School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses

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Dairy farm employment and support for change

Nettle, Ruth. (University of Melbourne, 2001)

Changes in the Australian farming sector over the last few decades have included an increase in farm size, a greater emphasis on product quality, and attempts by farm managers to increase labour productivity and/or substitute labour with capital. New demands on managers and farming systems are emerging from these changes that express themselves as pressures for improved business performance. An important issue for individual farmers as they expand their farms has been that of labour. Farms are facing organisational change, structural change and social change. Increasingly, "farm management" does not just concern the technical and biological issues of production. People management, relationship building, coping with employment law and wages, are all components of the altered management regimes. The issues of labour and employment are most prevalent in the dairy industry, yet research in the area has tended to focus on the technical and economic challenges of production, broad patterns of rural labour markets or aggregated sociological analysis of employment trends. Most studies of labour and employment in agriculture have taken as "given" the social aspects of production. These approaches have informed, but not assisted the issues most keenly felt by farmers or the dairy industry. This thesis is concerned with defining the nature of dairy employment issues from the employer and employee perspectives with a view to the design of effective support and intervention in the employment domain. The research involved study of case farms in Gippsland, Victoria, which accounts for 27% of Australia's milk production. The methods used included in-depth interviews over time with case study dairy farm employers and employees, an action research group involving farm owners struggling with employment change on their farms, and interviews with people contributing to training and other aspects of labour in the dairy industry. These methods provided the data for analysis using a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to explore social processes. Analysis of the nature of employment relationships provided a means of understanding change processes through time. This understanding is summarised in a conceptual model. Through the conceptual model, employers, employees and intervening third parties can see that the employment relationship itself is purposeful and not just functional in achieving farm, job or financial outcomes for participants. It is the different perspective that employer and employees bring to the relationship and the mutual involvement in relationship processes that appears to determine employment relationship outcomes. The thesis concludes that the employment relationship is central to an understanding of farmer and employee issues on farms, but that understanding cannot be gained from just the sum of the employer and employee perspectives. This means that employee and employer need a joint understanding of the fundamental relationship processes, and their role in these, if mutually favourable outcomes are to be achieved. Critical transition points in the change in emphasis from production management towards people management are also identified. Employers, employees and third parties can identify these critical transition points in advance to assist their adaptation in employment. Support in the area of farm employment relationships was seen to be lacking from current third party intervention, and correcting this deficiency may offer the best opportunity for improvement. A group intervention using action research provided insight into possible future support mechanisms, with a focus on learning rather than training. It is argued that there is a need for a widening of the focus of extension interventions to include human relationships and interaction for the employment realm. A collaborative learning platform involving interveners and employment relationship actors is seen as a way forward for a change in employment and extension (intervention) practice. The conceptualisation of farm employment and intervention is presented as a solid platform for future research and development.
Dairy farm employment and support for change

Nettle, Ruth. (University of Melbourne, 2001)

Changes in the Australian farming sector over the last few decades have included an increase in farm size, a greater emphasis on product quality, and attempts by farm managers to increase labour productivity and/or substitute labour with capital. New demands on managers and farming systems are emerging from these changes that express themselves as pressures for improved business performance. An important issue for individual farmers as they expand their farms has been that of labour. Farms are facing organisational change, structural change and social change. Increasingly, "farm management" does not just concern the technical and biological issues of production. People management, relationship building, coping with employment law and wages, are all components of the altered management regimes. The issues of labour and employment are most prevalent in the dairy industry, yet research in the area has tended to focus on the technical and economic challenges of production, broad patterns of rural labour markets or aggregated sociological analysis of employment trends. Most studies of labour and employment in agriculture have taken as "given" the social aspects of production. These approaches have informed, but not assisted the issues most keenly felt by farmers or the dairy industry. This thesis is concerned with defining the nature of dairy employment issues from the employer and employee perspectives with a view to the design of effective support and intervention in the employment domain. The research involved study of case farms in Gippsland, Victoria, which accounts for 27% of Australia's milk production. The methods used included in-depth interviews over time with case study dairy farm employers and employees, an action research group involving farm owners struggling with employment change on their farms, and interviews with people contributing to training and other aspects of labour in the dairy industry. These methods provided the data for analysis using a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to explore social processes. Analysis of the nature of employment relationships provided a means of understanding change processes through time. This understanding is summarised in a conceptual model. Through the conceptual model, employers, employees and intervening third parties can see that the employment relationship itself is purposeful and not just functional in achieving farm, job or financial outcomes for participants. It is the different perspective that employer and employees bring to the relationship and the mutual involvement in relationship processes that appears to determine employment relationship outcomes. The thesis concludes that the employment relationship is central to an understanding of farmer and employee issues on farms, but that understanding cannot be gained from just the sum of the employer and employee perspectives. This means that employee and employer need a joint understanding of the fundamental relationship processes, and their role in these, if mutually favourable outcomes are to be achieved. Critical transition points in the change in emphasis from production management towards people management are also identified. Employers, employees and third parties can identify these critical transition points in advance to assist their adaptation in employment. Support in the area of farm employment relationships was seen to be lacking from current third party intervention, and correcting this deficiency may offer the best opportunity for improvement. A group intervention using action research provided insight into possible future support mechanisms, with a focus on learning rather than training. It is argued that there is a need for a widening of the focus of extension interventions to include human relationships and interaction for the employment realm. A collaborative learning platform involving interveners and employment relationship actors is seen as a way forward for a change in employment and extension (intervention) practice. The conceptualisation of farm employment and intervention is presented as a solid platform for future research and development.
A functional approach to stream buffer design in mountain ash forest

Dignan, Paul. (University of Melbourne, 2001)

Buffer strips, zones of vegetation retained along stream banks in, and adjacent to, logged areas, are used to maintain water quality and to protect a range of values pertaining to stream and riparian resources. They are commonly applied as strips of undisturbed forest of constant width from the stream, but their effectiveness varies with topographic, edaphic, vegetation and climatic factors. The use of variable buffer widths based on functional criteria has been proposed as a more rational basis for the design of stream buffers. The purpose of this thesis is to test the application of this approach to stream buffer design in the mountain ash forests of south-eastern Australia. It examines some of the main problems encountered in the design of stream buffers, namely temporal and spatial variation in the extent of soil saturation and overland flow, the deterioration of established buffers and the frequency and nature of unmanaged sediment flows into buffers. It also looks at the ability of buffers to maintain the light environment in riparian forest and develops a light penetration edge effects model for use in buffer design. Periodic field survey of a network of streams around a logged area found considerable variation in the spatial and temporal extent of surface soil saturation and overland flow, extending laterally up to 190 m from the main channel. Large areas of surface hydrological activity were particularly evident at the confluences of streams and towards the lower ends of the stream catchments. The deterioration of buffer vegetation was also highlighted as a factor to be considered when looking at effective buffer width. Eighteen percent of the buffers surveyed were found to be severely degraded and 69% of these were as a result of penetrating fire during broadcast slash burning. Where penetrating fire was not evident, edge aspect had the major influence on buffer overstorey crown health, with 33% of trees in north facing edges classed as severely degraded compared to 10%, 11% and 14% for south, east and west facing edges respectively. Catastrophic windthrow was evident where edges faced the direction of damaging winds. Maintenance of the light environment is an important ecological function of buffers in riparian forests. Measurements of the understorey light environment using hemispherical photographs were used to characterise the natural light regime in riparian and upslope forest. A matched set of post logging photographs were used to develop a model of the response of the light regime to edge creation. The natural understorey light environment around the streams was influenced by proximity to the streamline to about 50 m upslope, light penetration increasing on average at a relative rate of about 9% for every 10 m from the streamline to the upslope eucalypt forest. Light penetration was also strongly influenced by height above ground, with steeper gradients associated with lower order streams. Logging of the upslope forest resulted in major changes in light penetration close to the cut edge, reducing with distance into the forest. Distance from the cut edge was the main factor influencing light penetration edge effects, with most of the change occurring within 10-30 m of the edge. Manipulation of the edge orientation using the hemispherical images enabled models of the change in light penetration following edge creation to be developed for edges facing north, east and west, with distance from the edge as the only significant site factor. The importance of buffers for the control of unmanaged sediment flows from logged areas was examined by surveying 7 km of buffer edge to determine the frequency and nature of these flows. Seven instances of sediment flow into buffer were noted and all were due to the failure of in-coupe erosion control measures. This led to the conclusion that sediment control was a valuable function of buffers but it was not a suitable design criterion for multi-purpose buffers. The site specific empirical models of light penetration were combined with conceptual models developed in other forest types for Large Woody Debris (LWD) recruitment and stream bank stability to compare fixed width buffers with multi-purpose functional models in terms of resource use and the protection of stream and riparian zone values. Fixed width buffers of 20 m were inconsistent in the level of protection afforded to the light environment both in the vicinity of the stream and in the riparian zone. They generally provided about 60- 80% maintenance of LWD potential. Variable width buffers provided a consistent level of protection for both these functions, although the cost in terms of resource requirement was moderately high. The fixed width buffers occupied 13-22.5% of the available area compared to 31-37% for the variable width buffers. Measurement of the buffer from the outer edge of the riparian zone proved to be effective in increasing the level of maintenance of light in this zone for quite a small increase in the land area required.
A functional approach to stream buffer design in mountain ash forest

Dignan, Paul. (University of Melbourne, 2001)

Buffer strips, zones of vegetation retained along stream banks in, and adjacent to, logged areas, are used to maintain water quality and to protect a range of values pertaining to stream and riparian resources. They are commonly applied as strips of undisturbed forest of constant width from the stream, but their effectiveness varies with topographic, edaphic, vegetation and climatic factors. The use of variable buffer widths based on functional criteria has been proposed as a more rational basis for the design of stream buffers. The purpose of this thesis is to test the application of this approach to stream buffer design in the mountain ash forests of south-eastern Australia. It examines some of the main problems encountered in the design of stream buffers, namely temporal and spatial variation in the extent of soil saturation and overland flow, the deterioration of established buffers and the frequency and nature of unmanaged sediment flows into buffers. It also looks at the ability of buffers to maintain the light environment in riparian forest and develops a light penetration edge effects model for use in buffer design. Periodic field survey of a network of streams around a logged area found considerable variation in the spatial and temporal extent of surface soil saturation and overland flow, extending laterally up to 190 m from the main channel. Large areas of surface hydrological activity were particularly evident at the confluences of streams and towards the lower ends of the stream catchments. The deterioration of buffer vegetation was also highlighted as a factor to be considered when looking at effective buffer width. Eighteen percent of the buffers surveyed were found to be severely degraded and 69% of these were as a result of penetrating fire during broadcast slash burning. Where penetrating fire was not evident, edge aspect had the major influence on buffer overstorey crown health, with 33% of trees in north facing edges classed as severely degraded compared to 10%, 11% and 14% for south, east and west facing edges respectively. Catastrophic windthrow was evident where edges faced the direction of damaging winds. Maintenance of the light environment is an important ecological function of buffers in riparian forests. Measurements of the understorey light environment using hemispherical photographs were used to characterise the natural light regime in riparian and upslope forest. A matched set of post logging photographs were used to develop a model of the response of the light regime to edge creation. The natural understorey light environment around the streams was influenced by proximity to the streamline to about 50 m upslope, light penetration increasing on average at a relative rate of about 9% for every 10 m from the streamline to the upslope eucalypt forest. Light penetration was also strongly influenced by height above ground, with steeper gradients associated with lower order streams. Logging of the upslope forest resulted in major changes in light penetration close to the cut edge, reducing with distance into the forest. Distance from the cut edge was the main factor influencing light penetration edge effects, with most of the change occurring within 10-30 m of the edge. Manipulation of the edge orientation using the hemispherical images enabled models of the change in light penetration following edge creation to be developed for edges facing north, east and west, with distance from the edge as the only significant site factor. The importance of buffers for the control of unmanaged sediment flows from logged areas was examined by surveying 7 km of buffer edge to determine the frequency and nature of these flows. Seven instances of sediment flow into buffer were noted and all were due to the failure of in-coupe erosion control measures. This led to the conclusion that sediment control was a valuable function of buffers but it was not a suitable design criterion for multi-purpose buffers. The site specific empirical models of light penetration were combined with conceptual models developed in other forest types for Large Woody Debris (LWD) recruitment and stream bank stability to compare fixed width buffers with multi-purpose functional models in terms of resource use and the protection of stream and riparian zone values. Fixed width buffers of 20 m were inconsistent in the level of protection afforded to the light environment both in the vicinity of the stream and in the riparian zone. They generally provided about 60- 80% maintenance of LWD potential. Variable width buffers provided a consistent level of protection for both these functions, although the cost in terms of resource requirement was moderately high. The fixed width buffers occupied 13-22.5% of the available area compared to 31-37% for the variable width buffers. Measurement of the buffer from the outer edge of the riparian zone proved to be effective in increasing the level of maintenance of light in this zone for quite a small increase in the land area required.
Scale economics in farm forestry with special reference to timber harvesting

Reed, John ( 2001)

The potential for farm forestry to provide commercial timber for industry will largely be dependent on the viability of harvesting and marketing of logs from many independently owned, small-scale forest blocks. This thesis examines the economic and technical aspects of small-scale timber harvesting systems based on a series of harvesting case studies, a survey of landholders with and interest in commercial timber production and time studies of industrial harvesting systems. Based on the time studies a model was developed to calculate the component costs for ownership, operating and labour for a range of industrial harvesting systems. This model was then used to gauge if farm forestry harvesting systems are likely to encounter additional costs due to their scale of operation, disaggregation, ownership, or non-timber interests. The research confirms that scale of production remains a real threat to the viability of farm forestry as it is being promoted and practised in Australia. Against this is a potential for landholders to site, design and manage their plantations so as to influence tree size and form, log quality, ease of harvesting and other factors in an attempt to improve harvest viability. The motivations and interests of farmers involved in forestry and the characteristics of their forests are likely to limit the appropriateness and relevance of industrial timber harvesting technologies, training, monitoring and evaluation methods. There is a need for specialist farm forestry harvesting and marketing approaches that are less scale dependent, more mobile and adaptable to different forest types and log specifications. A range of new alliances between the forest industry, harvest professionals, educators and landholders will be required to accommodate and support the large number of relatively inexperienced small-scale forest owners. The research also identifies a need for coordinated resource data collection that is able to collate information on forest types, location, ownership and likely yields, and a flexible regulatory environmental that acknowledges the diverse range of motivations, resources and opportunities amongst landholders involved in farm forestry in Australia.
Effect of storage treatments on the performance of dormant grapevine cuttings

Perera, Iresha Ruvini ( 2001)
WTO food safety regulations : the case of apple trade from New Zealand to Australia

Fernando, Jeewani R ( 2001)
The impact of root and stolon rot of white clover in Northern Victorian dairy pastures

Haines, Clair Leonore ( 2001)

An investigation into the impact of root and stolon rots on white clover commenced in July 1995 and concluded in June 1998. This involved a survey of root and stolon disease over three seasons and the isolation of fungal and nematode species that were detected in the plant tissue and in the surrounding soil. The fungal isolates found were then subsequently tested for pathogenicity on white clover seedlings and adult plants. The project aimed to: (i) develop methods for root and stolon rot disease monitoring and assessment, (ii) determine and quantify the impact of root and stolon rot diseases on white clover dairy pasture production, and (iii) identify fungi that invade root and stolons of white clover in pastures and test their pathogenicity. In order to properly describe and identify rots on roots and stolons, descriptive symptom codes were developed with collaborators in New South Wales and New Zealand. These codes were used as standards in order to describe the status of stolons and root in all studies conducted during this project. In a field experiment used to evaluate the effect of selective fungicides and a nematicide on white clover decline there were usually no effects of treatments on pasture dry matter production or white clover content. Also agronomic assessments suggest application of fungicides and a nematicide did not increase total dry matter production. In the later stages of the experiment (mid year 2 - year 3), the application of fungicides reduced (P<0.05) dry matter production relative to the control. Within the first two to three weeks after the last or previous chemical applications, pasture dry matter and white clover content were higher (P<0.05), and stolon and root rot diseases were reduced (P<0.05) in either the fungicides alone, nematicide alone or the combination compared to the untreated control. The nematicide treatment showed significantly higher white clover content than the other treatments. There was no association between root and stolon rot diseases and either pasture dry matter or white clover content throughout the experimental period. A pathogenicity test for seedlings of white clover was developed and proved to be an ideal method to rapidly determine the pathogenicity of large numbers of fungi. This is the first time the author has noted this method used on white clover exclusively. Of 400 fungi isolated, 350 isolates were tested on seedlings and six week old white clover plants for their ability to cause disease. Rhizoctonia spp. and Fusarium spp. (including F. oxysporum, F. subglutinans, and F. solani) were among the highly pathogenic fungi. The pathogenicity tests provided evidence of fungi as a cause of white clover root rot. A photographic study of the rots on stolons of white clover found that most of the fungi tested infected the stolons when they were wounded. Only Rhizoctonia spp. Group 2 and Fusarium oxysporum had the capacity to form lesions on non-wounded stolons. Nematodes found in the field study included Helicotylenchus spp., Psilenchus spp., Quinisulcius spp., Heterodera trifola, Tylenchus spp. and Tylencholamius spp. Nematicide application reduced populations of Helicotylenchus spp. and Tylenchus spp. relative to the untreated control. The increase in pasture dry matter production in the nematicide treatment indicated that these ecoparasites could have a role in the root disease complex. The severity of root and stolon rot symptoms was not correlated with dry matter production or pasture composition. Results obtained from this research suggest "root and stolon diseases caused by soilborne fungi do not reduce the productivity of white clover in dairy pastures". It is more likely that white clover decline is pnmarily induced by abiotic stresses that act as predisposing factors for a secondary invasion by soilborne fungi. Nematodes, in addition to the damage they cause on their own, also provide entry points for secondary invading soilborne fungi.
Forests, policy and communities in the Solomon Islands : a case study of the Nusa Hope Community and their contact with the log licence approval procedure

Vazu, Samuel Pitakaka ( 2001)
Common property resource management under the Indian Joint Forest Management framework

Kumar, Ajai ( 2001)

School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses

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