New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Native pasture and the farmer's choice--evaluation of management and sowing
options
J. CROSTHWAITE
Department of Agriculture and Resource
Management
University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
B. MADDEN
Agricultural Decisions
52 McLeans Rd
Little River 3211, Australia
K. F. O'CONNOR
Professor Emeritus of Range Management
Lincoln University
Canterbury, New Zealand
Abstract Interest in the role of native pasture in
production, land protection, and conservation is growing. Native pasture is
often complementary to high-input pasture based on introduced perennial
grasses, and both fit into a larger whole-farm and farm-family context. This
paper presents several wide-ranging propositions which help frame this context
in which farmers make decisions about native pasture, and in which budgetary
analysis can play a useful role. A case study, based on south-western Victoria,
evaluates the profitability of retaining native pasture or replacing it (or
run-down pasture) by sowing an introduced perennial pasture. The paper also
evaluates sowing native pasture where it is not present. It is concluded for
south-western Victoria that sowing introduced perennial pasture is likely to be
most profitable, but that retaining remaining areas of native pasture will
leave farmers at least as well off in the long term. Sowing native pasture may
have a niche role, as seed prices fall. Results are likely to differ when the
approach is applied in other regions.
Keywords economics; native pasture; grassland; low-input
grasses; grazing management; plant improvement; pasture improvement; perennial
pasture; sustainable agriculture
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1996, Vol. 39: 541-557
0028-8233/96/3904-0541 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1996
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1454K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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