President’s Column

Reports to the 2004 Annual General Meeting

   President’s Report

   Secretary’s Report

   Treasurer’s Report

   AJARE Editors’ Report

   Manager – Promotion and Development’s Report

AARES 2005 Annual Conference

AARES Annual Symposium 2004

Noticeboard

Contact Details for Office Bearers and Central Office

Deadline and Advertising

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

By Jeff Bennett

I must admit to being quite daunted by the task ahead of me this year. We have a truly great organization with a heritage that is now almost 50 years old and being at its ‘helm’ I take to be a considerable responsibility. This burden is, however, considerably reduced by the tremendous team that makes up the Executive of the Federal Council. Bill Malcolm whose good grace and wisdom was displayed on numerous occasions in 2003 when dealing with difficult issues will continue to make a valuable contribution as outgoing President. Deborah Peterson’s enthusiasm and thoughtfulness will be welcomed as President-Elect. Mal Wegener’s dedication to his task as Treasurer is a great asset to the Society as is Liz Petersen’s reliability and competence as secretary. I’m also looking forward to working with Lili Pechey who has taken on the role of Manager, Promotions and Development. Knowing that this team is alongside makes me look forward to the year ahead.

And it is shaping up to be quite a year. It started on a high note with the highly successful Melbourne conference. For those of you who weren’t able to make it to the conference, be assured that it upheld the extraordinarily high standard set by our conferences of the past few years. Congratulations are due to the Local Organising Committee – especially Mark Eigenraam and Charlotte Duke – for their efforts; and to Deborah Peterson for organising the pre-conference workshop on Water Reform. Of course successful conferences cause headaches for the LOC of the next conferences. The bar just keeps getting higher! So Garry Griffith and his team from the New England Branch are already working on plans for the 2005 conference. They have made a strong start by announcing that the conference will be held in the Coffs Harbour district on the NSW north coast. I can’t imagine too many more pleasant places to be than Coffs in February 2005 so I’m looking forward to seeing a big crowd of members there.

Changes are in the wind for our Journal. The Mullen/O’Donnell editorial era comes to an end mid year. John and Chris have served the Society well in maintaining the standard and status of the AJARE over the past three years. It’s not an easy task facing the pressures of authors eager to have their papers published with a constant eye on the reputation of the Journal as one of the leaders in our profession. Taking on that task is the team from Western Australia made up of Bob Lindner, Dave Pannell and Ross Kingwell. I’m sure I can say on behalf of the whole membership that we wish the WA team all the very best in taking the Journal from strength to strength.

The Society’s agreement with Blackwells for the publication of the Journal is also in the process of being renegotiated. Blackwells have indicated that they want to see some changes in the agreement that will improve the financial performance of their operation. One step has already been taken to achieve this goal and at the same time improve the financial position of the Society. That involved an agreement to pass over to Blackwells the running of the editorial office. This provides Blackwells with an additional revenue stream but also allows cost savings for the Society in running the Central Office. Further negotiations are underway regarding some presentational features of the Journal – such as margin widths –designed to cut publication costs. I expect that the May Federal Council meeting will put the finishing touches on the new agreement and that it will be signed mid-year.

Also high on the agenda for the May meeting will be planning for the 2006 International Agricultural Economics Association (IAAE) Conference to be held on the Gold Coast. Mal Wegener has formed a local organising committee and appointed a professional conference organiser to get the ball rolling on what will be a major undertaking for the Society. Issues to be debated at the May Council meeting will include what implications running the international association’s conference will have on our own 2006 Annual Conference and Symposium. This will be the year of our Society’s 50^th Annual Conference so we will need to make sure that what we do is special!

Should you have any ideas regarding how the 50^th Annual AARES Conference could be marked – or indeed if you have any ideas to further the interests of our Society, I’d welcome your input. Email me at jeff.bennett@anu.edu.au.

All the best

Jeff Bennett

REPORTS TO THE 2004 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

12^TH FEBRUARY 2004, MELBOURNE, VIC

President’s Report

By Bill Malcolm

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.

Secretary’s Report

By Liz Petersen

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

 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

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

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

* 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

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

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 Zealand Branch

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

Treasurer’s Report

By Malcolm Wegener

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

 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

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

Audit

The accounts for the Society for 2003 have been audited by John Johnstone.  His report was received and endorsed by the Council at its meeting on 10 February 2004.   The returns required by the Victorian Corporate Affairs Commission from the Public Officer for the Society were duly submitted during the year.

GST

The Society is registered for Goods and Services Tax and quarterly BAS statements have been submitted regularly since the scheme was introduced.

Up till now, a significant proportion of the Society’s cash flows, particularly the receipt of subscription income through Blackwell, has been an international transaction and therefore not subject to GST.  However, that changed during 2003 with the Blackwell office in Melbourne assuming responsibility for receiving subscriptions.  The following table summarises GST activity for the past year.

Summary of GST payments for 2002 (cash basis)

Branch grants

A transfer of funds totalling $11 215 was made to branches in December 2003.  Payments are made in proportion to the branches current membership and growth during the year.  Details of membership numbers and branch payments are provided in the following table.

The branches receive a base grant of $300 in addition to $7.50 per ordinary member or equivalent plus a $24 bonus for each new member recruited during the year.  The North American Branch again recorded the fastest growth closely followed by New South Wales.  The 103 delegates from the MBI workshop who indicated that they wished to join the Society were not included in the membership at the time branch payments were made.

Branch membership and branch grants, 2000 – 2003

*This total does not include 103 new members who indicated their desire to join the Society at the Market Based Instruments workshop held in Canberra.

Collaborations

The Society has agreed to continue to publish the electronic journal Connections in collaboration with the School of Land and Food Sciences at the University of Melbourne.  This arrangement does not incur any cost to the Society.

The editorial office for AJARE continues to be located at the University of New England while Blackwell Publishing maintains the membership directory and prints and distributes the Journal.  Blackwell relocated some of their office functions to their Melbourne office during 2003 and the executive has discussed further changes in handling copy for the Journal along with the appointment of new editors.

Outlook for 2004

The Society remains dependent on successful financial outcomes from its conferences and symposia despite recent steps by the Council to strengthen other sources of revenue such as raising subscriptions, receiving a share of subscription income from the Journal, and setting page charges on published articles.

The results from both the 2003 conference in Fremantle and the symposium on “Market-based instruments for natural resource management” held in Canberra in September 2003 contributed to the successful outcome last year.  The Council appreciates the efforts of local organising committees who manage these events profitably and is putting more formal agreements in place so that all parties are clear about their responsibilities for financial and other matters.  The Society is particularly grateful to the generous sponsors of our activities who contribute to their professional and financial success. 

For the future, the most challenging task facing the Society is to organize the 26^th International Conference of Agricultural Economists which will be held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in August 2006.

AJARE Editors’ Report

By Chris O'Donnell and John Mullen

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

^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  =  . 

Manager - Promotion and Development’s Report

By Lisa Brennan

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.

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. 

AARES 2005 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The 2005 AARES Annual Conference will be hosted by the New England Branch, but in a break with tradition, the location of the conference will be Coffs Harbour instead of Armidale. The venue will be the Novotel Pacific Bay Resort and the conference dates will be Wednesday February 9 to Friday February 11. Any pre-conference activities will be scheduled for Tuesday February 8.

Coffs Harbour is a coastal city of some 60 000 and is rated by CSIRO as having the best climate in Australia. It has the largest regional airport in NSW with frequent services from Sydney and Brisbane, and is on the major coastal highway and rail line.

Pacific Bay is a large beachfront resort that can comfortably meet our conference requirements. It provides a wide range of leisure activities including a 9 hole par 3 golf course, and is well known as the "Home of the Wallabies". For more details go to www.pacificbayresort.com.au.

A conference organiser is being appointed and when that process is finalised, more details will be distributed about the dates for paper titles and abstracts, the range of accommodation options that will be offered to delegates, transport options, and other activities that are available in and around Coffs Harbour.

For more detail, please contact Garry Griffith at garry.griffith@agric.nsw.gov.au or on (02) 6770 1826.

AARES ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM 2004

FRONTIERS IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The New Zealand branch of the society has agreed to host the 7^th AARES Symposium later in 2004. Frank Scrimgeour (Waikato University) and Geoff Kerr (Lincoln University) have agreed to convene the symposium. The theme for the Symposium is “Frontiers in Resource Management”. The will explore new developments in resource management practice and policy, theoretical and empirical advances and interesting cases. During April members will receive confirmation of the venue and dates. The organisers expect presenters from NZ, Australia and North America. There will also be opportunities for members to present relevant poster presentations. If members have suggestions as to speakers or topics under the announced theme feel free to contact Frank or Geoff by email (scrim@waikato.ac.nz; kerr@lincoln.ac.nz).

NOTICEBOARD

Nominations for President-Elect and Distinguished Fellowships

The Nominations Committee calls for nominations for President-Elect and Distinguished Fellowships for the year 2005. Formal nominations should be submitted to Bill Malcolm by Wednesday, June 30, 2004 (Fax 03 8344 4095; email: b.malcolm@landfood.unimelb.edu.au; postal: A. Prof Bill Malcolm, Department of Agriculture, Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3052). Nominations for President-Elect should be dated and signed by the nominator, a seconder, and the candidate.

Distinguished Fellowships are awarded to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to agricultural and resource economics and/or the activities of AARES. Past winners of this prestigious award are shown on the AARES web page at: http://www.come.to/aares (Archives/Records). Nominations should include a brief biography.

New AARES Manager: Promotion & Development

Lili Pechey has replaced Lisa Brennan as AARES Manager: Promotion and Development. Lili welcomes any feedback and suggestions from members. She can be contacted on (02) 6272 2046 or Lili.Pechey@abare.gov.au.

Vale Keith Campbell

by Warren Musgrave

Keith Oliver Campbell, the Foundation President of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society and Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Economics of the University of Sydney, died in Sydney on March 28 at the age of 83.  A prominent and distinguished member of the profession, he was the leader of the group which founded the Society in 1957.  He was made a Distinguished Life Member of the Society in 1981. 

Through his leadership, research, teaching, and writing, particularly as Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney from 1956 to 1982, Keith played a dominant role in the development of the profession of agricultural economics in Australia.  In particular, he made a major contribution to the laying of the foundation for the significant contribution, by members of the profession, to microeconomic reform in Australia, in the closing decades of the 20^th century. 

Keith also played a significant part in the affairs of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, of which he was Vice-President from 1973 to 1976, Australian Correspondent from 1955 to 1976 and a Distinguished Life Member from 1985.

A robust polemicist within the profession and in the media, Keith ruffled many feathers in a relatively complacent society much in need of agricultural and other policy reform.  He was undoubtedly a very significant agricultural economist and an important Australian.

A more complete obituary of Keith will appear in the Journal.

Professor John Quiggin named Citation Laureate

Professor John Quiggin, School of Economics and School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland, has been named 2004 Australian Citation Laureate for economics. He is the only Queensland academic among 17 national winners in fields ranging from space science to philosophy. The award puts Professor Quiggin in the top 0.1 percent of his field globally. For details, visit www.uq.edu.au/news/index.phtml?article=5416 

IAAE Organising Committee meets in Melbourne

Both the Vice-President (Program) Prof. Keijiro Otsuka and the Secretary-Treasurer Dr Walt Armbruster of the International Association of Agricultural Economists attended the 2004 AARES conference in Melbourne.

Prior to the conference, Prof. Otsuka and Dr Armbruster visited Brisbane and the Gold Coast, venue for the 2006 International Conference of Agricultural Economists, for discussions with local representatives of the Conference Organising Committee and the Professional Conference Organizers. 

Professor Otsuka thanked AARES members at the Annual General Meeting for their support in hosting the 2006 conference and hoped it would be even more exciting and innovative than the successful conference held in Durban last year.

Convenor of the Organising Committee for IAAE 2006 and AARES Treasurer Mal Wegener held a meeting with committee members who were in Melbourne for the conference to discuss the program, to plan to raise sponsorship for the conference, and to integrate the program with the Australian conference schedule.

The AARES Council also met in Melbourne during the conference and confirmed the appointment of Hoteliers International as the Professional Conference Organizer for IAAE 2006.  The Council agreed to contribute some funds to The University of Queensland to enable Mal Wegener to be relieved of teaching to devote more time to the organization of the conference.  Council also indicated that the 2006 AARES conference (the 50th) should be held in Sydney at the usual time in February while a one-day symposium would be held as a contribution to the international conference program. It would focus on aspects of Australian and New Zealand agriculture of interest to the international agricultural economist's community.

Australasian Macroeconomics Workshop 2004

The Economics Program at the Australian National University and the Commonwealth Treasury invite your participation at the 9^th Annual Australasian Macroeconomics Workshop on Thursday and Friday, April 15^th –16^th, 2004 at the Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.

Program Convenors include: Dr Mardi Dungey (ANU), Dr Renee Fry (ANU), Dr Prasanna Gai (ANU), Dr Jim Hagan (Treasury), Dr Graeme Davis (Treasury).

Special Papers Invitation: The conference invites all papers in the area of macroeconomics. This year will see a special session each day devoted to Fiscal Policy issues. Authors are invited to submit papers for those sessions.  A special issue of the Australian Economic Review will flow from the conference. Papers selected for the Fiscal Policy sessions will be eligible for financial support.

Submission Deadlines:

Abstracts: 15 February 2004

Final Papers: 5 April 2004

Full Papers for Special Sessions: 15 February 2004

Expressions of Interest for Discussant Positions: 15 February 2004

Participants are encouraged to submit a full paper at the earlier deadline. Full papers will maximize chance of selection.

Conference Webpage: http://rspas.anu.edu.au/economics/staff/dungey/macroworkshop       

Contact:  macroworkshop@anu.edu.au

Environmental Economics short course

Macquarie University is offering a short course for those working in the public and private sector to gain an effective introduction to the concepts and methods dealing with the environmental economics and policy.  Successful completion of this course may also be fully credited as a 4-credit point unit in postgraduate programs offered by the Graduate School of the Environment.

What will the course cover?  This module provides a comprehensive coverage of environmental economics and has been structured on the premise that course participants have little background in economics. The main objective of the module is to illustrate how the study of mainstream economics needs to be reoriented in the light the following premises: the natural environment is the core any economy and economic sustainability cannot be attained without environmental sustainability. The course is intended to equip participants with introductory skills that would enable the analyses of environmental and economic policy issues.

For further information about registration please contact Roslyn Green, Macquarie Research Ltd, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Ph: (02) 9850 9716, Fax: (02) 9850 8128, Email: rgreen@mrl.mq.edu.au. For further information about the course please contact Professor Dodo J. Thampapillai, Graduate School of the Environment, Ph: (02) 9850 7988,

Fax: (02) 9850 7972, Email: dthampap@gse.mq.edu.au, or visit the Graduate School of the Environment website http://www.gse.mq.edu.au.

Eleven languages agribusiness dictionary

Global Agrimedia has recently published an Eleven Languages Agribusiness Dictionary.  This unique publication contains up-to-date business terminology to help agribusiness managers communicate and do business in foreign markets. The multilingual dictionary is a monumental work that includes these Western and Eastern languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, and Russian.  To order online, go to www.global-agrimedia.com.

CONTACT DETAILS FOR OFFICE BEARERS AND CENTRAL OFFICE

DEADLINE AND ADVERTISING

The deadline for receipt of any items for inclusion in the next edition of AARES News & Views is 15 July 2004. Please send items to Honey Greenwood at the Central Office: journal.ajare@pobox.une.edu.au.

Advertisements in AARES News and Views are welcomed. The mailing list for News & Views exceeds 700. Advertising cost is $250 (including GST). Enquiries to LPechey@abare.gov.au.