numbers over the period.

Table 1. AARES Membership Numbers by Branch, 1997 – 2000

Branch	1997	1998	1999	2000a
Armidale	29	37	26	28
ACT	84	81	88	85
North America	17	24	48	60
NSW	108	105	109	114
NZ	25	28	38	35
Overseas	30	34	33	46
QLD	69	67	67	80
SA	20	22	28	37
VIC	10088	86	85
WA	32	41	83	54
TOTAL	514	527	606	624

Source: Blackwell’s database

a The figures in this column are likely to further increase, as Blackwell will finalise them in March 2001.

A number of observations can be made on the basis of this table:

• The total membership figure for 2000 indicates a 22% increase relative to that for 1997.
• The average growth rate per annum during the period was 7%.
• The largest increase over the period has been achieved by the North American Branch; that is, a massive 253% increase.
• The second, third and fourth largest growth rates are registered by South Australia (85% increase), Western Australia (69% increase) and Overseas (53% increase), respectively.
• All other branches, except the Victorian Branch which suffered a 15% decline in membership over the period, display either marginal growth or a stable demand for membership.
• The Western Australian Branch held a half-day Symposium in 1999, one consequence of which was an impressive 159% increase in its membership number for that year relative to that for 1997.
• The Queensland Branch held the 3rd AARES Annual Symposium in 2000 which made it possible for that Branch to pick up 38 new members for the Society across Australia. This also led to an increase in membership of the branch to 80.
• The first two AARES Annual Symposia allowed the Society to attract 37 new members in total in 1998 and 1999.
• The 1999 Conference in Christchurch resulted in 44 new members joining the Society, and the 2000 Conference in Sydney yielded 35 new members.
• Finally, I am pleased to report that the Farm Management Society – Central South Australia recently ratified a proposal to merge with the AARES, potentially boosting our membership numbers by a maximum of 41 new members (see below). This will effectively increase the Society’s membership figure to over 650, allowing us to fully achieve our three-year target of 30% membership growth. It will also boost the South Australian Branch’s membership numbers.

Whether or not the Society has attracted proportionately more women over the period than previously is unclear as, unfortunately, there is no differentiation of gender in Blackwell’s database.

Table 2 presents the corresponding AARES student membership figures during the period.

Table 2. AARES Student Membership Numbers by Branch, 1997 – 2000

Branch	1997	1998	1999	2000a
Armidale	9	17	8	9
ACT	4	2	2	5
North America	2	4	6	3
NSW	12	10	9	18
NZ	3	1	1	1
Overseas	5	5	2	11
QLD	8	8	5	9
SA	3	1	1	2
VIC	11	7	6	9
WA	3	5	10	9
TOTAL	60	60	50	76

Source: Blackwell’s database

a The figures in this column are likely to further increase, as Blackwell will finalise them in March 2001.

While students’ demand for membership of the Society is subject to the duration of their program and may accordingly change, the following observations are noteworthy:

• The overall growth rate in student membership over the period was approximately 27% which is consistent with that for the total membership figure.
• The Western Australian Branch achieved the largest increase in student membership (200%) followed by Overseas (120%) and New South Wales (50%).
• The New Zealand Branch has the smallest student membership (only one) followed by South Australia (two) and North America (three).
• Finally, despite the high growth rates in 2000, student members comprised only 12% of the total membership which, I believe, is still too low. A few recommendations to rectify this situation will be made further below.

ii. "Increase the Annual Conference attendance by 50% via developing aggressive promotional strategies, coupled with enhancing Conference program contents" (Ibid)

The Society has a proud tradition of staging rigorous Annual Conferences. The past three years have been no exception to this rule. However, the introduction of the AARES Annual Symposium in 1998 and the subsequent Symposia, has not only reinforced this rigor, it has also enhanced the relevance of these professional events. The emergence of enhanced vigour and relevance in the Society has stimulated interest in our Conferences and Symposia to the extent that in 1999 well over 250 professionals attended the 44th Annual Conference in Christchurch, and 70 participated in the 2nd Annual Symposium in Sydney. Similarly, the 2000 Conference in Sydney attracted over 230 registrants, and the 3rd Annual Symposium in Brisbane was attended by over 70 people. The Society has also held very successful pre-Conference workshops attracting additional participants in these events (between 50 to 60). The two workshops associated with the current Conference in Adelaide have attracted over 200 people.

All these Conferences, Symposia and workshops were actively promoted in, among others, AARES News & Views, the Exchange, AAEA, IAAE, ESA and AAA Conferences, and via mailouts to members and non-members targeted at agricultural, resources and associated industries and bodies. The further enhancement of the rigor and relevance of the Conference, Symposium and workshop programs along with effective promotion, thus, appears to have assisted the Society in far exceeding the target (50% increase in attendance) set in the three-year plan.

iii. "Increase perceived member satisfaction by 50% via consistently delivering high quality products and services, together with enhancing the overall benefits of membership" (Ibid)

While a detailed survey of member attitudes might be necessary to objectively assess whether or not this target has been met, there is ad hoc evidence supporting a significant increase in members’ interest and enthusiasm including the very many comments and words of encouragement that I, as M:P&D, have received from members across Australia and overseas over the period 1998-2000. The consistent increase in membership numbers during the period also provides a reasonable clue on perceived member satisfaction. As all members are well aware, we have endeavoured to improve (or produce new) products and services including AARES News & Views, the AARES web site, the AARES Annual Symposium (introduced in 1998 and continued in 1999 and 2000), 25% more pages in The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AJARE) (introduced in 2000), electronic access to AJARE for members (from 2001) including all volumes since 1997, and SELECT Blackwell Publishers email updates (introduced in 2001).

Finally and most importantly, we have placed the minutes of the Annual General Meetings (AGMs), Executive Reports, and Council meetings, among others, on our web site, thereby significantly enhancing communication and transparency. What is unique about all these is that we have provided them at no cost to members. As a matter of fact, all new joining members since 1998 have been enjoying the benefits of membership including those indicated here at a cost 20% lower than that incurred by continuing members for the first year. At the same time, I am pleased to report that we have been able to keep offering "higher value for money" to all our members during the period.

iv. "Increase the professional and public visibility of the Society by 50% via significantly changing the current image of a stereotyped agricultural and resource economics Society, and becoming much more innovative, enterprising, dynamic and diverse" (Ibid)

The Society has maintained its presence in the professional community primarily via its Journal, Annual Conferences and associated workshops. Local branch meetings/seminars/workshops have also contributed to this venture. As indicated above, we have actively promoted the benefits of membership of the Society and its various activities/ events in national and international outlets and fora. However, the single most important forum where we have significantly augmented our professional and public visibility has been the AARES Annual Symposium. The three Symposia we have held so far have addressed highly relevant issues of the Australian economy as well as the agricultural and resource economy. These are the Asian crisis, tax reform, and deregulation and competition policy, helping the Society to promote a brand new image of itself. They have also allowed the Society to enjoy significant press coverage. Reports of the Symposia have been published/broadcast in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Financial Review, the Australian Farm Journal, the Land, and the ABC radio. Following their publication in AJARE (March 2000), a couple of the papers presented in the 2nd Annual Symposium on tax reform stimulated comments from the Economics Editor of The Australian which triggered a response from the Leader of the Australian Labor Party. Both these pieces, and an earlier report on the Inaugural Symposium on the Asian crisis which had been published in the Australian Farm Journal, were reprinted in AARES News & Views. Accordingly, it appears that, within a very short period of time, we have been able to establish our Annual Symposia as major events of interest to and attended by university researchers, lecturers and extension educators, government researchers, analysts and advisers, policymakers and practitioners, consultants and private sector planners and strategic analysts, and students across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. This has clearly boosted our professional and public visibility as well as our new image. Our Annual Conferences, for example, the 1999 Conference in Christchurch and the current Conference, are also beginning to attract intense media interest, further raising our profile. In summary, the three-year plan appears to have substantially assisted the Society in pursuing its revitalisation strategy. Further development of the Society, however, calls for a reinforcement strategy to ensure viability, sustainability and future growth.

Blackwell’s Performance

Most of our promotional activities overseas have been conducted by Blackwell. Blackwell does have an extensive marketing and distribution network, particularly in Europe and the United States, and we have effectively used this network to promote the Society, the benefits of membership, the Annual Conferences and the Journal. For instance, similar to the previous years, in 2000, Blackwell produced a glossy leaflet on our behalf, which included a 20% discount for new members, and mailed it to members of the AAEA and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and delegates attending the IAAE and the International Society for Ecological Economics Conferences. Blackwell also continued to have a display at all the major conferences in the discipline including the AARES, the AAEA, the AEA and the IAAE. The Journal was included in Blackwell’s 2000 Economics and Finance catalogue, which was mailed to over 10,000 academics, researchers and libraries world-wide. Furthermore, the student membership rate for the Society was included on the Blackwell Economics Student poster which was sent to all UK economics departments, and the 50 top US departments, accompanied by order forms. Advertisements for the Journal were placed in other relevant Blackwell journals, Times Higher Educational Supplement, economics special issue, and AAEA Conference program. Finally Blackwell continued to promote and maintain the Journal’s web page on the Blackwell site. Clearly, these efforts have lifted the profile of the Society and the Journal. However, we need to assess them in the context of the overall responsibility of Blackwell together with the costs involved to form a reasonable opinion on their performance over the past three years. Blackwell has been responsible for production and marketing of the Journal, and collection of subscription and membership fees since 1997. I have commented on their performance in both areas extensively in my last report to the AGM (Ahmadi-Esfahani, 2000, pp. 8-9), and shall employ some more empirical evidence to justify those comments, and make a few recommendations here. Table 3 presents the impact of Blackwell’s pricing and marketing practices on the demand for AJARE institutional subscriptions over the period.

Table 3. AJARE Institutional Subscription Numbers, 1997 – 2000

Year	Total
1997	381
1998	344
1999	332
2000	315a

Source: Blackwell’s database

a This figure is likely to further increase, as Blackwell will finalise it in March 2001.

As is clear from this table, the total subscription figure for 2000 indicates a 17% decline relative to that for 1997.

That is, as the membership figures increased (by 22%), the subscription figures continued to decrease, further stifling the demand for the Journal. We now need to look at the effect of this declining demand on Blackwell’s income and the royalty the Society receives from Blackwell. As the figures for 2000 are not available yet, those for 1999 relative to 1998 will be used here. It appears that despite the fact that the $7,500 shortfall penalty was abolished in 1999, Blackwell’s income from the Journal increased by 21% and their total income rose by 11%. The Society, however, did not receive even a single penny from the increase in income from the Journal, simply because the current royalty arrangement does not allow that to happen! Membership levels, on the other hand, saw such a massive push in 1999 through our own efforts (see Table 1) that our income also increased by 37%. However, nearly 60% of our income went toward supporting the Editorial Office and the Journal. The upshot of the argument is that the Society, in effect, received only 13% of the total income in 1999! In dollar terms, this amounts to an income of approximately $16,000 for the Society relative to over $104,000 for Blackwell. It is important to note that the increase in Blackwell’s income from the Journal occurred in response to a 17.5% price hike in 1999 relative to 1998. Therefore, Blackwell appears to have a large degree of monopoly power in pricing our Journal. While this may work out to Blackwell’s advantage, it will have (and already has had) major negative repercussions for the future viability, sustainability and growth of the Journal and the Society. Blackwell also appears to have been a very costly supplier in terms of various services that it provides including the administration of membership and production of the Journal. The 70% share of the total income that Blackwell received in 1999, can only be explained by very high service or production costs and/or very high margins!

A Sub-Committee of Council including David Pannell, Julian Alston, Geoff Edwards and myself was supposed to fully review Blackwell’s performance, and to make recommendations for future direction. So far as I am concerned, my views are basically the same as those articulated in my last report (Ahmadi-Esfahani, 2000, pp. 8-9). However, I provide a more precise and concise version of those views for discussion below.

• Although Blackwell has been very responsive to our requests for information on the membership situation, and improved their performance in this area, I still recommend that membership administration be separated from Journal production and marketing, and managed by either our Central Office (the preferred option) or an Australian supplier (second best).
• Prior to entering into a new contract with Blackwell, the Society must get all income, cost and surplus data generated during the life of the current contract audited.
• We need to get as many quotations as possible from other publishers here and overseas before negotiating a new contract with Blackwell. These quotations must include detailed cost-benefit analyses at a disaggregated level for all individual services provided.
• Although the current management of Blackwell does not appear very positive about a 50-50 profit-sharing arrangement I proposed last year, I recommend that the Society opt for replacing the current royalty arrangement with a profit-sharing one in the event that the contract with Blackwell is renewed. All revenues and costs (including those associated with the Editorial Office) should be included in the new arrangement (see Ahmadi-Esfahani 2000, p. 9 for justification).
• Finally, the Society is urged to further explore the possibility of imposing page charges on authors of AJARE articles, and include the ensuing income in the profit-sharing arrangement to encourage Blackwell to endorse this option.

The Bigger Picture: A Vision for the Future

As noted earlier, in the past three years, we developed, implemented and consolidated a wide range of initiatives to revitalise the Society. As we continue this process, we must endeavour to develop a vision for the future. I believe that such a vision should seek to reinforce the previous initiatives of the Society, and to build a truly thriving professional organisation. To that end, a set of additional initiatives, some of which have already been in the pipeline, is presented below.

i. Merger of the FMS-CSA with the AARES

Following some informal discussions, we were recently approached by the Farm Management Society of Central South Australia (FMS-CSA) with a formal proposal for merger. The proposal was discussed at the August 2000 meeting of Council, and an offer for merger was made on 12 September. The key features of our offer are as follows:

• Two years membership of AARES for FMS-CSA members at no charge to them.
• Commissioning and publishing a ‘professional’ history of the Australian Farm Management Society (AFMS) and its successors (a fixed amount of around $2000 would be used for this exercise).
• Creating two new annual prizes for best farm management/agribusiness papers presented at the Annual Conference ($100 each).
• Extending the existing AARES prizes offered to undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to better cover farm management/agribusiness.

In return, the FMS-CSA will hand over all its funds, in excess of $10,000, upon its winding up, to the AARES. The offer, with only one variation, was put to members of the FMS-CSA on 19 December and ratified (19 for, 1 against, 1 abstention). The variation was that where a member of the FMS-CSA might indicate that he/she did not wish to take advantage of the two years AARES membership, the equivalent value would be credited to the AFMS history project. We have concurred with this variation. Accordingly, a maximum of 41 new members may join the Society. I have already received a partial list of the FMS-CSA members the majority of whom have expressed interest in joining. I am very pleased about this outcome, welcome our new members, and thank the President of the FMS-CSA, Glenn Ronan, and the Secretary, Ian Cooper, for their efforts in this venture.

ii. A ‘Choices-style’ Professional Magazine for the AARES and the AAA

Following discussions between myself and Bill Malcolm, Co-Editor of the Australasian Agribusiness Review and Australasian Agribusiness Perspectives (the on-line professional Journals of the Agribusiness Association of Australia (AAA)), we have reached agreement to investigate the proposal that the AARES and the AAA co-operate to combine the Views section of AARES News & Views and the Perspectives to jointly produce a new professional publication – a ‘Choices-style’ magazine – as a new on-line product, available to members of both organisation and the general public from web sites. The following propositions have been discussed, and are to be further negotiated, between the parties:

• The AAA would be willing to produce such a professional magazine on behalf of both the AARES and the AAA.
• The AAA has the administrative and technical capability to produce a new on-line professional magazine, which would be jointly edited by one of the existing Co-Editors of the AAA Journals and an Editor representing the AARES. The AAA net site had another record year with around 100,000 users gaining access to the site in 2000.
• The AAA would provide the administrative and on-line technical services necessary to produce the proposed ‘Choices-style’ magazine, but would require a financial commitment from the AARES to be negotiated to assist with the added associated costs.
• The content of the new magazine would comprise succinct, tightly edited, 2000-3000 word non-technical essay-type articles on topical issues in fields such as agricultural economics, resource economics, agricultural and resource policy, farm management, agribusiness, etc.
• As an on-line publication the new magazine would be brought out continuously throughout the year.
• If sufficient interest is expressed, consideration may be given to producing a printed version of the magazine, as well.
• The new magazine would be promoted through the activities and resources of both the AARES and the AAA.
• The new magazine would be included in the CD-ROM of the Review that is produced at the end of each year and it would also be included in the OffLine CD-ROM copy of Agribusiness OnLine.
• The appropriate title of such a magazine is yet to be determined, and as the initiative for the proposed publication is from the AARES, the AAA would be relaxed about the question of a title for the proposed magazine.
• The copyright for the material published in the magazine would be equally shared between the AARES and the AAA.

I believe that this proposal provides an excellent opportunity in our efforts to outreach the wider agricultural, resources, farm management and agribusiness community, and would be of particular interest to those AARES members who may find the material in AJARE too academic and technical. The proposal may also give rise to additional opportunities, such as joint symposia or workshops, for the two organisations to work more closely together. I strongly endorse the proposal, and thank Bill and his colleagues for putting it together.

iii. Strategic Alliances with Other Professional Organisations/Entities

As part of the reinforcement strategy, the Society should take an active interest in forging strategic alliances with, for example, the ESA, the Ecological Economics Society, AAEA, IAAE, ABARE and Research and Development Corporations. This may involve cross-sponsorship of conferences, symposia, workshops and seminars, or joint work in areas of mutual interest such as research or policy analysis/debates. These alliances may prove highly useful in further enhancing our professional and public visibility as well as our image. They may also give rise to formal proposals for mergers (where applicable) or joint products and services such as conferences and symposia. There are obviously significant economies of scale and scope to be enjoyed by the parties involved in such ventures.

iv. Quality Products and Services Priced at the Going Market Rates

Like consumers of any other products and services, our members are quite savvy, and markets for professional organisations are highly discerning. Thus, quality considerations have emerged as a key to members’ decision to renew membership. The upshot of the argument is that the Society needs to keep consistently working on new approaches to development, design, looks, format, content, packaging and promotion of all its products and services. These include the newsletter, the web site, the Annual Symposia, the Annual Conferences, the workshops and the Journal. We have failed to produce a Membership Directory, and need to publish one soon (both electronically, which is currently in the works, and in printed form). It is also time to develop a new more sophisticated logo for the Society. Branches must endeavour to hold more interesting, stimulating and relevant seminars/workshops. They must also try to enhance communication and transparency, perhaps by developing their own web sites. The Society and branches must also cease underpricing their products and services. Although we happen to be a non-profit organisation, we must still price according to the going market rates, perhaps somewhat below but not significantly below, as is currently the case, for example, with respect to conference and symposium registration fees. We clearly need more funds to enhance the quality and range of our products and services, and to finance various professional activities, which will require a structural change in our pricing practices.

v. Recognition of Outstanding Achievement

Although one of the objectives of the Society is "to stimulate analysis and discussion of agricultural and resource economics in Australia and other countries, and to promote high standards of accomplishment in research, policy analysis, teaching and extension in this field" (AARES Constitution), the current set of prizes awarded each year falls far short of fully achieving this objective. We need to expand the Journal article, postgraduate and undergraduate prizes to include teaching, extension, policy analysis, and possibly administration and professional and community service. There are currently some moves underway in Council to correct the injustice that has been done to the Distinguished Fellowship Awards. However, the failure on the part of the Society to recognise outstanding achievement is far more serious than this. For instance, despite the fact that university teachers continue to be a dominant segment of the Society, and that they are central contributors to the resilience of the profession and the discipline, outstanding teaching in agricultural and resource economics does not get any recognition by the Society. It is time now to rectify this anomaly. Furthermore, as noted in Table 2, student memberships of the Society continue to be very insignificant. I suggest that one promising approach to addressing this fundamental problem facing the Society is to develop scholarships and fellowships to attract outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate students to the Society. To that end, I urge the Society and branches to use some of their financial assets to introduce new scholarships and fellowships, or even small prizes, for say best essay in agricultural and resource policy, trade, marketing, etc and to promote these, among others, on university or departmental web sites in Australia and overseas. Finally, given the declining pool of agricultural and resource economists, these scholarships, fellowships and prizes should be targeted at students with an interest in agriculture and resources, majoring, among others, in economics, econometrics, international trade, development economics, ecological economics, marketing, agribusiness, farm management, commerce, administration, geography, environmental science and land and water science. The existing set of prizes awarded by the Society to PhD and Master’s research and undergraduate students must also be expanded to include the broader pool of students suggested here.

vi. Changing Governance Structure of the Society

The structure of our membership has been gradually changing over the past three years and a number of non-conventional and diverse groups have been joining the Society via our Annual Conferences (over 100 people), via our Annual Symposia and the WA Symposium (over 120 people), and via our various promotional efforts in Australia and overseas. These groups include private consultants, bank and insurance company managers, private sector planners and strategic analysts, policymakers and practitioners whose professional interests may differ from those historically present in the Society. At the same time, the professional interests of our traditional membership are also gradually changing. Finally the merger with the FMS-CSA and the potential production of a joint publication with the AAA will further reinforce this diversity. It is, therefore, essential that the Society’s governance structure change to reflect this diversity, implying that the size of Council may have to be enlarged, or a sub-committee system may have to be developed, for the emerging groups to be properly represented. This also implies some corresponding changes in the Constitution in due course. If the Society acts responsibly in this matter, the new structure may serve as a great source of contacts with industry and sponsorship funds. Otherwise, some, if not most of these members, may decide against renewing their membership, and leave the Society for ever.

Concluding Comments

I took over the position of M:P&D in an environment of negative publicity against me personally and my so-called ‘radical’ views. This environment had seemingly emanated from my efforts in the early 1990s to successfully change the process for electing the President-Elect of the Society, and the comprehensive membership survey and ensuing research that I conducted from 1994 to 1996 (see Ahmadi-Esfahani and Brakey 1996; Ahmadi-Esfahani and Bonnor 1996). Ironically, however, both these ventures proved pivotal to the ‘radical’ structural changes that followed, and to the ‘radical’ enhancement of the conduct and performance of the Society over the past three years. I am honoured to have been part of these developments, and a player in the revitalisation of the Society, and wish the Society every success with implementation of its reinforcement strategy. While thanking all those who contributed to the very many ventures of the Society, including Julie Rowe, Prue Winkler, Rob Fraser, Garry Griffith, David Pannell, Glenn Anderson, Geoff Edwards, Peter Daniel, Michelle Scoccimarro, Julian Alston, the other members of Council, branch office bearers, and Blackwell people including Astrid Kogelman, Helene Lavis, Judy Cornish and Penny Taylor, I must, once again, express my sincere appreciation to Rob Fraser who, ‘in a bold move’, initially nominated me for the position. I am particularly gratified by Rob’s recent email to me in which he writes (my apologies to Rob for not seeking his permission to publicise this email): "I have just received my Dec. issue of N&V [AARES News & Views] and it brought home to me that we are coming to the end of a very significant period in the life of AARES: that during which it has benefited from your direct, and immense, input into its operations. So I guess I wanted to take this chance to thank you for what you have done over the last 3 years as Manager: Promotion and Development. I well remember the occasion on which the Constitution was changed to create the position, and your acceptance of the office. To be fair, I had my fingers crossed at the time, but with hindsight, it was clearly a masterstroke. You have been a star performer for the Society, Fredoun, and I reckon EVERYONE would now acknowledge that!" (12 December 2000). I trust that the Society will continue to thrive, and wish my successor all the very best in this exciting and challenging position. While my energy and devotion will now have to go toward other aspirations, I shall maintain my firm association with the Society as an enthusiastic member, and as a researcher, a teacher, and a professional and community activist. Accordingly, I would be most pleased to assist Council, if and when desired. Long Live the AARES

References

Ahmadi-Esfahani, F. 1999, ‘Manager: Promotion and Development’s Report’, AARES News & Views, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 7-8. Ahmadi-Esfahani, F. 2000, ‘Manager: Promotion and Development’s Report’, AARES News & Views, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 7-10. Ahmadi-Esfahani, F.Z. and Bonnor, K.A. 1996, ‘The Australian Agricultural Economics Profession: An Appraisal of Some Current Trends’, Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 279-298. Ahmadi-Esfahani, F.Z. and Brakey, J. 1996, ‘The Industrial Organisation of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society’, Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 197-215.

– Fredoun Ahmadi-Esfahani

2002

Manager: Promotion and Development's report to AGM 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



MANAGER: PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENTS’ REPORT

My first year as Manager – Promotion and Development has been filled with the challenges of familiarising myself with the functions of the Executive Committee and the scope of the position, attempting a seamless transition from where Fredoun left off, and, most importantly, learning how to help serve the Society in two key areas:

a) growing and maintaining a viable membership base to support the products and services provided by the Society to members, and

b) ensuring that membership of AARES continues to create value for members.

This report addresses issues in these two areas. Note that many people have contributed to the new initiatives mentioned in this report.

1. Membership

At end of 2001 there were:

- 305 institutional subscribers

- 639 individual members, up from last year’s count of 624.

Large increases in member numbers occurred in South Australia, which hosted the 45^th Annual Conference of AARES, and in North America, reflecting interest in the "Heading South" award and some energetic recruiting activity.

Branch	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
ACT	84	81	88	85	73
New England	29	37	26	28	24
North America	17	24	48	60	94
NSW	108	105	109	114	110
NZ	25	28	38	35	38
Overseas	30	34	33	46	47
QLD	69	67	67	80	63
SA	20	22	28	37	66
VIC	100	88	86	85	76
WA	32	41	83	54	48
Total	514	527	606	624	639

The pricing structure of the annual conferences and symposia is such that non-members register at a higher fee than members, the difference being equal to the cost of membership. These delegates are subsequently awarded membership in the same year of the conference or the following year, for Annual Conference or Annual Symposium delegates, respectively. The 45^th AARES Annual Conference provided 71 new members and the 2000 AARES Annual Symposium provided 38 new memberships for 2001. (The 2001 AARES Annual Symposium will add 44 new members to 2002 membership). The Society also had a boost to membership numbers (26) through the AARES/Farm Management Society – Central South Australia merger. Other recruitment strategies have involved promotion at conferences, and through branch activities.

The ongoing challenge to the Society is lapsing memberships. There were 168 individuals who where members in 2000 but didn’t renew in 2001. The annual conferences and symposia draw in the bulk of new members, but the big challenge is getting them to renew their membership. This means that recruitment is not the only important promotion and development activity. Ensuring that the products and services on offer are valued by existing members is equally important when considering how to maintain a viable membership base - members will renew if they see that membership creates value for them.

In 2001 we were concerned about several errors in the processing of membership subscriptions, which are managed by Blackwell. Blackwell has been alerted to the problems and is responding to them constructively. In the meantime, members who do experience any difficulties associated with the processing of their membership subscription should notify the AARES Central Office. This will ensure that the Office is aware of the concern, and it will be followed up on the member’s behalf as promptly as possible.

2. Creating value for members – new initiatives in 2001

Connections

The first issue of the new electronic publication of the AARES and the Agribusiness Association of Australia (AAA), called 'Connections: Farm, Food and Resource Issues’, has been published. The name reflects its origins, its intentions and the medium. It is a joint product of AARES and AAA. It is intended that Connections will publish connecting material in farm and agribusiness, in marketing and management, in environment and resources in rural and regional Australia. Finally, Connections is the first electronic based, extension publication for both AARES and AAA.

Connections is innovative and experimental. AARES and AAA are launching Connections on a pilot basis; its interest and appeal to you the reader and potential writer will be assessed by both groups after 12 months. Connections represents a commitment by both groups to the extension of information about economic and business issues affecting rural industries, resources and communities. There are no costs to readers to download issues or articles during the pilot period.

The editors of Connections, Bill Malcolm and Glenn Ronan, are keen to receive feedback from you about published articles and issues. Your feedback may be published in the form of e-mail letters or comments in following issues. Up to four issues of Connections per year will be produced, with about half a dozen articles per issue. The ability to achieve this target will depend on Connections being appreciated by members of both AARES and AAA as an opportunity to extend research and thoughtful analysis about contemporary issues to a world wide audience. An open invitation is extended to any interested person to submit material. The Guidelines for Writers are located on the websites of both groups.

You can get access to Connections on the web-site of the Agribusiness Association of Australia at www.agrifood.info/Connections.

AARES-AAEA Young Professionals Exchange Travel Awards

AARES and AAEA offered two travel awards in 2001. The awards are intended for agricultural and resource economists in the early stages of their careers, in order to provide them with an opportunity for professional and personal development and international and professional and cultural exchange. Each award will has a value of US$2,000 to be used to assist the winner to participate in the annual conference of either the AARES or the AAEA. Applicants for both awards must be members of both the AARES and the AAEA.

Membership directory

It is some years since AARES produced a printed directory of members. As of October 2001, a searchable directory is available via the AARES web site ( http://come.to/aares). The directory currently includes all financial members as of the 1st of October 2001. The directory has been available to members on a trial basis in 2001 to allow them to check their details and make any corrections or additions. Members also have the option to not be included in the directory. An updated directory will be available early this year.

The directory is searchable by surname only, one name at a time, in order to prevent people from obtaining the complete list of email addresses and harassing members with unwanted emails and advertisements. This means that its prime use will be by members wishing to contact other members. Password protection is not currently in place - at present the directory is freely accessible - but plans for its implementation are underway.

We are grateful to the Agribusiness Association of Australia for hosting the AARES directory page on its web site, in association with the new joint publication "Connections".

AARES News and Views goes electronic

A decision was taken in 2001 to pilot the electronic distribution of a new-look AARES News and Views (edited by Tracy Henderson), commencing early in 2002. It is anticipated that a complete transition to electronic distribution will occur before the end of this year. News and Views will be made available on the AARES web page and members will be alerted to its posting by email. The primary justification for electronic distribution is to reduce printing, postage and labour costs associated with the production of News and Views in hard copy form. To make a successful transition to electronic distribution, we need current email addresses for all members. Please help us ensure your current email address is on the News and Views mailing list by visiting the AARES membership directory and checking your details.

Enhancements to AARES Web Page

The Society’s web page at http://come.to/aares continues to grow, evolve and improve. Web manager Dave Pannell has added or updated a number of sections, including the following.

• An outline of the early history of AARES, written by Keith Campbell
• An on-line directory of AARES members (see above)
• Details of the AARES 2002 conference, including contributed paper titles
• Advertisements for job vacancies and scholarships are regularly included
• A major new "archives" section

The archives section includes many long-term records of the Society, including:

• Past AARES conferences
• Past AARES symposia
• Past AJARE contents and abstracts
• Presidents' columns from AARES News and Views
• Office bearers' reports to AGMs
• Council minutes
• AGM minutes
• List of office bearers
• Distinguished fellows
• Prize winners (journal article, PhD thesis, Masters thesis, undergraduate)
• Memberships of committees

It is anticipated that the Society’s web page will continue to support a range of new initiatives in 2002. In addition to the electronic distribution of News and Views, other ways to deliver new products via the web page are being explored.

Branch support

What would it take to help branches operate in ways that deliver better services for members while being easier for branch committee members to manage? This was the question explored in 2001 through an informal survey of branch secretaries and presidents. The discussions helped me to learn more about branch activities, hear views on what direction branches should be heading in, listen to concerns and gather ideas on what sort of additional assistance might benefit the branch. A big thank you to those people who contributed ideas. A summary of the feedback I received is provided in the News and Views (November 2001). In the short term, the key areas of proposed action involve helping branches through measures that clarify a) the roles of office bearers on committees at both the branch and federal level and b) branch reporting responsibilities to the federal level of AARES (and vice vera). Efforts in 2002 will also focus on increasing branch’s capacity to recruit members.

Member survey

While not a new initiative in 2001, it is worth noting that it is proposed that a survey of all individual members be carried out in 2002 to obtain broader feedback on member satisfaction, information about the most and least useful benefits of membership, and suggestions for new products and services.

3. Your feedback wanted!

AARES exists for its members – your feedback is valued! Any comments on development activities undertaken in 2001, proposed initiatives for 2002, or any other suggestions on ways to improve benefits for members are always welcome. Please direct comments to the AARES Central Office or contact me directly (Lisa.Brennan@csiro.au or 07 3214 2375).

Lisa Brennan

2003 (pdf)

The report from the Manager: Promotion and Development to the 2003 AGM is contained within the 1st edition of News and Views in 2003 (pdf).

2004

Manager: Promotion and Development's report to AGM 2004

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



MANAGER: PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENTS’ REPORT

 

Membership

 

By October 2003 there were 545 individual members. Note that this total does not include the 103 new members attracted through the Annual Symposium held in September 2003 “Market Based Tools for Environmental Management”. The Annual Conferences and Symposia contribute the majority of new members.

 

Branch	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Armidale	29	37	26	28	24	30	25
ACT	84	81	88	85	73	79	66
North America	17	24	48	60	94	91	74
NSW	108	105	109	114	110	101	80
NZ	25	28	38	35	38	31	28
Overseas	30	34	33	46	47	45	53
QLD	69	67	67	80	63	68	54
SA	20	22	28	37	66	62	42
VIC	100	88	86	85	76	111	77
WA	32	41	83	54	48	47	47
Total	514	527	606	624	639	670	546

 

Blackwell manages the Society’s membership subscriptions. The management of membership subscriptions appeared to run well in 2003, with few errors. Members who do experience any difficulties associated with the processing of their membership subscription should notify the AARES Central Office. The contact details are: Ms Honey Greenwood, AARES Central Office Manager, School of Economics, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Phone: (02) 6773 3278, Fax: (02) 6773 3607, Email: journal.ajare@pobox.une.edu.au.  This will ensure that the Office is aware of the concern, and it will be followed up on the member’s behalf as promptly as possible.

 

Conference sponsorship

 

AARES gratefully acknowledges the support of its sponsors. The Conference would not be a success without them.

• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

• Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

• Productivity Commission

• Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

• Australian Bureau of Statistics

• Land and Water Australia

• CSIRO

• Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance

• The University of Melbourne

• Blackwell Publishing

Many of these organisations have staff attending the conference this week.

 

My role in 2004 mainly involved assisting the LOC to make contact with sponsors. This intention was noted in my 2003 report to the AGM. To attend to other Manager Promotion Development activities, the Society advertised the position of Assistant to Manager Promotion and Development. Lili Pechey from the QLD branch agreed to take on this role.

 

News and Views  / AARES Web Page

 

News and Views entered its second year of electronic distribution to members in 2003. As always, accurate email addresses are vital to our ability to deliver services to members electronically. Please help us ensure your current email address is on the News and Views mailing list by visiting the AARES web site and checking your details.  

 

QLD branch member Tracy Henderson has agreed to continue as AARES News and Views Editor in 2004 and I would like to acknowledge her super effort in producing three issues of News and Views in 2003. Any suggestions or feedback from members to improve News and Views would be most appreciated by Tracy. Please call her or send an email (07 3210 0495 or thenderson@srdc.gov.au).

 

Thanks are also due to AARES Web Manager Atakelty Hailu who publishes the newsletter on the web site. Under his second year of management, the Society’s web page at http://come.to/aares has continued to grow. I encourage members to use the web site. It’s a great resource with a wealth of information  - e.g. publications (News and Views, Connections, AJARE abstracts), information about past AARES conferences and symposia, including some downloadable presentations and papers, branch news, member directory, useful links, archives, history, advertisements, and more.

 

New Manager Promotion and Development in 2004

 

I have been in the Manager Promotion and Development role since 2001 and this is my final report to the AGM. I would like to thank members, particularly those of the AARES Executive Committee and Council, for providing me with support and assistance with promotion and development activities over the past three years. 




Lisa Brennan

2005 (pdf)

Treasurer's AGM Reports

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

1999

Treasurers' report to AGM 1999

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



Outgoing Treasurer’s Report

As of 31 December 1998 the Society held $116,669 in Assets. This represented a decrease of $11,663 over the previous year on a cash basis. The income from the 1998 Conference and the Symposium was a significant factor underpinning the relatively good 1998 operating results. Special thanks for the current financial position of the Society must go to Oscar Cacho (and the rest of the LOC) for their excellent effort in organising the 1998 Conference and the production of a surplus in excess of $11,000 after repaying a $3,000 advance made out of Federal funds and deducting membership fees paid by non-members as part of their conference fee. We obtained 32 new members through the conference fee structure - we hope that many of them will have renewed their membership for 1999.

At the AGM in January 1998 an operating deficit of $23,219 was predicted for 1998, yet we realised an operating deficit of only $11,663. In preparing that Budget it was assumed that the Conference would breakeven. The Conference surplus and the Symposium surplus account for most of the reduction in the deficit relative to budget - more than offsetting cost overruns in other areas. For 1999, an operating deficit of more than $24,000 is predicted - subject to any conference surplus.

In the table below the consolidated statement of assets for the Society as a whole is presented. The vastly different financial positions of the branches and their membership levels do provide some food for thought for future AARES Council meetings. However, they do show that the Society has a relatively good asset position for a ‘non-profit’ organisation.

Consolidated Statement of Assets as at 31 December

• Federal Council 1997 $128,332
• Federal Council 1998 $116,669
• Queensland Branch $13,441
• New England Branch $6,903
• New South Wales Branch $4,672
• ACT Branch $4,749
• Victorian Branch $1,193
• South Australian Branch $5,000
• Western Australia Branch $6,004
• Consolidated Assets of AARES 1998 $158,631

The AARES remains dependent on Conference surpluses to maintain its current stock of financial assets despite the instructions to the LOC simply to ‘not make a loss’. In order to support the financial base of the Society, membership expansion should continue to be given a high priority in 1999.

There are several key risks in the years ahead for the Society. The introduction of a GST may pose complications for the Society. For example, La Trobe University may have to charge GST on the AJARE/AARES Office Services which are provided under contract to the AARES - this would amount to a tax impost in excess of $2,000 per annum. It is unclear as to the extent or collection method by which GST would be collected on member subscriptions to AJARE - it may require voluntary disclosure of GST payable on an import. For example, AJARE dispatched from the UK by Blackwell would be GST free as a UK export, but each issue would, in theory, be subject to GST in the hands of Australian subscribers (unless it is defined as education and thus given an exemption under Australian law). These and other preparatory issues will need to be discussed by the Executive, should a GST become effective in Australia by 1 July 2000.

Similarly, the low level of institutional subscribers remains a key risk to the future viability of the Society when the publishing and financial agreement is reviewed after the first five years of operation. It is likely that Blackwell Publishers will seek to obtain a greater share of royalty income from membership fees at that time if institutional subscriptions have not recovered.

Robert Wright

 

Incoming Treasurer’s Report

As most of you will be aware, Robert Wright decided not to stand for another term as Federal Treasurer. As the Incoming Treasurer, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the assistance Robert has provided in the transition along with his continuing support.

To add to Robert’s Report, seven new members were signed up for 1999 through last November’s Symposium. Further, on the tax issue, the Federal Government has served notice that the GST may be on transactions entered into prior to its implementation next year. Presumably, this will mean a contingent GST liability for the AARES of 10% on all purchases from now until 1 July of next year. However, it needs to be stressed that the intention is to combat profit-taking over the transitional period and the actual liability will depend on the Government’s own assessment of the extent to which retrospectivity will ensure "no-one is unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged by the changes" (an interesting game!). The Executive will need to consider seeking professional advice on this matter.

Glenn Anderson

2000

Treasurer's report to AGM 2000

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



AARES TREASURER’S REPORT FOR 1999

Overview

As of 31 December 1999 the Society held $101,098 in assets. This represented a decrease of $15,571 over the previous year on a cash basis. The deficit is roughly equally divided between an operating deficit, extraordinary expenses and drawings on the GASP fund to finance 2/3 of the Alan Lloyd Fellowship. The 1999 Conference made over $9,000 and special thanks are due to Kathryn Bicknell and the team for an excellent result. An important positive for this years budget has been the scrapping of Blackwell’s penalty-clause for shortfalls in institutional subscribers. This is expected to provide the Society with an additional $7,500 in royalty income. In the coming year, the budget is expected to move into a small surplus, assuming this years conference breaks even and the symposium yields $5,000 net income.

Extraordinary items

Apart from the fellowship payment, extraordinary expenses include two ‘investment’ items. Included under administration is $950 for the services of a secretary to compile a mailing list, primarily for promotion of future symposia. A further $2,750 was spent purchasing the printing ‘shells’ for N&V, which is expected to reduce the cost of publishing the newsletter in the future.

New membership

New members were gained through registration for the Annual Conference (45), the Tax Symposium (31), WA Branch’s Symposia (48),promotion through the North American branch (20) and discount offer (30).

GST

The Society is in the process of registering for GST, in order to be able to claim input tax credits on supplies. This will also mean the federal body and branches will need to allow for GST in their pricing of conferences, symposia and the like. For the purposes of GST collection and refunds, the ATO will treat the branches as separate legal entities, without requiring them to register separately. I have also obtained written confirmation from the ATO, that royalties received by the Society from Blackwell Publishers will be GST exempt. Blackwell Publishers have also confirmed that the journal with be free of GST for at least another year.

Looking ahead

Serious consideration should be given to the compilation of subscription lists, in the wake of the ongoing confusion over membership lists and numbers. This directly affected last years branch grants, which will have to be adjusted upward once more reliable lists become available, and may well have caused the loss of membership and goodwill.

In the coming year, the Society is expected to run a small operating surplus and maintain its stock of financial assets. For a more secure footing, the Society should consider sharing editorial costs with Blackwell Publishers and/or negotiating for lager share of the revenue. The coming year will be the time to formulate a set of options to be put to Blackwell in the lead up to the renegotiation of the Society’s contract with Blackwell in 2001.

Glenn Anderson

AARES Treasurer

 

1999 Budget	For the year ended 31 December	subtotal	0utcome (end 31 Dec)	2000 Budget
	Operating Income
25,000	Subscriptions		27,501	45,980
4,500	Interest		3,990	4,000
3,000	Conference Income		14,500	6,000
0	Symposium Income		15,170	15,000
0	AJAE - Back issue sales		50	0
0	RMAE - Back issue Sales		0	0
0	AARES News - Advertising		0	600
0	Membership Listing		0	0
0	Other Income		761	0
32,500	Total Operating Income		61,972	71,580
	less Operating Expenses
3000	Conference		8,786	6,000
	2001	3,000
	2000	5,501
	1999	286
	Symposium		9,658	10,000
	1999	6,944
	1998	2,714
21,000	AJARE Editorial Office Expenses		21,679	22,000
10,000	Administration		3,454	3,500
6,000	Branch Grants		9,445	15,000
6,100	Honoraria		6,100	6,100
3,000	Awards and Prizes		2,674	3,000
1,500	Alan Lloyd Fellowship		2,323	1,500
	1999	1,386
	2000	937
3,000	AARES Newsletter		3,324	3,500
250	PhD Conference Grant		0	0
150	Government Taxes and Bank Charges		395	400
0	Other Expenses		(9)	0
54,000	Total Operating Expense		67,830	71,000
(21,500)	Operating Surplus/(Deficit)		(5,858)	580
3,000	Add extraordinary income		4,645	3767
	GASP	4,645
3,000	Less extraordinary expense		9,712	3000
	Administration	1,550
	AARES Newsletter	2,750
	Alan Lloyd Fellowship	4,645
	Other	767
(21,500)	Cash Surplus/(Deficit)		(10,925)	1,347

 

1998	Statement of Assets and Liabilities (as at 31 December)	1999
128,332	Balance brought forward	116,669
(11,663)	Cash Surplus/(Deficit) (See Note 1)	(15,570)
116,669	Total	101,099
24,030	AARES General	13,104
17,000	GASP Fund (See Note 2)	12,355
70,000	Commonwealth Bank Short Term Deposit (See Note 3)	75,000
5,000	Finance Company Deposits (See Note 3)	0
1	Journal and Review Stocks (See Note 4)	1
639	Equipment (Facsimile Machine)	639
116,669	Total Assets	101,099

 

1997	Consolidated Statement of Assets as at 31 December	1998
128,332	Federal Council	116,669
na	Queensland Branch	13,441
na	New England Branch	6,903
na	New South Wales Branch	4,672
na	ACT Branch	4,749
na	Victorian Branch	1,193
na	South Australian Branch	5,000
na	Western Australia Branch	6,004
na	Consolidated Assets of AARES

 

Statement of Cash Income and Expenditure
1998	For the year ended 31 December		1999
	Operating Income
19,064	Subscriptions		27,501
5,174	Interest		3,990
24,126	Conference and Symposium Income		29,670
124	AJAE - Back issue sales		50
76	RMAE - Back Issue Sales		0
0	AARES News - Advertising		0
0	Membership Listing		0
914	Other Income (inc copyright fees)		761
49,478	Total Operating Income		61,972
	less Operating Expenses
6,367	Conference & Symposium Expenses (See Note 5)		18,444
25,783	AJARE Editorial Office Expenses		21,679
9,554	Administration		3,454
5,980	Branch Grants (See Note 6)		9,445
5,400	Honoraria (See Note 7)		6,100
2,605	Awards and Prizes		2,674
0	Alan Lloyd Fellowship		2,323
1,650	AARES Newsletter		3,324
250	PhD Conference Grant		0
152	Government Taxes and Bank Charges		395
3,400	Other Expenses (See Note 8)		(9)
61,141	Total Operating Expense		67,830
(11,663)	Operating Surplus/(Deficit)		(5,858)
0	Add extraordinary income		4,645
0	Less extraordinary expense (See Note 9)		9,712
(11,663)	Cash Surplus/(Deficit)		(10,925)

 

Notes to the 1999 Accounts

Basis of Preparation of the Accounts

The 1999 Accounts have been presented on a cash basis, although some attempt has been made to provide an idea of the year to which some cash-flows accrued.

GASP Fund

The GASP Fund was originally $17,000 and comes from surplus on a GASP workshop held in 1997. The Fund is to support 2/3 of the Alan Lloyd Fellowship, with the Society providing the remaining 1/3. The Fellowship can not exceed $4,500. The table below shows the allocation of expenses for the fellowship.

Division of Expenses for Allan Lloyd Fellows
	subtotal
1999 Conf (Alan Olmstead)*		4,158
AARES	1,386
GASP	2,772
Other	0
2000 Conf (Richard Shumway)		3,577
AARES	937
GASP	1,873
Other(NSW Agriculture)	767
Total		12,035

Financial Assets

As at 31 December 1999, AARES held $75,000 in two Commonwealth Short Term Deposits ($45,000 and $30,000). The process of simplifying AARES investments was completed in March 1999 when the last $5,000 debenture stock was transferred into a Commonwealth Short Term Deposit.

Short term deposits and investments (as at 31 December)
	31.12.99	31.12.98	Interest Rate	Maturity
Comm Bank Term Dep	45,000	40,000	3.8	22.05.00
Comm Bank Term Dep	30,000	30,000	3.8	22.02.00
AGC Ltd	0	5,000	7.9	26.03.99
	75,000	75,000

 

Journal and Review Stocks

Past practice has been to value the stocks of the Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics at a notional value of $1 in the accounts.

Budget Forecasts

This year's conference is assumed to break even and the symposium is assumed to make a profit of $5000. The estimate for subscriptions takes into account the elimination of the penalty payment on institutional subscriptions. The forecast is for $15,200 to make up the difference between royalties paid in advance last year and actual royalties due this year, and $30,780 for the advance on next year’s royalties. Each advance is 75 percent of expected royalties. The estimate for royalties due assumes the Society receives $68 per member and uses a conservative estimate of 600 members over the next two years.

Branch Grants

The standard practice is for the branches to receive a base grant of $300 in addition to $7.50 per ordinary equivalent member plus a $40 bonus for each unit increase in total ordinary equivalent membership over the year. Ordinary equivalent members are calculated as the sum of total financial ordinary members and one half the total of student and emeritus members. For 1999, the bonus was reduced to $24, to allow for the 20 percent discount offer for new members.

Unfortunately, Blackwell Publishers has not been able to provide the Society with a reliable membership list since June, 1999, and it was this list which was used. This has meant that branches have been under-paid and a supplementary payment will need to be made once a reliable list is available.

Branch Grants and Ordinary Equivalent Members
	Branch Grants $			Ordinary Equivalent Members
	1999	1998		1999	1998
NSW	1409	953		101.5	87
VIC	1226	926		93	83.5
QLD	1079	701		65.5	53.5
ACT	1171	840		82.5	72
UNE	623	529		33.5	30.5
SA	632	563		25	19
WA	983	869		51	38.5
NZARES	968	600		39.5	24
N. AMERICA	1355	n/a		33.5	0
Total	9446	5980		525.00	408.00

 

Honoraria

The total expenditure on Honoraria was unchanged from 1998 to 1999. No allowance has been made for an increase in the payments to members of the Executive in the Budget.

Other expenses

This item includes a credit with Australia Post due to over-payment.

Extraordinary Income/Expenses and Fellowship

Extraordinary income records the reimbursement of the AARES general account from the GASP Fund (an internal transaction). The transition to the new treasurer entailed expenses for travel and accounting software. The $767 is for expenses associated with Prof. Shumway’ s visit, but not covered by the Alan Lloyd Fellowship. Also see Note 2 for the division of the Fellowship.

2001

Treasurer's report to AGM 2001

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



AARES TREASURER’S REPORT FOR 2000

Overview

As of 31 December 2000 the Society held $116,958 in assets. This represented a increase of $15,000 over the previous year on a cash basis (reversing the deficit of the previous year). The 2000 Conference made around $25,000 and the symposium $7,000. The scrapping of Blackwell’s penalty-clause for shortfalls in institutional subscribers has helped the bottom line by around $7,500 in royalty income. The Society is becoming less reliant on surpluses from the conference and the symposium and should be able to break-even net of these surpluses within two to three years.

GST

The society has been operating under the GST for six months without incident. State branches, along with the Federal Branch, are required to submit a Business Activity Statement quarterly. One of the reasons for registering for GST was to claim GST on the bill (of over $20,000) for editorial services paid to LaTrobe University. As it turns out, this payment is now exempt from GST. Nevertheless there are likely to be net financial gains from registering.

1999, 2000 and ahead

Last year the combined surplus from the conference and symposium was $33,475 and if this is deducted from the operating surplus (as well as allowing for an extra quarterly payment to the editorial office, see note 4), then there is a operating deficit is over $11,000. In the absence of a projected surplus from the symposium of $5,000 (and allowing for the editorial payment), there is a structural deficit of almost $7,000 budgeted for the coming year. In comparison, in 1998 and 1999, the same sort of calculations yield structural deficits of about $29,400 and $17,000, respectively. These figures are given in the table below.

Actual and Structural Deficits 1998-01($)
Operating surplus/deficit	1998	1999	2000	2001 (forecast)
Structural	-29,422	-17,084	-11,538	-6,993
Actual	-11,663	-5,858	16,556	3,388

The gains in 2000 can be largely attributed to the scrapping of Blackwell’s penalty-clause for shortfalls in institutional subscribers (worth about $7,500 in additional income, last year), while those for 1999 can in large part be attributed to the membership drive (see table below). Under the current contractual conditions with Blackwell, a membership of about 710 should eliminate the structural deficit.

Membership 1998-00 (as at October of each year)
	2000			1999			1998
	Ordinary	Conc.	Total	Ordinary	Conc.	Total	Ordinary	Conc.	Total
Total Members	463.0	141.0	604.0	583.0	108.0	691.0	419.0	78.0	497.0

To conclude, the most important task for the Society will be to improve its underlying financial position. The Society should be looking to eliminate the $7,000 structural deficit within the next two to three years. In the coming year, the Society will be renegotiating its contract with Blackwell Publishers and this is a key opportunity to renegotiate for a larger share of royalty income and/or a sharing of the editorial costs (over $22,000 p.a.). This will be a difficult task and the only alternative is to raise membership by the additional 100 or so required to produce a balanced structural deficit.

Since this is my last report as treasurer, I would like to thank all those on the executive, as well as Julie Rowe of the editorial office. I wish the incoming treasurer the all the best for what should be a challenging but rewarding next couple of years.

Glenn Anderson

AARES Treasurer

 

2000 Budget	1st JANUARY to 31 DECEMBER 2000 (note1) Operating Income	2000 Outcome	2001 Budget
45,980	Subscriptions (note 2)	43,249	42,432
4,000	Interest	2,336	2,300
6,000	Conference Income	32,492	5,000
15,000	Symposium Income	20,345	15,000
0	RMAE - Back issue Sales	0	0
600	AARES News - Advertising	1,450	1,500
0	Other Income	911	700
71,580	Total Operating Income	100,784	66,932
	less Operating Expenses
6,000	Conference	5,360	5,000
10,000	Symposium (note 3)	14,002	10,000
22,000	AJARE Editorial Office Expenses (note 4)	28,679	16,144
3,500	Administration	5,986	3,000
15,000	Branch Grants (note 5)	8,370	6,700
6,100	Honoraria	6,100	6,100
3,000	Awards and Prizes	5,438	5,500
1,500	Alan Lloyd Fellowship (note 6)	0	1,500
3,500	Newsletter & other (note 7)	8,077	3,000
400	Government Taxes and Bank Charges	2,215	6,600
0	Other Expenses	0	0
71,000	Total Operating Expense	84,228	63,544
580	Operating Surplus/(Deficit)	16,556	3,388
3,767	Add extraordinary income (note 8)	1,067	3,000
3,000	Less extraordinary expense (note 9)	3,481	3,000
1,347	Cash Surplus/(Deficit)	14,143	3,388

 

 

 

31-Dec-99	Statement of Assets and Liabilities	31-Dec-00
116,669	Balance brought forward	101,099
0	Equipment (note 10)	461
0	NA-Account (new) (10)	1,256
(15,570)	Cash Surplus/(Deficit)	14,143
101,099	Total	116,959
13,104	AARES General	27,247
12,355	GASP Fund	12,355
75,000	Commonwealth Bank Short Term Deposit (Note 11)	75,000
0	NA-Branch (11)	1,256
1	Journal and Review Stocks (note 12)	1
639	Equipment (13)	1,100
101,099	Total Assets	116,959

 

Statement of Cash Income and Expenditure
1999	For year ended 31 December	2000
	Operating Income
27,501	Subscriptions	43,249
3,990	Interest	2,336
29,670	Conference & symposium Income	52,837
50	Back issue sales	0
0	AARES News-advertising	1,450
761	Other Income	911
61,972	Total Operating Income	100,784
	less Operating Expenses
18,444	Conference & Symposium Expenses	19,362
21,679	AJARE Editorial Office Expenses	28,679
3,454	Administration	5,986
9,445	Branch Grants	8,370
6,100	Honoraria	6,100
2,674	Awards and Prizes	5,438
2,323	Alan Lloyd Fellowship	0
3,324	AARES Newsletter	8,077
395	Government Taxes and Bank Charges	2,215
-9	Other Expenses	0
67,830	Total Operating Expense	84,228
-5,858	Operating Surplus/(Deficit)	16,556
4,645	Add extraordinary income	1,067
9,712	Less extraordinary expense	3,481
-10,925	Cash Surplus/(Deficit)	14,143

Notes to the 2000 Accounts

1. Basis of Preparation of the Accounts

Following past practice, the 2000 Accounts have been presented on a cash basis.

2. Royalties

The estimate for royalties is estimated at $68 per member, assuming 624 members over the coming year.

3. Symposium

The figure includes an expense of $1,967 from the previous year.

4. Editorial expenses

The figure includes a payment in advance for the current January quarter, which means that the 2001 budget is less than expenses to be incurred from the office.

5. Branch grants

The standard practice is for the branches to receive a base grant of $300 in addition to $7.50 per ordinary equivalent member plus a $40 bonus for each unit increase in total ordinary equivalent membership over the year. Ordinary equivalent members are calculated as the sum of total financial ordinary members and one half the total of student and emeritus members. Since 1999, the bonus has been reduced to $24, to allow for the 20 percent discount offer for new members.

Branch Grants and Ordinary Equivalent Members
	Branch Grants $			Ordinary Equivalent Members
	2000	1999		2000	1999
NSW	1042.50	1614.00		99.00	108.00
VIC	885.00	1383.00		78.00	98.00
QLD	947.25	1205.25		73.50	69.50
ACT	855.00	1328.25		74.00	87.50
UNE	461.25	623.25		21.50	33.50
SA	762.00	726.00		36.00	28.00
WA	675.00	2069.25		50.00	85.50
NZARES	532.50	1031.25		31.00	41.50
N. AMERICA	676.50	998.25		39.00	35.50
Total	6837.00	10978.50		502.00	587.00

The figure includes an expense of $1,773 accrued in 1999, due to adjustments in the 1999 grants arising from confusion over the member lists and subsequent revisions. A detailed break-down of branch membership over the last three years is given in the following table.

Membership 1998-00 (as at October of each year)
	2000			1999			1998
	Ordinary	Conc.	Total	Ordinary	Conc.	Total	Ordinary	Conc.	Total
NSW	87.0	24.0	111.0	99.0	18.0	117.0	81	12	93.0
VIC	71.0	14.0	85.0	92.0	12.0	104.0	78	11	89.0
QLD	69.0	9.0	78.0	65.0	9.0	74.0	49	9	58.0
ACT	71.0	6.0	77.0	87.0	1.0	88.0	71	2	73.0
New England	16.0	11.0	27.0	23.0	21.0	44.0	20	21	41.0
SA	34.0	4.0	38.0	27.0	2.0	29.0	18	2	20.0
WA	45.0	10.0	55.0	78.0	15.0	93.0	34	9	43.0
NZ	30.0	2.0	32.0	40.0	3.0	43.0	23	2	25.0
NA	19.0	40.0	59.0	27.0	17.0	44.0	na	na	0.0
Branch Total	442.0	120.0	562.0	538.0	98.0	636.0	374.0	68.0	442.0
Overseas	21	21	42.0	45	10	55.0	45	10	55.0
Total Members	463.0	141.0	604.0	583.0	108.0	691.0	419.0	78.0	497.0

6. Alan Lloyd Fellowship and the GASP Fund

The GASP Fund was originally $17,000 and comes from surplus on a GASP workshop held in 1997. The Fund is to support 2/3 of the Alan Lloyd Fellowship, with the Society providing the remaining 1/3. The Fellowship can not exceed $4,500. As yet, no amount has been claimed for the 2001 conference.

7. Newsletter & Other

An estimate of the cost for postage and printing of N&V is up to $1800 for 1000 copies. Other expenses include mail-outs and printing for workshops (which should properly have been allocated to the conference).

8. Extraordinary Income

The figure includes proceeds from sale of old computer $300 and part reimbursement for Prof. Shumway's travel (1999 Conference).

9. Extraordinary expense

The figure includes the purchase of new computer ($2,350) and Prof. Shumway's travel expense

10. North American Account

The Federal branch currently holds the accounts on behalf of the newly formed North American branch.

11. Financial Assets

As at 31 December 1999, AARES held $75,000 in two Commonwealth Short Term Deposits ($45,000 and $30,000). The process of simplifying AARES investments was completed in March 1999 when the last $5,000 debenture stock was transferred into a Commonwealth Short Term Deposit.

Short term deposits and investments (as at 31 December)
	31.12.99	31.12.00	Interest Rate	Maturity
Comm Bank Term Dep	45,000	45,000	6.40	21.03.01
Comm Bank Term Dep	30,000	30,000	6.15	17.05.01
	75,000	75,000

12. Journal and Review Stocks

Past practice has been to value the stocks of the Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics at a notional value of $1 in the accounts.

13. Equipment

The change in equipment is due to addition of computer equipment ($2350), its depreciation to $1000 as well as depreciation of fax machine from $639 to $100.

2002

Treasurer's report to AGM 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



TREASURER’S REPORT

Mal Wegener

Financial position - Cheque account

The balance in the Society’s main cheque account on 31 December 2001, after reconciliation for unpresented cheques, was $21,035. However, the advance payment of 2001 members and institutional subscriptions from Blackwell Publishers was not received by the end of last year and that has subsequently boosted the bank balance considerably.

The healthy financial position of the Society is largely due to the exceptionally high surplus from the Adelaide conference ($42,564), a good surplus from the Melbourne symposium (about $7,000), and a one-off payment from the Farm Management Society – Central South Australia ($11,134) which was wound up during 2001 and which transferred the residue of its funds to the Society.

There were sufficient operating funds in the cheque account to place another $30,000 on term deposit in November 2001.

Financial Position - Fixed deposits

The Society’s existing fixed deposits matured over the period 13-17 January 2002 and were consolidated into a single investment so that the Society currently has $110,000 invested in a security with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. This security will mature on 24 January 2003 with a value of $114,620, an effective interest rate of 4.20%. Interest rates and other conditions are more favourable for investments over $100,000 and it is more convenient to have a single investment located at one bank than several fixed deposits at different locations. Interest income from the fixed deposits amounted to $1,590 in 2001 although another $1,480 was credited to the Society’s account when the investments matured in mid-January 2002. Details are shown in the following table.

Fixed Deposit	Date of investment	Term	Interest rate	Interest paid this year
CBA 50147997 $48,287 University of NSW	21 March 2001- 17 August 2001 17 August 2001- 17 January 2002	149 days   149 days	4.80%   4.70%	Interest paid on maturity $927.99 Interest paid on maturity $951.33
CBA 50027722 $30,000 CBA 50034447 $30,644 Barton, ACT	22 July 2000- 17 May 2001 17 May 2001- 13 October 2001 13 October 2001- 13 January 2002	299 days   149 days   90 days	6.15%   3.60%   4.15%	$2 069.87 (Interest since 1 July 2000) Interest paid on maturity $662.05 Interest paid on maturity $320.54
CBA 50134704 $30,000 University of Qld	15 Nov 2001- 15 January 2002	60 days	3.95%	Interest paid on maturity $198.04

An investment of the size that the Society now has represents a prudent approach to financial risk management for the Society. The Society is now dependent on the financial surpluses from its annual conference and the symposium to meet a significant proportion of its operating costs each year since membership fees and institutional subscriptions cover just over half of our annual operating costs. In the unlikely event of a failed conference, we need to have sufficient funds available to enable the Society to continue operating for at least one year. The Society has also entered into a number of long-term commitments for which funding needs to be secure.

Statement of income and expenditure

The Society had a financially successful year in 2001 with an estimated surplus over operating costs of approximately $39,000. The unaudited statement of income and expenditure for 2001 is presented in the next table. Much of the success is due to the excellent results from both the Adelaide conference and the symposium held in Melbourne in early October. We were also fortunate in receiving a substantial one-off cash payment of $11,134 which represented the residue of funds of the Farm Management Society – Central South Australia which ceased to operate during the year. Members of that society were given the option of joining AARES on the condition that their membership fees for two years would be paid or committing an equivalent amount of funds to a project to write the history of the Farm Management Society. Without these exceptional payments making such a positive contribution to our income position, we would not be in such good financial shape.

Statement of cash income and expenditure, 2001

2001 Budget	1 January - 31 December 2001	2001 Outcome	2002 Budget
42 432 2 300 0 5 000 1 500 700	Operating income Subscriptions (net of concessions) Interest Conference income (net of direct costs) Symposium (net of direst costs) AARES News & Views – Advertising Other income	32 736 6 984 44 352 7 262 0 1 232	43 200 6 100 18 000 4 000 1 000 4 500
51 932	Total Operating income	92 566	76 800
23 298 6 000 3 000 6 700 6 100 5 500 1 500 6 600   56 925	Less Operating expenses AJARE editorial office Administration AARES News & Views and Connections Branch grants Honoraria Awards and prizes Alan Lloyd Fellowship Government taxes and bank charges Sundries Total Operating Expenses	18 769 3 933 9 267 10 527 4 500 3 175 5 523 1 037 738 57 469	33 000 5 000 7 000 8 000 4 500 7 250 5 000 1 000 1 250 72 000
(4 993)	Operating surplus (Deficit)	35 097	4 800
8 000 3 000	Add extraordinary income Less extraordinary expenses	11 134 7 196	0 800
7	Cash surplus (Deficit)	39 035	4 000

Notes and explanations:

1. Non-members registering for the annual conference and symposium are granted membership, the cost of which is met from council funds.

2. Other income includes editorial royalties and sundry items. Page charges will be introduced for articles accepted for publication in AJARE from 2002.

3. Extraordinary income includes a transfer of funds from the Farm Management Society-Central South Australia which ceased operations during the year.

4. Branch grants include both 2000 and 2001 payments to the North American Branch.

5. Expenses connected with the Alan Lloyd fellowship were paid by the Adelaide conference Local Organising Committee out of conference income.

6. Extraordinary expenses include the cost of transferring the editorial office from La Trobe University to University of New England and the initial payment to Agribusiness Association of Australia to establish Connections.

7. AARES News and Views will be distributed electronically in 2002. The cost of Connections in 2002 is included in this category.

8. Revenue of $945 for advertising in AARES News and Views was received after the balance date.

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

31 December 2000		31 December 2001
101 099 461 1 256 19 524	Balance brought forward Equipment North American Branch account Cash Surplus (Deficit)	122 340 770 0 39 035
122 340	Total	162 145
32 628 12 355 75 000 1 256 1 1 100	AARES General GASP Fund (Alan Lloyd fund) Commonwealth Bank Fixed Deposits North American Branch Journal and Review stocks Equipment	40 732 12 355 108 287 0 1 770
122 340	Total assets	162 145

Note:The assets included in this statement include the foreshadowed payment of $32,063 in membership subscriptions not received from Blackwell by the balance date.

Branch grants

A transfer of funds totalling $9,245 was made to branches in November-December which included the share of profits on the symposium held by the Victorian branch in October ($1,500) and a payment to the North American branch according to the policy approved at the October 2001 Council Meeting. With the $1,256 formerly held by Council on behalf of the North American branch, there was over $10,500 distributed to branches in the past year in proportion to their current membership numbers and growth during the year. Details of membership numbers and branch payments are provided in the following table.

The standard practice is for branches to receive a base grant of $300 in addition to $7.50 per ordinary member or equivalent plus a $40 bonus for each unit increase in total ordinary equivalent membership over the year. Ordinary equivalent members are calculated as the sum of total financial ordinary members and one half of the total of student and other concessional members. Since 1999, the bonus has been reduced to $24 to allow for the 20 percent discount for new members.

Branch membership and branch grants, 1999 – 2001

	Membership			Branch grants $
	1999	2000	2001	2001
New South Wales Victoria Queensland ACT New England South Australia Western Australia NZARES North America Other overseas	108 98 69.5 87.5 33.5 28 85.5 41.5 35.5	99 78 73.5 74 21.5 36 50 31 39	107 63 59 65 22 66 42 36 89 42	1 462.00 772.00 778.50 955.50 465.00 1 035.00 723.00 678.00 2 376.00
Total	587	502	591	$9 245.00

Following a number of revisions to the membership lists in 1999, the branch grants that year were revised upwards based on numbers that subsequently turned out to be over-estimates of the membership for that year. The previous Treasurer recommended that this over-payment be recovered from branches or that the branch payments this year be reduced but that recommendation was not implemented.

During the past year, several branches recruited new members and increased membership but the North American Branch needs to be congratulated on their success in recruiting at least 24 new ordinary and 2 student members during the past year. Other branches with significant numbers of new members included New South Wales (15), South Australia (10), ACT (6 new ordinary members and 2 student members), Western Australia and New Zealand (4 ordinary members and 1 new student member each), while Queensland added 3 new student members.

In response to a request from the North American Branch for a special additional allocation of funds this year to meet the costs involved in staging a function at the American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Conference in Chicago, the basis for payment to the North American branch was changed to reflect the difference in subscriptions paid by North American members and the exchange rate between $US and AUD.

Adelaide conference

The Adelaide conference generated a significant surplus for the Society ($44,086) which was distributed as follows:

• Seed funding Canberra 2002 LOC $5,000
• Share of surplus retained by SA branch $3,000
• Expenses paid from Conference account
• on behalf of Federal Council (Alan Lloyd Fund) $5,523
• Share of surplus returned to Federal Council $36,564
• Advance funds returned to Council $ 6,000
• Total funds transfer to Council $42,564

Symposium

The 2001 Symposium organised by the Victorian Branch was professionally and financially successful. With 69 registrations, the income from the symposium was nearly $18,000 and expenses $10,637. Council determined that the policy of sharing the surpluses from these events with branches, as occurs with the annual conference, be extended to the symposia. Surpluses up to $3,000 from symposia organised by branches on behalf of council will be shared with the branch concerned. Above that figure, all of the profits go to Council.

Of the 69 registrations for the 2001 symposium, 44 (including one student) were from non-members who paid the higher fee to cover the cost of AARES membership for one year. The retention of these new members for more than one year represents a challenge to the Society.

Contract with Blackwell

Some amendments to the contract that the Society has with Blackwell Publishing Ltd to produce the AJARE and to maintain the membership database were negotiated during the past year. In reviewing performance of the Journal contract over the past five years (see table below), it is worth noting that memberships, subscription income, and payments to the Society have all increased steadily over the period.

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Members subscriptions Institutional subscriptions Shortfall on institutional subs.1 Other income	38 158 51 596 9 415 594	39 595 57 849 7 742 4 492	44 699 69 916 - 5 920	46 188 82 466 - 5 679
Total income for volume	99 763	108 678	120 539	134 263
Payments to Society	25 694	27 852	38 158	43 636	44 704 2

¹ In 1997 and 1998, the Society had to make large penalty payments to Blackwell because the numbers of institutional subscribers were less than the minimum specified in the original contract.

² Advance payment received to date.

In re-negotiating the contract, AARES sought to receive a share of the subscription revenue from libraries and institutions but recommended that individual member subscription rates should remain unchanged for now. We also sought the right to impose page charges on published articles and agreed that some costly practices, such as the provision of reprints to authors, should cease.

These initiatives are expected to add another $15,000 to AARES annual income ($7-8,000 from the share of revenue from subscriptions and a similar amount from page charges) in future years when the policy is fully implemented.

Outlook for 2002

As we move into 2002 and beyond, the Society has been increasing its commitments through a number of new agreements, with the Agribusiness Association of Australia for the electronic publication Connections, with the American Agricultural Economics Association through the Travel Awards, and with the University of New England for the editorial office. The Council has endeavoured to expand our sources of income while at the same time cutting costs where possible. Member subscriptions were retained at the same level for 2002 so it is important to retain as many as possible of the new members who join the Society each year. The renewed contract with Blackwell will add significantly to our income when the share of subscription income from institutions starts to flow and the policy to impose page charges for articles published in the Journal is fully implemented. However, the Society remains dependent on the financial success of the annual conference and symposium for a significant part of our income.

2003 (pdf)

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

2004

Treasurer's report to AGM 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



TREASURER’S REPORT

 

Financial position

 

Cheque account

The balance in the Society’s cheque account on 31 December 2003, after reconciliation for unpresented cheques, was $41 192.56.

 

Fixed deposits

In 2002, the majority of the Society’s surplus funds were invested in a Commercial Bill with the Commonwealth Bank which matured on 24 January 2003 having accumulated interest of $4 620.  Another $50 000 surplus funds in the cheque account were placed on fixed deposit towards the end of 2002 to mature at the same time in early January 2003.  The funds from both fixed deposits with interest were reinvested on maturity, giving the Society a total of $169 613 invested on fixed deposit.  Details are provided in the table below.

 

Investment Schedule

Fixed Deposit	Date invested	Amount	Term	Interest rate	Interest paid this year
CBA Certificate of Deposit	24 01 2002	$110 000	365 days (maturing 24 01 2003)	4.2 percent	$4 620 paid at maturity
CBA Term Deposit	01 11 2002	$50 000	3 months (maturing 30 01 2003)	4.4 percent	$542 paid at maturity
CBA Term Deposit	13 02 2003	$165 000	4 months  (to mature 14 05 03)		$2 079.45 at maturity
CBA Term Deposit	14 05 2003	$167 079	4 months (to mature 14 09 03)	4.9 percent	$2 533.65 at maturity
CBA Term Deposit 50146334	14 09 2003	$169 613	12 months (to mature 14 09 04)		Interest paid at maturity

 Note: Council decided during 2002 to re-name the Alan Lloyd Fellowship Fund as the Distinguished Fellows Fund and agreed to replenish the Fund in view of the substantial surpluses made from annual conferences and symposia in the previous two years.  An amount of $30 000 of the Society’s funds, held as part of the funds on Fixed Deposit with the Commonwealth Bank, was reserved to fund the Distinguished Fellows’ address at Annual Conferences over the next five years, with the option of continuing the lecture series for a further five years if considered desirable.

 

The Society is fortunate in having an investment of sufficient size to buffer it against any downturn in income.  This is essential because the Society is dependent on financial surpluses from the annual conference and the symposium to meet a proportion of its operating costs.  The Society has also committed to organizing the 26^th conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists in 2006 which will require a significant investment by the Society over the next three years.

 

The continuing healthy financial position of the Society is due to the large surpluses from recent conferences in Adelaide in 2001, Canberra 2002, and Fremantle in 2003 while the surplus from the successful workshop in Canberra in September 2003 (over $18 000) is still to be transferred to the Society’s account.  However in spite of these successful events over recent years, the recruitment of new members through conferences, workshops, and symposia is just matching the loss in members each year and we will need to continue the recruitment effort to maintain our membership base.

 

Statement of financial performance

 

The Society had another financially successful year in 2003 with an estimated operating surplus of approximately $42 000.  A copy of the statement of financial performance for 2003 is presented in the next table. 

 

In spite of our good annual performance and healthy bank balance, the Council continues to be concerned about the underlying shortfall in subscription income relative to annual expenses.  Subscription rates for Australian and New Zealand members were raised for 2003 and Blackwell’s decision to relocate handling of subscriptions to their office in Melbourne during 2003 means that subscriptions from Australian members now attract GST.  It was therefore inappropriate to consider raising membership subscriptions for 2004 at the same time as GST had to be added but rates for future years will have to be considered in relation to the expenses they are required to meet.

 

Blackwell have indicated that the conditions we negotiated in 2001 to share in the subscription income from the Journal are generous and that they will seek to modify these arrangements when the contract is renewed later this year.

 

Statement of financial performance, 2003

2003 Budget	1 Jan-31 Dec 2003	2003 Outcome	2004 Budget
$ 1 500 200 15 000    6150 57 000 10 000 100 3 000	Operating income Advertising CD sales Conference surplus (net of direct costs) Interest1 Subscriptions Symposium2 Royalties Other income	$ 454.55 488.17 24 861.03 9 914.41 52 425.80 18 943.00 982.06 64.00	$   500 0 15 000 6 500 55 000 5 000 1 000 3 000
93 400	Total Operating income	108 069.01	86 000
$ 35 000 5 000 4 500   300 10 000 6 000 1 000 6 000   3 000 600 6 000 1 250	Less Operating expenses AJARE Editorial office3 Distinguished Fellows address Awards and prizes Bank charges Branch payments Connections and Newsletter4 Council expenses5 Conference expenses Depreciation Honoraria Postage Symposium/subscriptions Sundry expenses	$ 28 700.00 2 028.00 5 515.00 102.32 8 972.86 0 5 592.63 11 054.73 333.00 3 000.00 515.26 3 286.00 0	$ 27 800 6 000 9 000 100 5 000 0 7 500 10 000 333 3 000 600 3 000 1 166
78 650	Total Operating Expenses	65 813.80	73 500
14 750	Operating surplus	42 255.21	12 500

 

Notes and explanations:

1. Interest income was extraordinarily high in 2003 because of the decision in 2002 to invest surplus funds in a 12-month Commercial Bill with the Commonwealth Bank which matured on 6 January 2003.  Additional surplus funds were invested on fixed deposit during the year.

2. Accounts for the MBI Symposium held in Canberra were not finalised before the end of the year but a surplus of about $17 000 is expected.

3. The University of New England invoiced the Society for only three of the scheduled four quarterly payments expected for the year

4. News and Views was distributed electronically and the University of Melbourne took over publication of Connections in 2003 at no cost saving to the Society. 

5. Expenses with the attendance of Dr M. Wegener at the 25^th IAAE Conference in Durban in his role as convenor for the 26^th IAAE conference in Australia in 2006 were included.

 

Statement of Financial Position

31 December 2002		31 December 2003
$ 14 165