AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF FEED INGREDIENT PRICE RISK ON THE SELECTION OF MINIMUM COST BACKGROUNDING FEED RATIONS

The traditional minimum cost feed ration linear programming model is expanded to permit risk management responses to price variability associated with feeding a particular ration across time. The cost minimizing objective function also considers feed cost in a mean-variance (E-V) framework. The model is specified using NRC nutrient requirements and an historic Feedstuffs price series. A decision-maker can choose his/her optimal ration by making tradeoffs between price risk and net income. The results should provide a basis for decision tools that allow livestock producers to manage the net income risk involved in the selection of a feed ration.Marketing,

Strategic policy, planning and assessment for sustainability: insights from Victoria, Australia

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess recent strategic sustainability policy, planning and assessment efforts in Victoria, Australia. Design/methodology/approach - An interpretive approach to policy analysis provides the methodological foundation for the analysis. Evidence is drawn from the analysis of policy texts and semi-structured interviews. Findings - Sustainability attracted considerable policy attention in Victoria during the first decade of the 21st century, with stated ambitions for Victoria to become "the sustainable state" and "world leaders in environmental sustainability". In pursuing these ambitions, Victoria's efforts centred on hosting a summit, articulating medium-term directions and priorities, releasing a whole of government framework to advance sustainability, and establishing a Department of Sustainability and Environment, and a Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability. However, the evidence indicates these efforts would have benefited from greater public engagement and input, stronger governance arrangements, and a broader conceptualisation of sustainability. Practical implications - The evidence presented highlights the implications associated with efforts to promote sustainability through strategic policy and planning processes. Originality/value - This paper provides an informed, yet policy relevant, analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and possibilities associated with pursuing sustainability at the sub-national level. It also highlights the ways in which policy objectives can be frustrated by failing to establish the solid foundations necessary for building a robust approach to promoting sustainability. The value of progressing sustainability within a strategic improvement cycle is also highlighted

Beyond \u27types\u27 in environmental agencies

Dr Brian Coffey contends that Dr Sue Briggs\u27 commentary - \u27From advocates to zealots\u27 (PUBLIC ADMISTRATION Today, issue 27: July-September 2011) - on bureaucratic types in environmental agencies - \u27raises an important issue: the need for reformers to understand the characteristics of public servants\u27.<br /

In Defense of an End-Relational Account of Goodness

What is it exactly that we are attributing to a thing when we judge it to be good? According to the orthodox answer, at least in some cases when we judge that something is good we are attributing to it a monadic property. That is, good things are “just plain good.” I reject the orthodox view. In arguing against it, I begin with the idea that a plausible account of goodness must take seriously the intuitive claim that there is something in common between moral and non-moral goodness—something in virtue of which it makes sense to call ‘good’ both the things that are morally good and the things that are non-morally good. However, it is implausible that all judgments about the goodness of things attribute a monadic property to those things, as this does not capture what we mean when we judge something to be non-morally good. Instead, I propose and defend my own relational theory of goodness according to which goodness is a relation that holds between things and ends (or goals). That is, goodness is a relational property such that to be good is to be related in the relevant way to some goal or another. This is true in both the mundane everyday cases and in loftier cases concerned with moral goodness

NONPARAMETRIC ESTIMATION OF MULTIPRODUCT AND PRODUCT-SPECIFIC ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Numerous studies have utilized nonparametric estimation of production efficiency but no such study focuses on multiproduct or product-specific economies of scale. A mathematical program is specified to nonparametrically estimate these measures for crops and livestock for Kansas farms. Results show that many farms would realize benefits from expansion.Industrial Organization,

NEW INPUT AND OUTPUT RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS

Backgounding beef cattle is an inherently risky venture. Producers faceproduction risks as well as marketing risks. If a backgrounding operation is to be viable,these risks should be addressed and effectively managed. While some effective riskmanagement tools are currently available to livestock producers, some other potentiallyuseful risk management tools, for various reasons, have been previously unavailable.Two such tools which could help livestock producers achieve the overall goal ofmanaging net income risk are a program for managing feed ingredient nutrient and pricevariability in the selection of minimum cost feed rations and government subsidizedlivestock price insurance.Due to lack of data and limited computational power of solvers, risk has seldombeen introduced into the feed ration selection process. Presently, both feed ingredientnutritional data and appropriate solvers are available, allowing for risk to be fullyconsidered in this decision-making process. Only recently has there been policy effortsto establish subsidized price or revenue insurance for livestock producers. Theintroduction of such insurance to livestock producers offers potential risk managementbenefit but also has the potential to introduce improper incentives to livestock producers.This study will evaluate both of the aforementioned livestock risk managementtools. In addition to evaluating their effectiveness, the policy concerns of subsidizedlivestock insurance will also be addressed. Results will be relevant to a broad range ofentities. In addition to livestock producers wishing to manage the risks associated withtheir operations, agribusinesses that provide service to these producers such as feed salesor financial lending will benefit from knowing how these risk management strategiesperform. Furthermore, policy makers who will structure livestock insurance products canhopefully do so more efficiently based on the results of the livestock insurance analysis

Towards more integrated natural resource management in Victoria : possible elements of an integrated state-wide policy framework

There is a growing recognition of the complexity of environmental issues and acceptance of the value of more integrated approaches to address them. Evidence of progress with the development of more integrated approaches is however less clear cut. Within this context, this paper explores how a more integrated approach 10 natural resource management at a state government level could be progressed. Using recent experience in Victoria as a focus, this paper provides an overview of environment and natural resources issues confronting the State. highlights why integration is an important element of any response. and outlines the current policy and organisational context. Possible elements of a state-wide policy framework for more integrated natural resource management across a state government organisation are also outlined and discussed.<br /

Tasmania together and growing Victoria together : can state plans deliver environmental sustainability?

Sustainability has always been a contested term, environmental sustainability in particular. It presents challenges and opportunities for policy making at all levels. This paper suggests that state plans have a key role to play in the pursuit of sustainability. It argues that, in theory, sustainability requires well integrated, interactive, informed and informing, as well as institutionalised policy processes. It reviews state plans in Tasmania and Victoria to analyse their capacity for delivering sustainability. Tasmania Together and Crowing Victoria Together are very different plans, so very different conclusions are drawn here, however we find that both of them lack the explicit political and policy commitment to sustainability that is required to turn rhetoric into state planning practice.<br /

Twenty years of integrated catchment management in Victoria : celebrating the achievements of the Catchment and Land Protection Act (1994) and looking to the future

This report is a requirement of the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 (CaLP Act). The core objectives of the CaLP Act (the Act) are to: i. maintain and enhance long term land productivity while also conserving the environment (s.4 (a)(i)); and ii. ensure that the quality of the State&#039;s land and water resources and their associated plant and animal life are maintained and enhanced (s. 4 (a)(ii)). The Victorian Catchment Management Council (Council) is the State&#039;s peak independent advisory body on catchment management. In order to determine if the objectives of the CaLP Act are being met, the Act requires Council to deliver an assessment of the condition and management of land and water resources in Victoria every five years (s. 9 (a) (ii)). The last report was in 2007