Papers presented at the New Zealand Agricultural Economics Society (Inc.) Second Annual Conference : "Agriculture and the Environment" : incorporating the 20th Annual Conference of the NZ Branch of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society : Blenheim Country Lodge, July 1995. | Papers presented at the Second Annual Conference of the New Zealand Agricultural Economics Society (Inc.) : Blenheim, July 1995.

This year a trend which has been gaining momentum is the rise of environmentalism. With increasing global environmental awareness has come increased consumer expectations for environmental quality in production processes. At the same time, there has been a proliferation of domestic policies in New Zealand's agricultural markets targeting the protection of the environment, and these will impinge in various ways on our trade. Within New Zealand, there has been increasing pressure for our own agricultural sector to address issues relating to the environmental effects of production systems. In a paper given at this Conference two years ago, Stuart Morris identified these three trends. I would like to make reference to some of the points he made at that time. The growth of green consumers has led to a growth in demand for green products, with consumers being prepared to pay a premium for products produced in an environmentally friendly way. This raises the question of the degree to which the green market can be managed to provide the necessary incentives for producers to change to more environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Associated with this is the issue of quality assurance. Overseas consumers are becoming skeptical about unsubstantiated environmental claims, and quality systems are required which provide consumers and trading partners with the assurance they demand about the environmental quality of agricultural products from New Zealand. The trade effects of overseas domestic environmental policies are also of concern In Europe, the instruments of support for farmers are shifting from product price support to direct and indirect income support. Indirect support can be in the form of payments for environmentally acceptable or sustainable farming. Such agro-environment polices have implications for exporting nations such as New Zealand. They are exempt from the support reduction commitments of the GATT Agreement and pose a potential trade threat. Within New Zealand, pressure from environmental interests led to the Resource Management Act of 1991. The aim of this Act was to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources. Its operation and impact has since become a source of great debate. At a more general level, various measures and economic instruments can be used to achieve sustainable agricultural systems. These can include knowledge generation, improved information flows, rural adjustment assistance, institutional change, pricing mechanisms, transferable property rights, pollution charges, subsidies, income tax measures and direct regulation. There has been, and will continue to be, much debate on which of these approaches are appropriate for the New Zealand situation. This discussion paper includes full text of the papers listed below: Anthony H Chisholm, Economic Incentives and Environmental Management; Anton D Meister, Land Use Changes and Environmental Legislation in Europe: Lessons for NZ; Sally Garrett, Heinz Wattie, Opportunities and Challenges for Agriculture; Basil G Chamberlain, Implementing the Resource Management and Bio-security Acts: Implications for Agriculture; Alastair Ensor, Farming and the Environment: Making it Happen Where it Counts; Brian Easton, How the Market was Introduced into Resource Management and the Environment; N. Jangu, J.R. Fairweather, S.K. Martin, Decision Making by Farmers: an Example of the Ethnographic Decision Tree Modelling; P Alsop, S Awatere, N Banks, G Boe, S Gaines, S Gardiner, A Jihad, P Siameja, Valuing Tropical Rain Forest Protection: Using the Contingent Valuation Method in NZ; Stuart Morriss, Bernie Warmington, Chris Ingram, Environmental Quality Assurance: Industry Standards and the RMA; Darryl Sullivan, Frank Scrimgeour, The New Zealand Dairy Board: What is the Value Added?; Brent Casey, Empty Core Markets: A Possible Defence for Co-operation in the New Zealand Meat Processing Industry; Christopher E C Gan, Gary A Kennedy, The Markowitz Portfolio Theory: An Analysis of Optimal Production Mixes of Soybeans and Rice in Louisiana; Robin Johnson, The Theory of Coalitions: from Welfare Economics to Behavioural Models; M P Kearney, Green Accounting and Sustainability; Ram SriRamaratnam, Exotic Forestry Area Developments in New Zealand: Past Trends (1972-1993) and Forecasts (1994-1998) Rod Forbes; David Rhodes, Phil Journeaux, Off-Farm Income Survey: 1992/93 Financial Year; Ram SriRamaratnam, Rod Forbes, Prakash Narayan, Richard Wallace, Pastoral Sector Farm Income, Expenditure & Investment Model: Preliminary Modelling Results; Irene Parminter, Farm Dairy Effluent and Water Quality: A Case Study of a Waikato Catchment; Fiona Duncan, Impact Analysis of Blackberry in the Manawatu Wanganui Region; Megan Cotton, Graham Hickling, Commercialisation of Wild Rabbits in New Zealand; Tony Banks, Zhang Cungen, Shamin Shakur, Chinese Wool Market Developments: Implications for New Zealand Exporters; K B Bicknell, Economic Issues Relating to the Control of Bovine Tuberculosis in New Zealand: a Bio-economic Model for the Control of Disease in a Livestock Population; G Rauniyar, Credit as a Poverty Alleviation Strategy for Rural Nepal; Petrus Simons, Sustainable Development and the Uncertainty of Time; Robert J Townsley, The Discipline of Farm Management in New Zealand: Future Directions? Warren J Parker; Peter J Jarvis, Rob M Davison, A Review of High Country Production and Performance from 1967 to 1995 with Particular Reference to Changes in Nominal and Real Product Prices and the Government Policy Framework which affected Farmers over the Period; C K G Dake, M S Cunha W J Parker, Using a Stochastic Cashflow Model to Make Stocking Rate Decisions; Rupert Tipples, The Re-regulation of Farming Employment Relations in New Zealand; Warren J Parker, An Economic Comparison of Drylot and Pastoral Dairy Farming Systems in New Zealand; R D Plank, The Profits from Sharefarming: An Ex-Post Study; P L Nuthall, Farm Computers and Improving Managerial Skill – An Emerging Challenge; G Rauniyar, Farm Level Adoption of Management and Technological Practices: a Case Study of Fishpond Operators in Nepal; C K G Dake, J S Squire, S Pollock, A Farm Enterprise Risk Evaluation Model for Use by Farm Consultants; Frank Scrimgeour, The Economics of Soil Compaction: A Case Study from the Manawatu.