|
|
Rural Industries
|
The rural industry is in the midst of a revolution in human communications that is changing how we talk to each other, how we work together, and how we create and share knowledge.
This revolution is fundamentally transforming society and its implications for individual farmers and rural communities are dramatic. Its most important element, and certainly the most powerful, is the new medium of interactive communications which is already linking millions around the globe.
This new medium offers immense potential for helping farmers to address many of the challenges they face.
To help farmers and community groups harness the potential of information technology, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation has sponsored publication of a step-by-step guide entitled A Framework for Developing Regional Communications Initiatives developed by the Centre for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies in Melbourne.
The managing director of the Australian Telecommunications Users Group, Allan Horsley, says in the guide that communications is often a key to prosperity. "A hundred years ago lack of a railway stop condemned towns to a lingering death," he says.
"Thirty years ago, access to freeways helped many communities to thrive, while those on back roads stagnated.
"Today, computers and the networks that link them together, are becoming as critical to the conduct of daily life as the previous generations of infrastructure such as railways, roads, water supply and electricity."
However, the guide points out for a region to benefit from these opportunities it will need a reasonably priced infrastructure capable of supporting computer applications, equipment and services and a community preparedness to make informed decisions about the evaluation, planning, acquisition and implementation of new information technologies.
The questions are then, where to start and how to muster the skills and resources needed to achieve a practical outcome? The guide provides a means by which organisations can identify and prioritise their communications needs and generate solutions to satisfy their requirements.
"Telecommunications can promote business development, improve the delivery of services in health, education and government and provide support for rural programs and the general community," it says.
For more information contacts:
Marina Cavill, phone (03) 9248 1177, fax (03) 9248 1170.
A Framework for Developing Regional Communications Initiatives is available from the RIRDC for $30, plus $6 for p&h. Phone (02) 6272 4819.
The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), is supporting leading edge research to help boost understanding of the information technology needs of rural Australians.
According to a new newsletter published by RIRDC and Farmwide Pty Ltd, RIRDC is the only agency with a national and cross-industry program in communication, education and information systems.
The newsletter, Shaping the Future with Information Technology and the Internet, says RIRDC already has funded more than 10 major projects on related issues since 1996.
Currently, RIRDC is funding the following projects on information technology issues facing the rural community:
The new newsletter is available from RIRDC, phone (02) 6272 4539, fax (02) 6272 5877.
RIRDC is assessing and evaluating hundreds of preliminary applications for research funding from individuals, public sector groups and private sector researchers.
Applications in the first of the Corporation's two-stage application procedure for R&D support closed on 3 October.
Researchers whose preliminary research proposals are considered a priority will be sent an invitation in early December to submit a full proposal due by 6 February 1998.
Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be advised in May.
Financial support for new projects can begin in July or later throughout the financial year.
RIRDC is committed to ensuring that Australia's agricultural industries benefit from its investment in R&D, with increasing importance on evaluation of R&D as an investment tool.
Proposals are judged on their potential benefits to the Australian rural sector and on their chances of success.
Typically, projects run from several months to a maximum of five years.
The Corporation accepts short-term proposals that seek to prepare the
ground for subsequent longer-term proposals.
A group of agricultural researchers has developed a simple economic model as an example of how such a mechanism could be used for allocating research funds for new and emerging rural industries.
They developed a model for the tea-tree oil industry to demonstrate how such methodologies can assist in the assessment of research options within and between industries.
The researchers, Katrina Bond, Peter Chudleigh and Ian Wood, of Agtrans Research, Toowong, Queensland, detailed their findings in the report Commercial Prospects and Research Priorities for New Industries for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
Their report is a valuable contribution to discussion and development of mechanisms for accountable research and development management decisions for new and emerging industries.
The report identifies and reviews current models and methodologies for setting R&D priorities between and within industries, develops a model of the Australian tea tree oil industry, and assesses the contribution models can make to the process of setting broad R&D priorities for new rural industries.
The researchers noted that increasing competition for limited funds for R&D in Australia was putting increasing pressure on organisations to use funds more efficiently and effectively, as well as to show accountability for R&D management decisions.
They pointed out that the RIRDC was unique among Australia's R&D organisations because its charter required it to provide R&D support for new and emerging industries.
"It therefore has the task of assessing and comparing the commercial prospects of new industries as well as determining research priorities for those industries which apply for funds," they said.
The researchers said decisions on research priorities within and between industries required both an understanding of the present and assumptions or predictions about the future of each industry. This could be gained through informal or formal techniques, which differed in their degree of quantitative input and analysis required.
The advantage of more formal techniques was that they gave some consistency in decision making and often provided more confidence in the decisions made. However, quantitative techniques required more data and became difficult to apply to new industries where data was generally limited or unavailable.
"For new industries, it is likely that a simplistic quantitative model that could be updated frequently - say every two years - to account for changes in markets and technologies would be more relevant than a complex model with heavy data demands," the researchers said.
"Regular updating of model forecasts is probably more important for new and emerging industries than for well-established industries.
"The form of model that is appropriate will vary from industry to industry depending on data availability, which in turn is a function of the state of industry development both in Australia and overseas."
For more information contact: Peter Chudleigh, phone (07) 3870 9564, fax (07) 3371 3381.
The report Commercial Prospects and Research Priorities for New
Industries is available from the RIRDC for $15, plus $4 p&h. Phone
(02) 6272 4819.
Farmers looking at transferring their enterprises to the next generation can learn a great deal from family businesses in other industries.
This was a key finding by Cathy McGowan, Dennis Gamble and Stephen Blunden, of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, who wrote the report Family Farm Transfer in a Changing Rural Society for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
The researchers recommended that links be established with organisations which support family enterprises such as the Australian Centre for Family Businesses and rural-based economic and business advisory services.
A paper on the research was presented at the RIRDC-sponsored National Forum on Family Farm Business (see story below).
The report reviews, updates and evaluates a project conducted in the early 1990s for the RIRDC which explored the nature and processes of transferring family-farm enterprises from one generation to the next.
In funding the original project, the RIRDC saw benefits in enhancing productivity through early and effective farm transfer, the retention of farms as commercial farming enterprises, a rise in young people returning to family farms and a fall in social problems resulting from poor farm-transfer processes.
Researchers in the latest review set out to raise awareness of and to study the critical factors affecting farm transfers and to help improve services to families. They also sought to help farm families carry out their own transfers.
The researchers saw farm transfer as a national issue because 99.6 per cent of Australia's 85,000 farms are family owned. This is based on research by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics in 1994 which estimated there were more than 85,000 family-owned farming units with an annual income of more than $22,500 involved in the production of sheep, cattle, dairying or broad-acre cropping.
The latest report found the findings from the original research were still relevant and the issues impacting on families, advisers and information providers were, if anything, more urgent.
"One of the proposed outcomes from this review is to set a process in train _ a national strategy _ which will allow for the original recommend-ations to be implemented," the researchers said.
The researchers recommended an integrated, multi-disciplinary team approach on farm transfers, where advisers with expertise in both mind and heart issues worked together.
The researchers concluded there were key issues associated with family businesses that could be directly transferred to family-farm businesses.
These included: the interface between family and business; relationships between advisers and family businesses; models for organising lifestyle and business; decision-making processes; role confusion between boss and parent; establsihing priorities between the conflicting needs of family and business; and recognition of the high level of skills needed to run the family business.
For further information contact: Dennis Gamble, phone (02) 4570 1362, fax (02) 4570 1750.
The report Family Farm Transfers in a Changing Rural Society is available from the RIRDC for $10, plus $4 for p&h. Phone (02) 6272 4819.
The importance of planning when transferring the family farm from one generation to the next was a highlight of the National Forum for Family Farm Businesses in October.
Farmers, accountants, rural advisers, lawyers, family therapists, academics, farm families and others with rural interests gathered to consider ways to improve managing the family farm as a business.
The former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, Senator David Brownhill, told the forum that successful transfers were usually carefully planned and were an integral part of farm business management.
He said the Government's recently released rural policy, Agriculture - Advancing Australia, recognised the importance of property management planning and farm business management by allocating $50 million to the new Farm Business Improvement Program.
Agriculture - Advancing Australia introduced a three-year moratorium so assets of up to $500,000 could be gifted to the next generation while still allowing farmers to retire on the pension.
Seaweed harvesting and processing has the potential to emerge as a new, viable food industry for Australia, according to Barry Lee, of Connectica International, who wrote the report The Australian Seaweed Industry: a Baseline Review of Research and Development for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
Seaweed is found in a wide range of applications including processed meats, sauces, dressings, ice-cream, beer and wine, pet food, toothpaste, air fresheners, carpets, papers, pesticides, fertilisers, medicines and even in the treatment of cancers and AIDS.
Mr Lee's preliminary findings are encouraging and indicate that Australia's extensive coastline and clean waters could give it a competitive advantage in supplying seaweed for local markets and exports. The world seaweed industry is conservatively valued at $1.5 billion a year. For further information contact: Mr Barry Lee, phone (02) 9415 4200, fax (02) 9411 8188.
The report The Australian Seaweed Industry: A Baseline Review
of Research and Development is available from the RIRDC for $20 plus
$4 p&h. Phone (02) 6272 4819.
A popular and fast-selling RIRDC publication, Design Principles for Farm Forestry, is helping farmers to maximise the benefits of trees on their farms. The book brings together leading experts on land degradation and other fields of land management. It provides farmers with the information they need to get the best results from their investment in tree planting.
Currently, about one third of broadacre farmers are involved in the 3,300 landcare groups believed to be active throughout Australia. Attention to landcare is essential for the wellbeing of the rural sector with nearly two-thirds of broadacre farmers perceiving significant land degradation on their properties. Careful planning is needed and the book outlines the principles that farmers should follow when making decisions on tree planting and management.
For further information contact Dr Roslyn Prinsley at RIRDC on (02) 6272 4539.
Design Principles for Farm Forestry is available from RIRDC for $16 plus $4 for p&h. Phone (02) 6272 4819
Broadacre farmers now have a new handbook to help them improve business performance by adding value and skilful marketing. The Grain Marketing Handbook was produced by the RIRDC together with the Grains R&D Corporation and the Kondinin Group.
The manual aims to boost grain growers marketing confidence. It aims to put them in touch with the marketplace by helping them develop relationships and produce grains to trader specifications. The handbook looks at crucial issues such as pricing trends, understanding the market, managing the risk, selling options, adding value, customer service.
The magzine-style manual provides valuable information on marketing strategy with a case study and plenty of contact details for traders, end users, futures brokers, consultants, and even has useful Internet sites.
The Grain Marketing Handbook is available from RIRDC or GRDC at no charge. Phone (02) 6272 4819.
Farmers, managers and policy makers wanting to know more about the concept and practice of sustainable agriculture now have a handy new guide. Sustainability Indicators for Agriculture was developed by Agriculture and Environment Consulting, of Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Farm Management 500, of Bendigo, Victoria.
John Dore, of Farm Management 500, says the guide helps land managers to have a constructive input to the formation of rural policies.
It shows how sustainable indicators help farmers to notice changes earlier, talk about it within their business, and seek advice if required and make positive changes.
The indicators also provide agricultural policy makers with a valuable tool. For further information contact John Dore, phone (03) 5441 6176, fax (03) 5441 2788 or Roslyn Prinsley, RIRDC, phone (02) 6272 4033.
The report Sustainability Indicators for Agriculture: Introductory Guide to Regional/National Indicators and Onfarm Indicators is available from the RIRDC at $15 plus $4 p&h. A free summary is available from RIRDC.
Last updated: 1 December1997
Copyright © RIRDC
http://www.rirdc.gov.au/nslsum97/pages9-12.html