Minutes

This book contains both AGM minutes and Federal Meetings.

Note: these minutes are not the official minutes of the society, which are those held by the secretary. They have been slightly edited to remove potentially sensitive items.

AGM Minutes

This section contains minutes from AGMs

2006 AGM minutes

2005 AGM minutes

2004 AGM minutes

2003 AGM minutes

2002 AGM minutes

2001 AGM minutes

2000 AGM minutes

1999 AGM minutes

1998 AGM minutes

Federal Council Minutes

This section contains minutes of Federal Council meetings.

12 Feb 2002

Federal Council Minutes, 12 February 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



PRESENT: Julian Alston, Ron Duncan, Michelle Scoccimarro, Mal Wegener, David Pannell, Chris O’Donnell (Armidale), John Mullen (NSW), Lisa Brennan, Nick Piggot (North America), David Feldman (Chair LOC 2003), George Anthony (QLD), Garry Griffith (NSW), Ross Kingwell (WA), Rod Forbes (NZ).

COMMENCED: 5.05 p.m.

VENUE: Rydges Lakeside, Canberra

1. APOLOGIES: Jason Crean, Bill Malcolm, Shakur Shamin, Doug Young.

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

The minutes of the previous Council meeting held on 4 October 2001 (Attachment 1) were ACCEPTED by Council subject to amendments provided by Dave Pannell.

Dave Pannell, Lisa Brennan AGREED

3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES:

Development of a membership survey – Lisa Brennan will report to the May 2003 Council meeting.

2001 AARES Workshop sponsorship – Julian Alston to report to the May Council meeting.

Proposal to distribute News and Views electronically – Council agreed that members would be informed at the AGM that the next issue of News and Views would be distributed exclusively via email and that a hard copy or letter would be sent to those that didn’t have email.

All other business arising from the minutes was discussed under particular agenda items.

4. SECRETARY’S REPORT

Michelle Scoccimarro spoke to the Secretary’s report. She reported that she had prepared for the Annual General Meeting and Council meetings and produced Certificates for all Prize Winners.

Motion: That the Secretary’s report be accepted.

Ron Duncan, David Pannell AGREED

5. TREASURER’S REPORT

Mal Wegener presented the Treasurer’s Report (Attachment 2).

Mal indicated the balance in the Society’s main cheque account on 31 December was $21 035.

Fixed Deposits- Mal indicated the Society has $110 000 invested in fixed deposits.

Statement of income and expenditure – Mal indicated that the surplus over operating costs for 2001 was estimated at $39 000. He suggested that much of the success was due to the Adelaide conference, the symposium held in Melbourne and the one-off payment from the Farm Management Society.

Contract with Blackwell – Mal stated that some amendments to the contract with Blackwell publishing will see another $15 000 added to AARES annual income.

Outlook for 2002 – Mal indicated that the Society remained dependent on the financial success of the annual conference and symposium for a significant part of AARES income. The Treasurer informed Council that he had estimated a surplus of $3000 for 2002.

Motion: The Local Organising Committees of AARES Annual Conferences and Symposia are instructed to make a profit. Under current circumstances, indicative figures for a profit would be $12, 000 for Conferences and $8, 000 for Symposia.

Mal Wegener, George Anthony AGREED

Motion: That the Treasurer’s report be accepted.

Ross Kingwell, John Mullen AGREED

6. MANAGER PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Lisa Brennan tabled the Manager, Promotion and Development Report (Attachment 3).

Membership – Lisa advised Council that at the end of 2001 there were 305 institutional subscribers and 639 individual subscribers. She indicated the ongoing challenge for the Society is managing lapsing memberships.

Blackwell – Lisa indicated there was only once concern to report since the last Council meeting in October 2001 and this related to a problem with Blackwell processing a new member’s application. Lisa also advised that Blackwell are seeking feedback on the membership renewal form before it is sent out.

Branch Support – Lisa indicated that she and Michelle were working on providing the AARES Calendar to Branch Secretariats to increase understanding of their interaction with Council.

Member Survey – Lisa indicated that she plans to implement a survey of all individual members between April and June 2002.

Motion: That the Manager, Promotion and Development report be accepted.

Ron Duncan, Garry Griffith AGREED

7. EDITORS’ REPORT

Chris O’Donnell tabled the Editors’ Report (Attachment 4).

Administrative Assistant - Chris noted that Honey Greenwood has recently been reappointed on a contract which expires at the end of June 2004.

Database: Chris indicated that the EXCEL database has been updated to a FILEMAKER-PRO database and is now stored on a UNE service from where it can be simultaneously accessed by any authorized members of the editorial team.

March 2002 –Chris advised that proofs for the issue are still with Blackwell.

June 2002 – Chris also noted all copy for the June 2002 issue is with the publishers.

Supply of Manuscripts – Chris indicated that they may be short of good copy for the September 2002 issue but that the longer term outlook is better.

Use of Email – Chris noted that they were encouraging use of email for submission and dispatch of manuscripts and reviews in order to expedite the review process.

Motion: That the Editors’ report be accepted.

Dave Pannell, Garry Griffith AGREED

8. WEB MANAGER’S REPORT

Dave Pannell indicated that he had been polishing up the information that is on the web. He noted that his two final tasks before handing over to the new Web Manager (Michelle Scoccimarro) was to put the Policy file on the web and to create the CD of the proceedings.

9. REPORT ON 2002 CONFERENCE (CANBERRA)

Ron Duncan indicated that the number of registrations is about 215, and that the estimated surplus is $18 000. He also noted:

• The Allan Lloyd address would now be given by Scott Rozelle.
• Piere Riera from Spain will replace Alistair Ulpuh.
• Audio visual facilities will be available in all rooms with three technicians available for supporting the technology.
• The LOC were disappointed with the number of contributed paper drop outs.

10. READINESS FOR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

All Office Bearers indicated their reports to the AGM were prepared.

Michelle indicated all certificates for awards had been prepared.

11. SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT ON HONORARIA

Lisa Brennan spoke to the proposal on behalf of the sub-committee (Attachment 5). She outlined the past and current practice and suggested a range of possibilities for the future including clarification of the purpose and options for payment. Options for payment discussed included continuing to pay for honoraria but reducing the value of the payment across the board or on a value negotiated on a case by case basis; paying the individual's honorarium to their employer; abolishing honoraria and replacing with a system that reimburses expenses upon presentation of a claim for reimbursement.

Motion: . That the payment of Honoraria be according to this schedule: Secretary, Treasurer, President, Manager, Promotion and Development $500, Local Organising Committee Chair $1000 and editors as negotiated.

David Pannell, Ross Kingwell AGREED

It was agreed that the contribution of other members of Council would be acknowledged at the AGM with thanks and a gift.

12. CONFERENCE FEES

Council discussed a proposal to give discounts to retired members.

Motion: Student concessional rates for the annual conference and symposia registration be extended to emeritus members.

Mal Wegener, David Pannell AGREED

13. PROPOSAL FROM AUSTRALIAN AGRIBUSINESS ASSOCIATION

Dave Pannell indicated that he had asked the Australian Agribusiness Association to give a presentation to the AGM and incoming council meeting about how the two associations could work more closely together.

It was agreed that this issue be handed over to Ron Duncan.

14. OTHER BUSINESS

None.

15. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of Council will be held on the 15 February 2002.

Meeting closed: 7:00 p.m.

Michelle Scoccimarro

Secretary

15 Feb 2002

Federal Council Minutes, 15 February 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



PRESENT: Ron Duncan, Julian Alston, Bill Malcolm, Mal Wegener, Lisa Brennan, Liz Petersen, Tracy Henderson, David Pannell, Chris O’Donnell, John Mullen, George Antony (QLD), Garry Griffith (Armidale), Jennifer James (North America), Ross Kingwell (WA), Phil Pardey (North America) and David Ginns (Australian Agribusiness Association).

COMMENCED: 4.05 p.m.

VENUE: Rydges Hotel, Canberra

1. APOLOGIES: David Feldman, Max Lawrence, Jeff Bennett, Doug Young, Jason Crean, Shamim Shakur

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

The minutes of the previous Council meeting held on 12 February 2002 were unavailable.

3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

No business arising.

4. REPORT ON 2002 CONFERENCE

It was agreed that the $1000 honorarium for the chair of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) should be paid in advance. (FOR POLICY FILE) The chair of the 2002 Conference LOC, Max Lawrence, to put in account for out of pocket expenses. If he does not do this, the question should be revisited at the next Council meeting.

Ron Duncan noted that a representative of one of the conference sponsors was disappointed that Al Watson was negative towards a number of the conference sponsors in his after-dinner speech. It was agreed that that the Society should not censor the after-dinner speech but that some sensitivity to the issue should be encouraged.

Mal Wegener noted that the Heading South Award Winner should have presented earlier in the program and not first thing in the morning. It was agreed that this should be the case for all notable speakers in the future. (FOR POLICY FILE)

John Mullen indicated that he preferred that contributed papers be allowed 30 minutes for each presentation, and that session times should be shown on the paper program.

Mal Wegener noted that he was disappointed that there was no papers room.

Ron Duncan spoke of the problems associated with late contributed paper withdrawals. It was agreed that in future conferences, contributed paper presenters should be notified that their paper will be withdrawn if they do not registered by two weeks before the conference starts. (FOR POLICY FILE)

Mal emphasised that the conference was very well organised and thanked Max Lawrence and the rest of the LOC.

Liz Petersen noted that it was good that no contributed papers were presented in the afternoon of the last day, and that the conference ended on a high note with the Alan Lloyd address. Bill Malcolm indicated that the audience of the Alan Lloyd address is compromised being at the end of the program and that it should be swapped with a plenary. Mal Wegener noted that the current timing of the Alan Lloyd address encouraged people to stay to the end of the conference.

5. PRESENTATION BY THE AUSTRALIAN AGRIBUSINESS ASSOCIATION

David Ginns, the Executive Director of the Australian Agribusiness Association (AAA) spoke about forming a cooperative arrangement between AARES and AAA for the mutual benefit of both organisations. AAA’s strength is in its online services. David suggested that the AAA maintain and further develop AARES website. Provision of information for inclusion on the web page would be via Lisa Brennan (Manager, Promotion and Development) or other Council members. AAA has no interest in using the AARES membership for advertising or other administrative purposes other than advertising the activities of the AAA. The benefits to the AAA would be through an expanded audience for exchange of information which would in turn influence AAA’s corporate sponsorship.

Ron Duncan suggested a jointly organised symposium to draw in a wide audience, including potential corporate funders. David Ginns indicated that the AAA runs an Annual Agribusiness Awards Dinner. A jointly organised symposium could be run for a full day or one half day on the day of the dinner. David volunteered to bear much of the orgainisation of such an event. The next Agribusiness Dinner is scheduled for October in Melbourne.

George Antony pointed out that the shift of AARES’s focus towards the environment and resources means that the Society needs to actively encourage the agricultural economists in its membership. An alliance with AAA would allow this to some extent. David Pannell mentioned that an alliance with AAA would be of benefit to past members of the Farm Management Association who have recently joined the Society.

It was noted that it would be disadvantageous for both Associations to merge, but that an alliance would be helpful.

It was decided that David Ginns would draft a Memorandum of Understanding for a agreement between the two associations that is not legally binding.

Action: David Ginns

6. PRESIDENT ELECT NOMINATING COMMITTEE FOR 2002

Julian Alston to form a committee as immediate past president. The committee should also nominate the distinguished fellows. The committee should contain one distinguished fellow. Julian nominated Al Watson, John Mullen, David Pannell to join the panel, with himself as chair. The call for nominations should be in the next issues of the News and Views.

Action: Julian Alston

7. PHD AND MASTERS THESIS COMMITTEES

As president, Ron to form these committees. Each member should stand on the committee for three years, so that each committee has one new member, a chair (that is the new member from the previous year), and the chair from the previous year.

Last year the PhD committee was Phillip Hone, Ross Kingwell and Christie Chang. Phillip Hone should be asked to be the chair this year and Ross should leave the committee.

Last year the Masters committee was Paul Winters, Deb Peterson and Rodney Beard. Paul Winters should be asked to be chair this year and Deb Peterson should leave the committee.

Suggestions for new committee members were Kevin Parton, Michael Burton, Iain Fraser and Jack Pezzey. Given the opposition of members at the AGM towards the use of examiner’s reports for adjudicating the PhD and Masters prizes, it was viewed important that the committees be balanced in their agricultural and resource expertise. (FOR POLICY FILE)

Action: Ron Duncan

Ross Kingwell indicated that in the absence of examiner’s reports, it would be useful to provide committee members with assessment criteria. Julian offered to find a copy of the guidelines for the AAEA PhD Prize. Ross was asked to provide a list of criteria for the next Council meeting.

Action: Julian Alston and Ross Kingwell

8. VENUE FOR 2004 CONFERENCE

The offer of the Victorian branch to host the 2004 conference was accepted.

9. 2002 AARES SYMPOSIUM

Ron Duncan tabled a letter from Roley Piggott (Attachment 1) regarding a workshop at the University of New England on the new US Farm Bill and implications for agricultural trade. The Symposium could be held in conjunction with a second day event to commemorate the work of John Dillon. There were initial concerns that attendees would not travel to UNE for the workshop but it was pointed out the Dillon event would bring in many people, including international scholars. The workshops would boost membership of the UNE branch.

Phil Pardey noted that organisation would have to start now to ensure international speakers could come. Phil offered to advertise the events on IFPRI’s website and through IFPRI’s email list (>7,000).

Gary advised that there were problems with late withdrawals at last year’s symposium. It was decided that there would be a 10% charge for withdrawals. (FOR POLICY FILE)

10. POLICY FILE

David Pannell has spent a lot of time re-working the policy file. He requested council to clarify current policy on a number of issues.

1. Previous policy: that conference LOCs should aim not to make a loss. New policy: Conference LOCs should aim to make a profit of $12,000 at the expected attendance. Annual Symposium LOCs should aim to make a profit of $8,000 at the expected attendance.
2. The John Crawford award was removed from the Policy File (although it was noted that the Society should not forget John Crawford nor neglect Asia as a focus).
3. Additional policy: That it is up to the organisers of pre-conference workshops and Annual Symposia to decide whether they offer a year of free membership of AARES to their invited speakers who are not already members. If they do, this free membership should be paid for out of the workshop or symposium budget.
4. Additional policy: That in programming the AGM at the Annual Conference, organisers should allow for a meeting of up to 2 hours duration.
5. Clarification of policy: That profits from symposia and conferences should be shared equally by the Society and the host branch up to $1500 each for the Annual Symposium and $3000 each for the Annual Conferences. That is, if profits are no greater than $3000 (Sympoium) or $6000 (Conference), the profits are shared equally between the Society and the host branch. Additional profits go to the Society.
6. That the President-Elect should update the Policy File in March each year.
7. Amendment to policy: The criterion for eligibility for the first time presenter’s prize at the Annual Conference is that the presenter should making their first presentation at an AARES conference and that their first presentation at any national or international conference was no longer ago than 12 months.

11. POLICY ON OBITUARIES

John Mullen raised a concern that the Society has no policy on the choice of individuals for obituaries in AJARE. It was agreed that people should be encouraged to write death notices for News and Views, that Distinguished Fellows and Life Members of the Society should automatically be given obituaries in the Journal, and that discretion should be exercised for including obituaries in the Journal for other members. (FOR POLICY FILE)

12. OTHER BUSINESS

Keith Campbell Scholarship

Ron Duncan tabled a letter from Bob Batterham (Attachment 2) asking the Society to raise and administer a scholarship in honour of Professor Keith Campbell. Bill Malcolm noted that it is difficult and costly to initiate a selection process. Julian Alston argued that AARES could administer a scholarship but raising the funds would be very difficult. Ron described an endowment initiative of the Australian National University where the University matches funding raised for the scholarship. Ron noted that the University of Sydney probably has a similar initiative and could administer a scholarship more profitably. John Mullen argued that a scholarship for Keith Campbell should be tied to the University of Sydney given Keith’s ties to the university.

Ron showed support for a rolling award that has been suggested at previous meetings, where the Alan Lloyd address could be renamed after 5 years to the Keith Campbell Address for five years, and so on.

Bill suggested the Society explore other ways of honouring Keith.

Blackwells Display at Conferences

Julian indicated that Blackwell Publishers wanted a trade display at the 2002 conference. The 2002 Local Organising committee had a policy that the charge for a trade display would be $1000. Elgars paid $500 to include a flier in the satchels. Blackwells decided not to come. Julian argued that given that Blackwells are our partners the Society should discriminate in favour of them, and that the Society should have a policy on this rather than leaving it to the discretion of the LOC. The only charge should be the cost of having the display.

Ron argued that the Society funds the partnership with Blackwells, and that the Society should not subsidise them to display material other than the Society’s Journal. The ABS paid $2,000 for their display indicating that other publishers were willing to pay.

Chris O’Donnell argued that the Society should accommodate Blackwells to serve its members, and that it would be helpful to have someone at a display to talk to members about problems with their membership. He encouraged the LOC of Conference 2003 to only charge the cost of setting up the display.

International Pricing Policy

Phil Pardey suggested that the Society charge a discounted price for international members based on their ability to pay. Julian noted that concessional membership based on regions does not necessarily favour the poor, but that the Society could consider price discrimination for certain countries. Bill Malcolm argued that the Society should not only consider the welfare role of price discrimination but the a discounted rate should be charged for all international members to increase our market share (based on the Society’s judgement on demand elasticities). Chris O’Donnell noted that price discrimination has implications for the geographical depth of the Journal. It was decided that a good journal article would not be rejected due to its country of origin, but that if there were two good papers, the Australian article would be picked in favour of the international article, ceteris paribus. (FOR POLICY FILE)

Discussion of this to continue at the next Council meeting.

13. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of Council will be held in May 2002 in Canberra.

Meeting closed: 6.00 p.m.

Liz Petersen

Secretary

31 May 2002

Federal Council Minutes, 31 May 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



PRESENT: Ron Duncan, Mal Wegener, Bill Malcolm, Lisa Brennan, Liz Petersen, George Antony (QLD), Bob Farquharson (New England), Jason Crean (NSW), Michael Burton (WA), David Feldman (LOC chair 2003), Max Lawrence (LOC chair 2002), Chris O’Donnell (AJARE), John Mullen (AJARE), Stuart Whitten

COMMENCED: 9:15am

VENUE: University House, Canberra

1. APOLOGIES

Ross Kingwell, Julian Alston, Paul Morris

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The minutes of the previous Council meetings held on 12 and 15 February 2002 were tabled (Attachments 1 and 2).

Motion: That the minutes of the previous meetings be accepted with minor changes.

George Antony, Jason Crean AGREED

3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

2001 AARES Workshop sponsorship – Mal Wegener reported that the remaining funding from IFPRI has been received in kind and there will be no more changes to the budget.

Concessional rates for emeriti – Council agreed that this should be publicized through News and Views.

Action: Liz Petersen

2002 Conference – LOC Chair, Max Lawrence, has put in an account for his out of pocket expenses.

Memorandum of Understanding between AAA and AARES – David Ginns drafted a memorandum that Ron sent out to Council for comment. The updated version will be discussed under agenda item 8.

PhD and Masters Thesis Committees - Ron Duncan has yet to form these committees but will do so shortly. Julian has provided the AAEA criteria for judging theses, which will be discussed under agenda item 17.

Keith Campbell Scholarship – Ron Duncan has been in contact with Bob Batterham indicating that the AARES will not be providing money for the proposed Keith Campbell Scholarship. The Council agreed at its previous meeting that another way would be found to honour Keith’s contributions to the Society. Bob did not respond.

4. SECRETARY’S REPORT

Liz Petersen spoke to the Secretary’s report (Attachment 3). She reported on her activities since the last meeting and indicated that she had received a letter requesting sponsorship for the PhD Conference of Economists to be discussed under agenda item 19.

Motion: That the Secretary’s Report be accepted.

Bill Malcolm, John Mullen AGREED

5. TREASURER’S REPORT

Mal Wegener presented the Treasurer’s Report (Attachment 4).

Mal indicated that the AARES has $49,000 in its cheque account, which is too much for operating finances especially since more money will come in soon from Blackwell Publishers and the 2002 Conference. Mal will put some of the money into fixed deposits. The Society has about $110,000 in Commonwealth Bank security that are due to mature in January next year. Income for the year to date is approximately $55,000. A high proportion of this should have been received last year (e.g., the late payment of 2001 subscriptions from Blackwells). Income, not including payments that should have been received last year, is approximately $21,000. Expenditure is approximately $26,000. Further income should cover these expenses quickly and we should finish the year in a satisfactory position.

Mal recommended that the Council and North American Branch contributions to the Traveling North award (US$500 from each) be paid as an advance prior to the recipient leaving for the US. He recommended that the North American Branch share be paid as an advance against their 2002 branch payment.

The funds advanced to the 2002 LOC have been returned. Mal will write cheques to cover honoraria grants - $500 for each Council member and $1000 to LOC chair.

Mal recently met with Jennifer McDonald from Blackwells. Financial dealings with Blackwells will be made in Australia as of 2003. This means that subscriptions will incur the GST as of 2003. Bill Malcolm indicated that subscriptions had not been increased for a number of years and recommended that the cost of subscriptions be raised to account for inflation.

Motion:  That full membership fees be raised to $95 (inc GST), concessional and other subscription rates to increase proportionately.

Mal Wegener, Bill Malcolm AGREED

6. MANAGER PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT and EDITOR NEWS AND VIEWS REPORTS

Lisa Brennan tabled the Manager, Promotion and Development, report (Attachment 5).

Lisa reported that there has been no complaints or concerns from members in the period Feb-May 2002.

The development of the News and Views web page ran smoothly although there were problems with contacting some members electronically – 95 members did not indicate an email address, 88 email addresses bounced. The need for accurate email addresses should be accentuated on the renewal form. Lisa requested ideas for re-design of the renewal form.

Lisa noted that Blackwells are interested in developing a members-only section for AJARE on the AARES webpage.

Lisa circulated the draft AARES member survey and is seeking feedback on it (Attachment 6).

David Ginns of the Australian Agribusiness Association (AAA) is seeking input from the AARES for the AAA Research Forum. The theme of the Forum is prospects for agricultural commodities. Council agreed that this is a good opportunity for the AARES to cooperate with the AAA, and contributions should be made with a view to publication in the Agribusiness Review. It was agreed that contributions from AARES members should be sought actively.

Lisa indicated that she is not clear on her role in the organisation of conferences. Presently her role is confined to sending material to the Exchange, but she indicated she is willing to take on a more active role. John Mullen questioned whether gaining sponsorship for the conference should the role of the Manager, Promotion and Development. Council agreed that this should be the case as continuity in seeking long-term sponsors would be useful (FOR POLICY FILE), especially for sponsorship of the IAAE 2006 in Brisbane. The importance of gaining feedback from sponsors after each event was noted. (FOR POLICY FILE)

Lisa tabled the News and Views Editor’s Report (see Attachment 5). Lisa commended Tracy Henderson in her role as Editor.

George Antony questioned whether one could subscribe through email. Lisa indicated that this is not possible. The form can be printed out from the web but must be posted in. Council agreed that the Society should move towards being able to subscribe on the net. (FOR POLICY FILE)

Council noted that any contact with members should include appropriate reminders for informing the Society of any change in their contact details. (FOR POLICY FILE) Lisa indicated that most problems in keeping track of members by Blackwells have largely been ironed out.

John Mullen has been in contact with Felicity Heath of Blackwells. To market AJARE, complementary copies of the Journal will be sent to some people. John is looking for suggestions.

Motion:  To accept the Manager, Promotion and Development, report and the Editor, News and Views report

John Mullen, George Antony AGREED

7. EDITOR’S REPORT: AJARE

Chris O’Donnell tabled the Editor’s Report (Attachment 7).

Chris noted that the Production Editor of AJARE is leaving Blackwells.

Chris indicated that two papers in the September issue were presented at the 2002 conference. Ron Duncan noted that the number of papers in the Journal is low and that he is surprised that more papers from the conference are not submitted to AJARE. John Mullen noted that while the number of papers is low, the number of pages printed is comparable with, if not greater than, the number of pages previously printed in RMAE and AJAE combined. John Mullen also noted that the Journal might not be publishing enough papers on farm management issues as not enough papers on these issues are being submitted. Some of these papers are submitted to the Agribusiness Review.

Motion: To accept the Editor’s Report (AJARE)

Mal Wegener, Lisa Brennan AGREED

8. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE AUSTRALIAN AGRIBUSINESS ASSOCIATION AND THE AARES.

Ron Duncan presented the latest version of the Memorandum (Attachment 8). A couple of minor revisions were suggested:

 

Page 2 Paragraph 5 The specific cost of publishing Connections should be erased.

 

Page 2 More clarification of web-based tasks by each of the organizations be included.

 

Council agreed that an AAA member should be invited to join the Local Organising Committees of AARES Conferences and Symposia. (FOR POLICY FILE) David Ginns should be asked to provide the name of an AAA member who can be invited to join the 2003 Conference LOC.

Action: Lisa Brennan

 

Lisa Brennan to write to branch secretaries to request that they seek the involvement of AAA members in branch activities. Ron to inform David Ginns of this.

 

Action: Lisa Brennan and Ron Duncan

 

Motion:  To accept the Memorandum of Understanding between the AAA and the AARES

Bill Malcolm, Liz Petersen AGREED

 

9. AARES/AAA JOINT WORKSHOP

This was discussed earlier under Agenda Item 6.

10. FINAL REPORT ON 2002 CONFERENCE

Max Lawrence tabled the Final Report on the 2002 Conference (Attachment 9)

The conference is expected to make a profit of approximately $15,000.

Max noted that Kristy Campbell has left All Occasions management since being involved with the organization of our conference.

Ron Duncan noted that the 2002 LOC anguished over three points in the budget: audiovisual, the number of invited speakers and the number of complementary tickets. He indicated that the 2003 LOC should be aware that the 2002 LOC was especially generous with the number of complementary tickets.

Ron presented the letter of thanks to the Society by the Heading South Recipient, Dan Phaneuf (Attachment 10).

Council thanked Max and the rest of the LOC for their services in organising the conference.

Motion: To accept the Final Report on the 2002 Conference

John Mullen, Mal Wegener AGREED

11. REPORT ON THE 2003 CONFERENCE (FREMANTLE)

David Feldman spoke to the Report on the 2003 Conference in Fremantle (Attachment 11).

David indicated that there are currently three proposals for pre-conference workshops. The proposal on ‘emerging markets for natural resource management’ was presented under Agenda Item 12. David Pannell is proposing a workshop on salinity. A third workshop on ‘supply chain management’ is being organized by members of the Western Australian Branch.

Organisers of the salinity workshop are of the view that the workshop should be treated as a service to conference participants, and hence should cost about $50. The Council considered this to be fair for members of the Society, but non-members should pay a subscription at least sufficient to cover the cost of one year’s membership of the Society.

The LOC is considering seeking sponsorship for the conference’s audiovisual requirements.

Council agreed to give the Fremantle LOC an advance of $5000.

Bill Malcolm presented his plans for invited speakers. He argued that in previous conferences there has been a large number of overseas speakers. Bill proposed inviting outstanding Australian agricultural and resource economists to present a paper with a fair amount of time given to questions, to encourage strong debate on issues considered important by the invited speakers. Bill proposed these invited speakers be John Freebairn, John Quiggin, and David Pannell. Council agreed that speakers be kept to 30 minutes with 30 minutes allocated to questions and discussion.

Bill also proposed that outstanding young Australian or New Zealand agricultural and resource economists be invited to speak at three plenary sessions. There would be four topics for these plenaries: farm management (Lisa Brennan (Aus) and Sandra Martin (NZ)), marketing (Vic Wright), food quality (Nick Piggott) and Western Australia (Romy Greiner on the Ord revisited and Ken Clements on mining). Some of these speakers have accepted, some Bill is still to ask. For these plenaries Bill will invite young people to be discussants and to open the questioning. How these sessions are to fit into the program is still to be worked out.

Council was in support of Bill’s proposals for invited speakers.

The Alan Lloyd Fellowship selection committee is considering the following people for the Alan Lloyd address: John Antle, Yoav Kislev, Michael Lipton, Will Martin, Giancarlo Moschini, Phil Pardey and David Zilberman. The committee’s preference is John Antle who will be invited soon.

Action: Julian Alston

12. PRE-CONFERENCE WORSHOP PROPOSAL

Stuart Whitten presented a pre-conference workshop proposal on ‘Emerging markets for natural resource management’ (Attachment 12).

Ron Duncan noted that there would be potential interest from the ACCC and its attached regulatory monitors in each state, the Macquarie Bank, and other bodies involved in futures markets (in addition to the target audience highlighted in the report).

Council agreed that the proposal was a good idea with a wide interest level. There was concern that the proposal would attract a similar audience as the salinity workshop, that it would be too big for a pre-conference workshop and that the AARES would be losing an opportunity by confining it to a workshop. It was decided that Stuart would communicate with David Pannell regarding options for incorporating aspects of the proposal into David Pannell’s salinity workshop. Stuart agreed to look at options for running the full proposal as a symposium, either federally or by the ACT Branch.

13. POLICY ON BLACKWELL DISPLAYS AT FUTURE CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA

Liz Petersen felt that this issue had not been resolved at the last Federal Council meeting. The 2002 LOC had a policy that the publishers of AJARE should be charged the same rate for a trade display as other publishers. Certain members of council disagreed with this policy, arguing that there were less benefits from a trade display for the publishers of the Journal (as members of the Society already receive the Journal), and that having the Journal’s publishers at the conference presented a good opportunity for members to raise membership problems.

Motion: That the publishers of the Society’s Journal should be invited free of charge to present a trade display at AARES conferences and symposia. (FOR POLICY FILE)

John Mullen, George Antony AGREED

14. IAAE 2006 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Council discussed whether the AARES would hold an Annual Conference in 2006 and/or 2007 due to the 2006 Annual Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists being held in August 2006. Whether a conference could be held before or after IAAE 2006 was also discussed. A letter from Roley Piggott was tabled suggesting a joint Asian Agricultural Economics Society/AARES meeting at IAAE 2006 (Attachment 13).

It was noted that the AARES would forgo a lot of money by dropping a conference. Moreover, the cost of registering for IAAE 2006 and the difficulty of getting papers accepted may prevent a high proportion of AARES members from attending this conference. As well, it would mean a lot of time away from the office if the AARES was to run a full conference in conjunction with IAAE 2006, and would put a lot of administrative burden on Queensland Branch members.

Council agreed that a joint meeting with the Asian Agricultural Economic Society need not be held in 2006, but could be held earlier in a location suitable to members of both Societies i.e., Cairns, Bali or Manila. It is New England’s turn to host a conference in 2005. Gary Griffith has been considering hosting the conference at Coffs Harbour.

Council decided that an Annual Conference would go ahead in 2006 and 2007 at the usual time. If possible, a Symposium would be held in conjunction with IAAE 2006, otherwise other opportunities for a Symposium will be sought for that year. A joint conference with the Asian Agricultural Economics Society will be considered for 2005 either at Coffs Habour and organized by the New England Branch, or at an international location and organised by a federal committee.

Mal Wagener indicated that there will be some costs associated with hosting the IAAE 2006 in Brisbane, including selection of a Professional Conference Organiser and sending a representative to IAAE 2003 in Durban, South Africa. Mal requested that the Council provide a grant of $10,000 to pay for these expenses. Council responded by saying that they were sympathetic to the idea that the Australian Organising Committee should provide some money in support of the conference. However, it was considered unfair that the Australian Organising Committee bear some of the costs of the conference without having any control over the revenue stream or the development of the program. It was decided that Mal should form the Australian Organising Committee, appoint a Professional Conference Organiser and contact the IAAE to get a clear understanding of the roles of the IAAE and the Australian Organising Committee in organizing IAAE 2006. Council will then reconsider Mal’s request.

Action: Mal Wegener

15. PRESIDENT ELECT NOMINATING COMMITTEE FOR 2002

Julian Alston indicated through email that the committee has been formed, comprising John Mullen, David Pannell, Al Watson and himself. The call for nominations has been advertised in News and Views to close by the end of June. So far Julian has not received any nominations.

16. PHD AND MASTERS THESIS COMMITTEES

Ron Duncan to form committees and report to the next Council meeting.

Action: Ron Duncan

17. PHD AND MASTERS ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Julian Alston provided a copy of the AAEA Doctoral Dissertation Award Evaluation Form (Attachment 14).

Council decided that the form be sent to the PhD and Masters Thesis Committees as an evaluation aid. They can decide to use all or part of the AAEA Evaluation Criteria, or set their own criteria.

Action: Ron Duncan

18. AARES SYMPOSIUM (SEPT 19 2002)

Bob Farquharson tabled the report on the 2002 AARES Symposium and JL Dillon "Memorial Day" (Attachment 15).

Bob reported that the Dillon Memorial Day is planned to be a non-profit venture but the proceeds will be used to start a Dillon Memorial Fund. A lecture theatre will be named after him on that day. It was suggested that Roley Piggott should approach UNE to sponsor the event.

Action: Bob Farquharson

19. PHD CONFERENCE IN ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Liz Petersen reported that she had received correspondence from the organisers of the PhD Conference in Economics and Business requesting sponsorship (Attachment 16). Council agreed to give the same amount as it has done in previous years ($275 including GST) and to promote the AARES at the conference. Manager, Promotion and Development to contact the organisers of the PhD conference regarding promotion of the AARES at the conference.

Action: Lisa Brennan

20. OTHER BUSINESS

AARES-NAB request for recruitment activities support

Ron Duncan presented a letter from Nick Piggott, President of the North American Branch, requesting Council pay for the cost of a lunch (US$20) for new recruits of the NAB at the AAEA Annual Meeting in Longbeach, July 2002 (Attachments 17). It was agreed that Ron should inform Nick that Council would give this support for each new recruit.

Action: Ron Duncan

ACT Branch initiative for a postcard-sized brochure

Ron Duncan reported that the ACT would like the Council’s support to print a generic postcard-sized brochure promoting the Society. Chris O’Donnell suggested that Blackwells may be willing to bear some of the printing costs. Liz Petersen suggested that a space be left on the back of the postcard for Branch details. Council supported the idea of jointly paying for the brochure with the ACT Branch (and possibly Blackwells).

Action: Ron Duncan

Connections

Bill Malcolm reported that on Monday 3 June an email will be sent to members publicising the second issue of Connections. The initial target set for 20 articles to be published in the pilot year is likely to be met. In fact it is likely that 25 articles will be published in the year.

Publication on Australia’s contribution to Agricultural Economics for IAAE 2006

Bill Malcolm presented the idea of publishing a book on Australia’s contribution to agricultural economics to be given to registrants of the IAAE 2006. Bill had received support from colleagues with whom he had discussed the idea. Council also supported the idea. Bill is looking for suggestions on what should be included in the book. He has had independent meetings with Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. While Oxford showed little interested, Cambridge showed some interest. Bill will pursue this further.

Action: Bill Malcolm

Paper Room

Michael Burton asked whether a paper room was required at the conference. Council had diverging opinions on this. The 2002 Conference did not have a paper room to encourage people to buy the conference CD. However, the 2002 CD is still not out and some Council members argued that it is important to be able to read the papers at the conference, or soon afterwards. It was agreed that the decision of presenting a paper room be left to the local organizing committee of the conference, but that the Society should move towards electronic submission of papers on the web prior to the conference. (FOR POLICY FILE)

Editorial Board

Chris O’Donnell reported receiving correspondence showing concern that the Editorial Board of AJARE had not changed for some time. Chris indicated that the best time to rotate the Board is in the lead up to the next volume i.e., March 2003. Three people will leave the Board and three people will join it. Chris is looking for suggestions on new Board members, and will advise on these changes at the next meeting.

Action: Chris O’Donnell

21. NEXT COUNCIL MEETING

The next Council meeting will be held on Wednesday 18 Sept in Armidale, starting at approximately 11:00am.

Meeting closed 3:50pm.

Liz Petersen

Secretary

18 Sep 2002

Federal Council Minutes, 18 September 2002

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, Inc.



PRESENT:  Ron Duncan, Mal Wegener, Bill Malcolm, Bob Farquharson (New England), Ross Kingwell (WA), Chris O’Donnell (AJARE), John Mullen (AJARE), Julian Alston (NAB).  (Bill Malcolm and John Mullen were not present for the discussions before lunch.)

COMMENCED:  9:15am

VENUE:  University of New England, Armidale

1. APOLOGIES

Lisa Brennan, Liz Petersen, George Antony (Qld), Jason Crean (NSW)

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

The minutes of the previous Council meeting held on 31 Maywere tabled (see Attachments) and some minor amendments noted.  For example, the comments in business arising from minutes re: Memorandum of Understanding between AAA and AARES and PhD and Masters Theses committees should have been written in past tense.  The Treasurer’s Report should have read that AARES had $49 000 in the cheque account and refer to a Commonwealth Bank security rather than a fixed deposit.  The words “and we should finish the year in a satisfactory position” should be added to the sentence about future income expected to be received after 31 May.  In the report from the Manager Promotion and Development, the need for email addresses on the subscription renewal form was noted. In the report on the 2003 conference, the sentence about fees for the salinity workshop should be changed to reflect the policy that non-members should pay a subscription at least sufficient to cover the cost of one year’s membership of the Society.  Also under the conference report, it was noted that the Alan Lloyd Fellowship selection committee was considering a number of people for the address at the 2003 conference.  The committee’s preference was John Antle who would be invited.

Motion:   That the minutes of the previous meeting with minor changes as noted be accepted.

Mal Wegener, Chris O’Donnell AGREED

3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Concessional rates for emeriti – Council agreed that this should be publicized again through News and Views.

Action: Tracy Henderson

Memorandum of Understanding between AAA and AARES – Ron Duncan has written to David Ginns accepting the proposal from AAA as outlined in the Memorandum.  Lisa Brennan had overlooked the decision by Council to invite an AAA member to join the LOC for the 2003 conference and she will contact David Ginns about this.  A question was asked whether all branches had access to lists of AAA members in their area but it was pointed out that the procedure for branches wanting to involve AAA members in their activities was to contact David Ginns who would pass the information on to appropriate AAA members.  Branches need to be reminded of this procedure.   

Action: Lisa Brennan

AARES Symposium (19 September 2002) – The organisers were unable to obtain sponsorship from UNE for this event but a number of other organisations were sponsoring part of the activities, for example lunch at the Dillon Commemorative Day, travel between Canberra and Armidale for some of the speakers, and accommodation for overseas speakers.

Branch reports – the absence of Branch reports at recent meetings of Council was noted and it was suggested that they be included as a regular agenda item in future.  Ross Kingwell reported that membership of the WA branch had increased from 47 to 53 in the past year.  Ron Duncan reported on a successful symposium on property rights held recently by the ACT branch.  They had to stop accepting applications when the maximum number of 85 was reached and expect a profit of about $3 000 for the branch.  Mal Wegener agreed to check with Michael Potter about the number of new members recruited to the Society through this activity and arrange payment for their first year’s subscription to Blackwell.

Action: Mal Wegener

The North American branch recruited 11 or 12 new members from the activity they held in conjunction with the AAEA annual meeting in Long Beach.  There is plenty of interest in AARES from agricultural and resource economists in North America, however, Julian Alston expressed concern about the level of price discrimination currently applied to overseas members.   Council agreed that with the current exchange rate, AARES membership is expensive when compared to some of the other choices that potential members of the North American branch have but it was decided to take no action at this stage.

Editors report – the editors are considering some changes to the Editorial Board for AJARE.  Most of the current members have served for more than six years and a policy to rotate the membership should be commenced with the next volume.  Suggestions for replacement members of the Editorial Board should be made to the editors who will nominate some replacement members for confirmation at the next meeting of Council.

Action: Chris O’Donnell and John Mullen

4. SECRETARY’S REPORT

Liz Petersen sent a report on her activities since the last meeting (Attachment 2).

Council noted that Liz will prepare letters to universities regarding PhD and Masters degree prizes and remind branches to submit nominations for the AARES undergraduate prizes. 

Action: Liz Petersen

Motion:   That the Secretary’s Report be accepted.

Julian Alston, Ross Kingwell AGREED

5. TREASURER’S REPORT

Mal Wegener presented the Treasurer’s Report (Attachment 3).

Mal reported that AARES had $42,430 in the cheque account on 14 September after reconciliation for unpresented cheques.  The advance payment of 2002 members’ and institutional subscriptions (approximately $42,000) is overdue and will be paid by Blackwell immediately.  The final payment of about $19,000 from the 2002 conference in Canberra will also be transferred from AOM soon.  This will leave more than necessary for immediate running of the Society in the cheque account and Mal recommended putting more money (possibly $50,000) into a fixed deposit. The Society currently has $110,000 in a Commonwealth Bank security due to mature in January next year and it would be preferable to organise the next fixed deposit to mature at the same time and renew the investment for the combined amount.

Motion: That an additional amount of $50,000 be placed on fixed deposit until January 2003 and then reinvested as a combined security with the funds already invested.

Julian Alston, Ross Kingwell AGREED
Action: Mal Wegener

Income for the year to date has been approximately $61,000 and outgoings $38,000.  Council was reminded that much of the income received so far this year actually relates to 2001 operations.  However the increase in the advance from Blackwell (by about $8,000 over the previous year) and the surplus from the 2002 conference points to a satisfactory outcome for the year.  Renewal of memberships among ordinary members is almost up to the total for last year (485 out of 490). 

An increase in ordinary membership rates for Australia and New Zealand was approved at the May Council meeting  because Blackwell expected to relocate the financial activities related to the Society to Melbourne before 2003 but this did not happen.   The GST will not impact on AARES membership payments in 2003 so the decision from the previous Council meeting needed to be revised.

Motion:  That the action of the Council executive members in revising the 2003 ordinary membership fees for Australian and New Zealand members to $90 with proportionate rates for other membership classes be confirmed.

Chris O’Donnell, Bob Farquharson AGREED

Julian reported that there was a potential membership base for AARES in South Africa.  They have a large agricultural economic society with a poor quality journal.  The 2003 IAAE conference in Durban will be an opportunity to promote AARES and we should undertake a full promotional effort.  AARES will need to set an appropriate membership fee structure for people in poor countries such as Africa and Asia if this is to be successful.

Julian also enquired about the level of funds in the Alan Lloyd fund.  This fund is identified separately in the Annual Accounts and was about $7,000 at the end of 2001.   After discussion, it was resolved to rename the Alan Lloyd Fund as the Distinguished Fellows Fund and use it as the basis for support to continue to bring high profile speakers to address the annual conference.  The address to the conference each year will be named to honour one of the Society’s Distinguished Fellows.  The procedure established for the Alan Lloyd address will be followed.  There will be a Distinguished Fellows address selection committee comprised of the president, president-elect, Julian Alston, Phil Pardey, and a representative of the host institution in Australia (currently University of Western Australia).  Julian agreed to write a set of rules for the operation of the fund and selection of the person to be invited each year to deliver the address.

Motion: That the Alan Lloyd Fund be renamed the Distinguished Fellows Fund and maintained at a level of $25,000 to be used to bring a high profile speaker to the Annual Conference to present an address named in honour of one of the Society’s Distinguished Fellows.

Julian Alston, Ross Kingwell AGREED

Motion: That the Treasurer’s Report be accepted.

Ross Kingwell, Chris O’Donnell AGREED

 

6. MANAGER PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT and EDITOR NEWS AND VIEWS REPORTS

Mal Wegener tabled the report on behalf of the Manager, Promotion and Development, (Attachment 4).

Lisa reported that there has been only one complaint from a member in the period to end of August 2002.  Guenter Schamel became a new member as a result of attending the Annual Conference but he had not received his March 2002 issue of AJARE when he contacted the Society.  Blackwell has since sent a copy to him.  Council requested Lisa to check whether any other of the other new members had a similar experience.

Action: Lisa Brennan

Lisa has sent some suggested changes to the AARES membership renewal form to Blackwell.  A question was asked whether there was a place to specify a preferred option for branch affiliation on the renewal form.  It was agreed we should send a list of postcodes that indicate branch affiliations to Blackwell.  Another question was asked whether the AAEA renewal form had been changed to reflect the opportunity for AARES Emeritus Members to renew on their form.  (Lisa to check and advise AAEA if appropriate.) 

Blackwell has prepared a postcard to promote the AJARE and the ACT branch will print a separate postcard for branch promotion.  Ron Duncan agreed to send copies to other branches when it is finished.  Julian Alston also reported that Jenni James had prepared a similar card for the North American branch.  Council encourages other branches to prepare similar promotional material.  Blackwell will distribute their cards at conferences and other activities.  Branches not interested in producing their own cards could stamp the Blackwell card with appropriate contact details.

Ross Kingwell expressed concern the time commitment required each year by a new LOC to explore and sign up sponsors for the Annual Conference and suggested the Society try to enter into longer term sponsorship arrangements with the companies and organisations that support its conferences.  He said the Manager, Promotion and Development might be able to oversight the process in liaison with the LOC who usually have good contacts with some local organisations.  Council considered the idea of creating a separate position to manage sponsorship and will discuss this again at the next meeting.

The question of email advertising was raised by the Manager, Promotion and Development seeking clarification of policy.  Oscar Cacho was charged $250 recently to distribute a job advertisement and there have been two further enquiries, from NSW Agriculture and CSIRO.  Council was not in favour of sending unsolicited material to members via email but will ask the new web manager to consider establishing a Bulletin Board for such material.  In the interim, for the two enquiries about advertising positions, we should put them on the AARES website and advise members by email that is what is being done.

Action: Ross Kingwell to discuss with Web Manager

Motion: That the report of the Manager, Promotion and Development and the report from the New and Views editor be accepted.

Mal Wegener, Julian Alston AGREED

7. EDITOR’S REPORT: AJARE

Chris O’Donnell tabled the Editor’s Report (Attachment 5).

Chris noted that the Production Editor for AJARE at Blackwells has again been replaced so that the editors are working with the third production editor in a short time.

In answer to a question, Chris indicated that the rejection rate for papers was probably between 30 and 50 percent.  He will provide information on the rejection rate at the next Council meeting when copy for the whole of the current volume has been decided.  The editors believe that there is a good mix of papers in the Journal and individual papers are good quality. 

The current editors are now more than half-way into their term and Council should consider the process by which new editors will be selected.  A call for new Journal editors will be included in the next issue of News and Views with a view to select and announce new editors at the 2004 conference.  The Editoral Office should stay at University of New England for the rest of the current editors’ term even though Chris is moving to The University of Queensland.

Motion:  To accept the Editor’s Report (AJARE)

Action: Tracy Henderson

Ross Kingwell, Bill Malcolm AGREED

8. MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTION RATES

This item was discussed under the agenda item dealing with the Treasurer’s Report.


9. REPORT ON THE 2003 CONFERENCE (FREMANTLE)

Ross Kingwell reported on behalf of the LOC for the 2003 conference, noting that the committee is meeting regularly but that there were no matters for Council to consider. 

His comments that the time consuming task of raising sponsorship would be made easier for the LOC if the Society had a sponsorship manager who sought longer sponsorship agreements were noted under the report of the Manager, Promotion and Development.

The registration brochure is almost finalised and two workshops are to be offered, one organised by David Pannell on Salinity and the other on Climatic Risk being organised by Greg Hertzler.  The latter workshop is timely in view of the current seasonal conditions in much of the Australian grain belt and interest in multi-peril crop insurance.  The WA Minister for Agriculture will open the workshop and has provided funds to bring Jerry Skees to the workshop and conference.  Julian mentioned that Walt Armbruster, US Farm Foundatioin, may be interested in providing sponsorship for the climatic risk workshop.  He will discuss this with Greg Hertzler and Ross Kingwell.

Other decisions on accommodation, social night, and conference satchels are being resolved.


10. FUNDING TO SUPPORT ATTENDANCE AT THE 2003 CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS (IAAE)

Only one application to attend IAAE 2003 has been received to date by Ron Duncan.  The person concerned works for the Institute of Rural Futures at UNE and the UNE branch will support the trip to Durban ($500) in addition to the Council ($1 000).   Branches are encouraged to support this activity and it will be advertised again in News and Views.

Action: Lisa Brennan and Tracy Henderson

 

11. IAAE 2006

Roley Piggott, IAAE executive member, attended for this discussion and reported that be had recently attended both the Asian Agricultural Economics Society meeting in Malaysia and the subsequent IAAE executive meeting in Spain where IAAE 2006 in Brisbane was discussed.  Roley suggested formally inviting the Asian society to become involved in the local organising committee for IAAE 2006 with the view that the Australian and Asian societies might hold some joint activity prior to the 2006 conference.   A similar invitation to join the Brisbane 2006 LOC should be extended to the New Zealand society.

A draft agreement between IAAE and the South African LOC for the IAAE 2003 conference in Durban was discussed at the IAAE executive meeting in Spain and Roley undertook to provide a copy of this document.  A similar draft agreement needs to be prepared for discussion with the IAAE executive at its next meeting held at the time of IAAE in Durban (August 2003).  Australia has agreed to hold the IAAE conference on the basis that it is self-supporting financially, which probably means charging higher registration fees than in the past and thinking about ways to cut costs.

There is a strong feeling in IAAE that the proceedings of the conference should continue to be printed as they have been in the past (hardcover book).  This would require considerable sponsorship (which the South African conference organising committee has apparently been able to raise).  An alternative may be to consider a slimmer volume (for example, to contain the Elmhurst Lecture and keynote papers only), with the best of the contributed papers published in the journal Agricultural Economics or on the IAAE website.  The preparation of papers on a CD for conference attendees, in lieu of the proceedings, was also proposed to reduce costs.

Julian Alston requested Council reconsider the decision to hold AARES conferences in both 2006 and 2007.  In proposing Australia as a location for the IAAE conference, Julian had assured the IAAE executive of strong support from Australian delegates which should be possible if the Australian conference was designed to coincide with the IAAE event.  It was noted that 2006 would be the 50^th anniversary of AARES and therefore an opportunity to celebrate this occasion with international guests.  Some other suggestions to permit a joint IAAE-AARES event included holding a symposium and AGM at a central location (eg. Sydney or Canberra) in February 2006; a shorter program for IAAE so that a combined AARES-IAAE event would still fit within the one-week time frame; or an AARES segment within the international conference program to which only AARES members could contribute (other than by invitation) but which international delegates would be free to attend.  Local sponsorship could be possible for that sort of activity.  A joint Australian-Asian Society event in 2007 after the international conference was also suggested.

It was agreed that the Council support Mal Wegener as interim chair of the LOC for the IAAE 2006 conference to be held in Brisbane to attend the IAAE 2003 conference in Durban and other activities related to the 2006 conference to the extent of $10,000.  This amount is to be recovered by sponsorship raised for the 2006 event.

Action: Mal Wegener

 

12. AARES 2002 SYMPOSIUM

Bob Farquharson gave a short report on the symposium.  Attendances of 35 at the symposium, 50 at the dinner, and 34 for the Dillon Memorial day are expected and a small profit should result.

13. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM DISTINGUISHED FELLOWS COMMITTEE

The Distinguished Fellows selection committee has selected the following members to be honoured: Jock Anderson, Tony Chisholm, Brian Fisher, and Bob Lindner.

Motion: That the recommendations of the Distinguished Fellows Selection Committee be accepted.
Julian Alston, Ross Kingwell AGREED

The next steps involve contacting the recipients to confirm that they will accept the award.  They need to supply CVs so that short statements about their achievements can be prepared to accompany the announcement at the 2003 Conference.

Action: Liz Petersen

 

14. PRESIDENT ELECT NOMINATING COMMITTEE FOR 2003

The selection committee for president-elect for 2003 has met.  Only one nomination, from Professor Jeff Bennett, has been received and the committee recommends his election.

Motion: That the nomination of Professor Jeff Bennett as president-elect for 2003 be confirmed.

Julian Alston, Bill Malcolm AGREED

 

15. PHD AND MASTERS THESIS COMMITTEES

The members of the Masters thesis committee include Paul Winter (chair), Rodney Beard, and Michael Burton.

The members of the PhD thesis committee include Philip Hone (chair), Christy Chang, and Kevin Parton.

The next step is to contact universities to remind them about submitting relevant theses.

Action: Liz Petersen

 

16. YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TRAVEL AWARD

Julian Alston noted some difficulty in getting young professionals to apply for these awards.  The age limit and cost of membership of the American Agricultural Economics Association were seen as possible barriers.  This is the last round of offers under the current arrangements after which further negotiations with the AAEA Foundation will be required to continue the scheme or do something different.   The current scheme accounts for more than the whole of the NAB income.

It was agreed to remove the age limit for next year and seek branch support to help members with the cost of AAEA membership.  The awards need to be publicised again in News and Views (copy provided by Garry Griffith which should also be sent to Jenni James and Nick Piggott) and Liz Petersen should be encouraged to describe her experience of attending the 2002 AAEA conference in Long Beach.  A proposal for a revised award should be presented to the next council meeting.  

Action: Liz Petersen and Tracy Henderson

 

17. CONNECTIONS

Bill Malcolm reported on the desirability of getting broader editorial coverage for Connections, particularly for NSW and Queensland.  He also noted that the production of Connections is proving more time consuming than expected for Glenn Ronan.  The spring issue is the fourth one to be produced and completes the initial commitment to produce and trial the electronic publication.  Some comments on this initiative were included in the survey of members to be conducted by Lisa Brennan.

Motion: That the arrangement with AAA covering joint publication of Connections be continued for another year and the next year’s payment of $5 000 be made after the spring issue is published.

Mal Wegener, Ross Kingwell AGREED

 

18. BRANCH MEMBERSHIP

Julian Alston suggested it was time to look at how AARES branches were performing and review the branch structure if appropriate.  Of particular concern is the lack of activity in the Victorian branch and the question of running the 2004 conference. 

It was agreed that Bill Malcolm initiate moves to set up an LOC for the 2004 AARES conference to be held in Victoria, separate from any activities to revitalise the Victorian branch.

Action: Bill Malcolm

 

19. OTHER BUSINESS

Letter from Ian Jarratt: papers room at Conferences and prior access to conference papers

Ron Duncan distributed a letter from Ian Jarratt which argued for a continuation of the practice of having a papers room at each conference where copies of each paper presented could be collected.  He also suggested that providing papers on the AARES website prior to the conference would make them more widely available and contribute to better discussion at contributed papers sessions.

This letter raised discussion on the need to ensure that people contributing a paper do register in time and actually attend and present their papers and that it was a reasonable requirement for authors to provide papers in advance of the conference.  Thus a policy decision was taken to require authors intending to present contributed papers to register at least one week before the conference starts (by 27 January 2003 for the WA conference).  The conference organisers will be asked to put a CD of all of the papers for the 2003 conference in the conference satchel and put papers on the AARES website (for access by members only) prior to the conference.  (This needs to be discussed with the AARES website manager.)

Members need to be advised of this change in policy by notice in News and Views.

Action: LOC 2003 conference and Tracy Henderson

 

20. NEXT COUNCIL MEETING

The next Council meeting will be held in conjunction with the 2003 AARES conference and AGM in Fremantle next February.
 

Meeting closed 4.45pm.

Malcolm Wegener
Acting Secretary
 

11 Feb 2003

Federal Council Minutes, 11 February 2003

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



PRESENT:  Ron Duncan, Bill Malcolm, Mal Wegener, Lisa Brennan, Julian Alston, Jason Crean (NSW Branch), Ross Kingwell (WA Branch), George Antony (Qld Branch), John Mullen (AJARE, NSW), Ian Cooper (SA Branch), Anita Wreford (NZ Branch), Jeff Bennett (ACT Branch), Michael Burton (WA Branch), Chris O’Donnell (AJARE), Jennifer McDonald (Blackwells), Bob Farquharson (New England Branch), Nick Piggott (North American Branch).

COMMENCED:  4:30pm

VENUE:  The Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle

1.  APOLOGIES

Liz Petersen

2.  BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

The minutes of the previous Council meeting held on 18 September 2002were tabled (Attachment 1).

Motion:   That the minutes of the previous meetings be accepted.

Mal Wegener, Lisa Brennan AGREED

Postcodes for branch affiliations– Bob Farquharson reported that the New England Branch had drawn up a list of postcodes for areas surrounding Armidale to include in the New England Branch, and that the NSW Branch had agreed to these changes. The postcodes were from 2340 to 2400. Council agreed to these changes and asked the Secretary to notify Blackwells.

                                                                                    ACTION: Liz Petersen

Local Organising Committee for 2004 AARES Conference– Bill Malcolm reported that the Victorian Committee consisted of Mark Eigenraam (Chair), Charlotte Duke (Deputy), Bill Malcolm plus 3 others, and that the group was meeting with All Occasions Management.

AJARE Editorial Board rotation– Chris O’Donnell noted that this was addressed in the Editor’s report to this meeting.

AJARE rejection rate– Chris O’Donnell reported that the rejection rate for the current volume was 29%.

2003 Conference papers on CD– Ross Kingwell reported that the CD of contributed papers had not been available for inclusion in the satchel because not all papers were submitted in time.

Redesignating the Alan Lloyd Fellowship– Julian Alston will report later in the meeting.

3.  SECRETARY’S REPORT

The report by Liz Petersen was tabled (Attachment 2).

Motion: That the Secretary’s Report be accepted.

                                                            Ross Kingwell/George Antony AGREED

4.  TREASURER’S REPORT

Mal Wegener presented the Treasurer’s Report (Attachment 3).

Mal report that AARES had $165,000 on fixed deposit. The Adelaide and Canberra Conferences had been successful, and the Canberra Conference surplus ($18,000) had been the main reason for the Society surplus of $19,000 in 2002. The 2002 accounts had been audited by John Johnstone, a certified accountant and partner for a firm in Brisbane. However, the 2001 accounts had not yet been audited. Mal requested that an agenda item be included for the AGM about appointing auditors. The auditor had made some suggestions about book valuations of journal stocks and equipment. Mal noted that Blackwell accounts from the UK are exempt from GST, although this might change when the operations were transferred to Blackwells’ Melbourne office.

Mal discussed increasing the Alan Lloyd Fund from $25,000 to $30,000.

Motion: That the Alan Lloyd Fund be increased from $25,000 to $30,000 (FOR POLICY FILE).

                                                                        Mal Wegener/Julian Alston AGREED

Mal asked for guidance on making investment decisions when fixed term deposits become due for re-investment. Jeff Bennett agreed that guidelines were needed. The meeting determined that re-investment should be with the same institution, either a Term Deposit or a Commercial Bill, and that the Treasurer obtain the best rate at the time within these guidelines (FOR POLICY FILE).

For the 2003 budget Mal has projected a $15,000 surplus, which is likely to be the amount raised from the Fremantle conference. Michael Burton was confident that the Conference would raise that amount (registrations were 249 in total).

Mal submitted the financial report for the Armidale Symposium and Dillon Day prepared by Garry Griffith. Profits were $2438 and $255 respectively.

Motion: That the Treasurer’s report be accepted.

                                                            George Antony/Julian Alston AGREED

5.  MANAGER PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT and EDITOR NEWS AND VIEWS REPORTS

Lisa Brennan presented her report (Attachment 4). Membership was 671. About 200 memberships had lapsed from the previous year and letters had been written to these people by Honey Greenwood. A promotional leaflet was distributed to the meeting by Jennifer McDonald.

Lisa shared some reflections on engaging with sponsors. This process requires a time commitment, and the suggestion was made to create a separate position for this function. The relationship between Manager (P&D) and the LOC needs to be clearly defined at an early stage of conference planning. Ross Kingwell noted that the LOC role requires a huge time commitment and needs special skills. After some discussion Ron Duncan requested that Lisa consider the best way to approach this issue and to bring suggestions back to the Council.

                                                                                    ACTION: Lisa Brennan

Lisa raised the issue of requests for advertising through News and Views. The previous charge for hard copy ads was $250-$500. Now there is the web site, N&V available electronically and the web page has an advertising section for no cost. After some discussion it was agreed that the charge be $250 to advertise a position for a job or an event, except where we have reciprocal arrangements with other organisations (FOR POLICY FILE).

Lisa presented the results of the 2002 membership survey. Overall there had been good feedback. One comment was that we are an aging and male-dominated society. Lisa commented that there were a number of opportunities that arise from the survey results, including recruitment and promotion. It was agreed to publish the results on the web page, with a summary in N&V.

                                                                                    ACTION: Lisa Brennan

Lisa reported that a member of the Australian Agribusiness Association had accepted an invitation to join the AARES 2003 Annual Conference Local Organising Committee.

 

Lisa noted that Atakelty Haitu (Web Manager) had submitted comments for discussion by Council. These related to Atakelty's progress to date and future work load. Atakelty expressed concern that web management in relation to the Conference papers was too time consuming.

Motion: That the report of the Manager, Promotion and Development be accepted.

                                                            George Antony/Julian Alston AGREED

The report from Editor (News and Views) was tabled. Volume 14 (1-3) of News and Views has been published on the AARES website. Julian commented that the transition to making News and Views a web-based publication had gone well. Lisa stated that Tracy Henderson had done a good job as Editor N&V. It was agreed that Council’s gratitude be expressed to Tracy Henderson.

                                                                                    ACTION: Liz Petersen

6. EDITOR’S REPORT: AJARE

Chris O’Donnell tabled the report from the Editors of the AJARE (Attachment 5). There was discussion of the roles of Editorial Board members. The new and retiring Editorial Board members were listed.

Chris reported that the editors were very happy with the role of Jennifer McDonald and Blackwells with respect to the Journal.

Motion: That the report of the Editors of the AJARE be accepted.

                                                            Mal Wegener/Lisa Brennan AGREED

7.  VISIT OF JENNIFER McDONALD OF BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

Jennifer reported on the transition to managing from their Melbourne office; that it had been a steep learning curve but a smooth transition had resulted. Page charges for papers accepted and appearing in 2002 were distributed 8% to Blackwells and 92% to the Society. Charges were $20/page or US$10/page for overseas authors. Authors can apply for exemption if they receive no institutional support. Jennifer indicated that audited reports would be available in April.

8.  BRANCH REPORTS

Branch reports were tabled (Attachment 6). Bob Farquharson presented the New England Branch Report (absent from Attachment 6) as follows:

New England Branch Report 2002

PRESIDENT:     Bob Farquharson

TREASURER:    Garry Griffith

SECRETARY:   Robyn Hean

COUNCILLOR:  Bob Farquharson

 

Meetings held in 2002

03/12/02: Seminar by Garry Griffith and Bob Farquharson titled “Estimating returns from investment into beef cattle genetic technologies in Australia”

21/03/02: Branch AGM, UNE

19/09/02: Annual Symposium: “The US Farm Bill, Implications for Australia”

20/09/02: John Dillon Commemorative Day

31/10/02: Branch Meeting, UNE

03/12/02: Branch Christmas Dinner, The Sicilian, Armidale

9. REPORT ON 2003 CONFERENCE

Michael Burton reported that everything seems to be under control. There were 150 contributed papers.

10. READINESS FOR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Ron Duncan reported that nominations had been received for the positions of Secretary, Treasurer and Manager (P&D). Minutes and Reports had been prepared by Liz Petersen and the awards, a report on the 2006 IAAE Conference (Mal Wegener/Roley Piggott) and a nomination for Auditor were ready. Presentations to award winners would be made at the Dinner, and there were no constitutional amendments proposed.

11. 2003 NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

Stuart Whitten attended the meeting and reported on Symposium preparations. This is to be a two-day event, the first day to bring people up to speed on the issues and the second for detailed discussion. There has been a lot of interest in the workshop. A working plan (draft program) and budget were tabled (Attachments 7 and 8). Sponsorship is still required. Stuart requested contacts/people to approach for sponsorship, and Lisa promised to talk to him about this. Stuart reported that the organising committee had decided to appoint All Occasions Management due to the size of the workshop. The symposium organisers are Stuart Whitten, Mark Carter and Gary Stoneham, and the local branch also supports the event.

Motion: That Federal Council approves the Symposium on Market Based Instruments to be held in Canberra as proposed.

                                                                        Mal Wegener/George Antony AGREED

Motion: That Federal Council approves an advance of $5000 to cover expenses for the Canberra Symposium.

                                                                        Mal Wegener/Ross Kingwell AGREED

12. IAAE 2006

Mal Wegener reported that he had asked a number of people to join the Brisbane organising committee, and had received positive responses with a good State representation. He had not yet approached the NZ Branch or the Asian Society and needed to approach professional conference organisers. He needed to make a presentation of a draft proposal in Durban in August. He required a database of names to email information. He also needed sponsorship of key overseas societies.

13. AARES-AAEA “YOUNG” PROFESSIONAL EXCHANGE TRAVEL AWARD

A report on this Program was tabled by the North American Branch (Attachment 9). The AAEA Foundation has agreed to provide further funding support, for US$4000 over two years. However, the existing funding arrangements impose substantial strain on the finances of the North American Branch. Three options were presented for alternative provision of funding for the “Travelling North” award. Council agreed to the 2^nd of these options, that the Federal Council would fund the ‘Heading North’ share of the North American Branch’s support for the award (US$500). As the Council was already contributing US$1,000 to the award, this brings the total of the Council’s support to US$1,500.

Motion: That Federal Council provides further funding of US$500 for the “Travelling North” award.

                                                                        Julian Alston/Chris O’Donnell AGREED

14. OTHER BUSINESS

Alan Lloyd Fellowship revision– Julian Alston reported that he had redrafted the award and proposed a “Distinguished Fellow Lectureship in Honour of …”, the focus to be decided for each year by a Committee of the President, President Elect and Chair of the LOC. Ron Duncan raised two issues; the amount of the award (whether business air fares could be provided, for instance) and the wording on preferences (i.e. words other than the GASP focus). It was agreed that the amount of award would be decided on needs basis and funds availability. The meeting also agreed that the rewording on preferences for the Fellowship (FOR POLICY FILE).

ACTION: Ron Duncan/Julian Alston

Timing for Conference Contributed Papers and Conference CD – Ross Kingwell raised this issue, it was agreed that it be discussed at the Incoming Council meeting on Friday.

Past President– Bill Malcolm noted that Past Presidents were rotated off the Council, and he noted the enormous effort that Julian Alston had undertaken for the Council. The meeting acknowledged Julian’s efforts with acclamation.

15. NEXT COUNCIL MEETING

Friday 14 February 2003, Incoming Council Meeting.

Meeting closed 7:05 pm

Bob Farquharson

Acting Secretary

14 Feb 2003

Federal Council Minutes, 14 February 2003

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc.



 

PRESENT:  Bill Malcolm, Ron Duncan, Mal Wegener, Lisa Brennan, Jeff Bennett, David Feldman (LOC Frem.), John Mullen (NSW, AJARE), Ross Kingwell (WA Branch), Bob Farquharson (UNE), Jason Crean (NSW), Thea Mech (SA), and Frank Scrimigeor (NZ)

 

 

VENUE:  The Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle

 

1. APOLOGIES:Liz Petersen

 

2. BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES OF THE OUTGOING COUNCIL MEETING

 

CDs of the Annual Conference papers will be produced after revised papers have been submitted.  It was agreed that a reminder would be sent out immediately advising contributors that they had until the end of the month to submit their papers in electronic form.  Blackwells has agreed to sponsor the production of the CDs in exchange for allowing them access to the Conference to advertise their activities.

 

3. IAAE 2006

 

Mal Wegener reported that an advisory group would be formed to advise the IAAE 2006 Organising Committee.  Suggested members of the advisory group included Julian Alston, Mal Wegener, President of the NZ Branch (Caroline Saunders), Roley Piggott, Ian Cooper, David Pannell, Lisa Brennan, George Antony, Bill Malcolm, Phil Pardy, and a representative of the Asian Agricultural Economics Society.

 

Mal was requested to provide information to Council about the relationships between the IAAE 2006 Organising Committee, Federal Council, and the IAAE, particularly with respect to the financial obligations of the three parties in regard to the IAAE 2006 Conference. 

 

Action:  Mal Wegener

 

It was confirmed that the AARES Annual Conference would be run in conjunction with the IAAE 2006 Conference in order to ensure the highest level of representation of AARES members at the IAAE Conference.  Proposals for the format of the AARES Annual Conference and the interaction with the IAAE Conference are to be brought to Council at a later date.