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Rural Industries
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Two separate RIRDC funded research projects have found important information on the education levels of farmers and the importance of rural merchants in spreading critical technical information.
The researchers in both studies call for more training for farmers and rural merchants as a basis for the economic expansion and viability of the sector.
According to A Pilot Study of the Relationship between Farmer Education and Good Farm Management by Geoff Bamberry, Tony Dunn and Annette Lamont, of the School of Management, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australian farmers are not as poorly educated as statistics on their formal education would suggest - thanks to their practice of gaining much of their education informally.
The report looks at how much formal education Australian farmers generally have and how much of their learning has been acquired informally and on the job.
The researchers say that over the past few years there have been concerns that many Australian farms may not be viable in the long term.
There also have been claims that this could be related to farmers' level of education and training and their management expertise.
They say research in some countries points to a link between level of education and agricultural output.
The report sets out to define "farmer education" and "good farm management" and describes the nature and sources of farmer education.
The researchers found that while some farmers obtained their initial farmer education through formal sources, there were many who obtained most of their education in farm management from informal sources and learning on the job.
Life-long learning
They note that while statistics on their formal education suggest low education levels, farmers placed importance on life-long learning.
"Evidence of the importance placed on education by farmers was seen in their comments that it was a life-long process, their views that future farmers would need higher levels of formal education, and the trend for them to encourage their children to undertake additional formal education," the report said.
The researchers argue that the connection with productivity could be in the extent to which skills and competencies are developed and applied.
This would need further research and the project sets out a framework for a comprehensive investigation into the relationship between farmer education and good farm management.
Powerful network
The second study concludes that rural merchants should be given more training to boost their role as a powerful network for communicating technical and other information to primary producers.
Education and Training for Rural Merchants, carried out by R. J. Hannam & Co with McGregor Marketing Pty Ltd, both of South Australia, is a situation report on training in agricultural or horticultural topics available to Australian rural input suppliers - the rural merchants.
They recommended that a set of core critical skills to help rural merchants communicate agricultural technologies to farmers be determined in consultation with industry.
For further information contact:
. Farmer Education and Good Farm Management - Geoff Bamberry, phone (69) 332 490, fax (69) 332 930
. Education and Training for Rural Merchants - Bob Hannam, phone (015) 606 383, fax (08) 8361 8588
The report A Pilot Study of the Relationship between Farmer Education and Good Farm Management is available from the RIRDC for $25, plus $6 p&h. Education and Training for Rural Merchants is available for $15, plus $4 p&h phone (02) 6272 4819.
Ian Cronshaw, the newest member of RIRDC's Board, brings broad knowledge of, and experience in, public policy issues as the Government Director.
The Government Director, appointed by the Commonwealth Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, ensures that the Board is kept informed and advised of developing policy issues and their implications for RIRDC.
As the Assistant Secretary, Natural Resources and R&D Branch in the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industries and Energy (DPIE), he is closely involved in a wide range of R&D matters.
A nuclear physicist by training, Ian has spent more than 20 years in the Department (and its predecessor) having worked mainly in the resources and energy areas. He also spent some time in Ministers' offices and at the International Energy Agency in Paris.
Ian replaced Mike Hitchins as both Government Driector on the RIRDC Board and as Assistant Secretary in November 1997.
Like all public sector organisations, RIRDC has just published its Annual Report for the financial year 1996-97 and the 176-page publication reflects a very busy and productive time.
The Report has been structured to enable the Minister, industry levy payers, research organisations and other interested parties to analyse the Corporation's activities during 1996-97 and our progress toward the Corporate goals and directions.
During the period under review, Corporation staff managed $21.4 million in expenditure as part of RIRDC core activities and on behalf of its Industry Levy Sub-Accounts and its Research and Development Council affiliate.
The period was marked by considerable progress and achievements too numerous to list in this column. However, we have reprinted, as a special middle section feature of this newsletter, the complete summary of research highlights, listed under program and sub-program categories, from our annual report.
Also, to boost the transparency of the Corporation's operations, the
annual report includes a listing of all projects funded and all final reports
Continued from page 1
The researchers say their report should be regarded as a preliminary
study to provide a foundation for planning further research and assessment
of the nature of available training as well as determining the training
needs of rural merchant staff.
The research was based on the premise that general-merchandise suppliers in rural towns represented a powerful network for communicating technical and other information to primary producers.
"This is particularly so because at the point of sale or inquiry about goods and services, farmers are likely to be most receptive to new information and technologies associated with their correct and most effective use," the researchers said.
received in 1996-97. In this newsletter we include a liftout pamphlet listing all current RIRDC-supported research projects.
New free RIRDC publications
The annual report this year is being released with the RIRDC Compendium of Research Projects completed in the 18 months to the end of June 1997.
The Compendium provides a full summary fact sheet and contact details on hundreds of projects. Both the Annual Report and the Compendium are available from RIRDC free of charge and on our Internet homepage at http://www.dpie.gov.au/rirdc.
In November, the new updated catalogue of RIRDC's more than 120 research and corporate publications, manuals and guides will be available free and on our Internet homepage.
The catalogue also lists RIRDC's general and program newsletters and its stable of free "short reports" which summarise many research projects in a user-friendly, glossy format.
Peter Core, Managing Director
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation's investment in R&D for new and emerging industries has shown good returns, according to a study of 10 projects in Western Australia.
The success rate of projects funded by the Corporation is also high when the greater risk faced by the newer industries compared with established industries is taken into account, the study shows.
Andrew Bathgate and Peter Coyle, of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, who compiled the report Gains in Shaping the Future 2: Returns from Some RIRDC-Funded Research in WA, came to these conclusions after assessing a diverse range of completed projects for the RIRDC.
The researchers chose 10 RIRDC-supported projects in WA for evaluation.
The projects were chosen to provide a broad range of undertakings from each of RIRDC's four major program areas - new, emerging and established industries and cross-sectoral issues - as well as from a range of research institutions in the state.
The projects included: cineole production; emu processing; measuring goat fibres; oaten hay exports to Japan; rhizobial inoculants for lucerne; potato cultivars for export; post-harvest quality of native Australian cut flowers; supplementary feeding for deer; chemical protection equipment for farmers; and a reference guide to hay and silage management.
Community benefits
As background to their study, Mr Bathgate and Mr Coyle pointed out that research institutions and rural-funding bodies were increasingly concerned with how to make the best use of limited research budgets.
They said the majority of projects resulted in technologies that were estimated to have generated substantial benefits for the community.
"Generally, investment by the RIRDC in new industries has shown good returns and the rate of success of projects is high," they said.
"This is especially so, since uncertainties regarding the outlook for new industries means investments in this area are likely to be higher risk compared with investment in more established industries in the rural sector."
They said an advantage of benefit cost analysis was that it provided a more objective means of project evaluation compared with alternative measures which were often very subjective.
Impact
"A further advantage is that the evaluation process encourages rigour in estimating the impact of a particular project on an industry, which is also important for emerging industries where there is often little scientific knowledge on which estimates of the impact of a project can be made," they said.
The study represents the second major set of completed project-impact evaluations RIRDC has commissioned.
This and the previous study - six evaluations of completed projects in 1994 entitled Gains in Shaping the Future: Returns from Research Funded by RIRDC - are part of a program RIRDC is developing to demonstrate the impact of the research it funds and the benefits it generates to Australian society.
For more information contact Andrew Bathgate, telphone (08) 9368 3689, fax (08) 9368 3355
The report Gains in Shaping the Future 2: Returns From Some RIRDC-Funded
Research in WA is available from the RIRDC for $15 plus $4 for p&h
phone (02) 6272 4819.
A survey of RIRDC stakeholders has found a high appreciation of the Corporation's performance.
The survey of about 300 people, polled as part of the ongoing review of the Corporation's performance in May 1997, found that:
While the results from the user survey show the Corporation as doing a lot of things right, a small percentage of survey respondents (7 per cent) thought it doing a poor job.
The challenge for all the staff of the Corporation in 1997-98 is to work out the reasons for this and to address them.
The RIRDC-Vetsearch Equine Research Awards for 1997, an ongoing recognition of local research achievements, will be announced on 22 November.
The New South Wales Minister for Racing and Gaming, Mr Richard Face, will present the awards at a ceremony at the Randwick Racecourse's AJC Function Centre.
The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, in conjunction with Vetsearch Pty Ltd, a local company that has a strong commitment to research and development, sponsor the annual awards.
Winners will be chosen for each of the three following awards:
For further information, call:
Prof Reuben Rose, RIRDC Equine Research Manager, phone (046) 55 2000, fax
(046) 55 6491; or Caroline Webb, RIRDC, phone (02) 6272 3207, fax (02)
6272 5877.
A strategic approach is the key to expanding Australian food exports to Japan and the Republic of Korea, according to a report launched in Sydney on 8 October at the Supermarket For Asia Conference by the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, Mr John Anderson.
The report, Food Market Channel Development in Japan and Korea, was written by Dr Selwyn G. Heilbron, a Melbourne-based business economist and corporate agribusiness consultant, and Mr Terry Larkin, a Canberra-based consultant in economics and agribusiness with the firm INSTATE Pty Ltd, for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
They said analysis and understanding of food-market channels was an essential element in developing successful strategies for market penetration and new product development.
Market channels for food differed from country to country reflecting different stages of economic development, the socio-political culture, business and commercial practices, the regulatory regime and physical and infrastructure features.
Dr Heilbron and Mr Larkin said Asian market channels were very different from those of a typical advanced developed country.
Success element
"Understanding and appreciating these differences is an essential element of success for Australian exporters," they said.
The researchers found Japanese and Korean import markets for food were enormous but Australia's market share performance in both countries had been unimpressive and that Australia's future research effort on food exports needed to be strategic.
"It must also be seamless, having the ability to cut across traditional bureaucratic structures to service business - in a relevant modern information-technology context - with outcomes designed to give market channel advantage to Australian companies in the complex food markets of Japan and Korea," they said.
Australia's trade policy thrust in this area also needed to be strategic.
"It must integrate access, financial assistance and international competition policy in a seamless and targeted thrust to support export and investment success in Asian markets, and it must encourage buoyant and growing supply confidence in Australian businesses by communicating in real time the market opportunities in North Asia," they said.
They stressed that the Federal Government's Supermarket in Asia Council should provide the central mechanism for making these initiatives happen while RIRDC-type programs could underpin the initiatives.
Increase efforts
On Japan, the researchers said Australian food exporters would need to increase efforts to identify the market segment they were aiming at and find the best way of getting their products through newly evolving market channels.
Dr Heilbron and Mr Larkin said recent Japanese investment in food production and processing in Australia had been for Japanese-style products.
"This provides an important opportunity for Australian food exporters to penetrate the biggest market of all - the market for traditional Asian foods in Asian markets - through closer integration with downstream users," they said.
"Investment in packaging, freshness and product design for the Japanese market will be critical ways in which Australian suppliers can differentiate their product."
On Korea, the researchers said the surest route to its market remained the powerful chaebol, who controlled all segments of the food chain other than primary production.
For further information, contact Dr Selwyn Heilbron, phone (03) 9810 9542 fax (03) 9859 7062 or Terry Larkin, phone (02) 6273 5414 fax (02) 6247 2990.
Last updated:26 November1997
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