School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemThe Logic of Innovation: How Institutional Logics Shape Innovation in Australian Agriculture( 2023-12)This research aimed to improve how institutional dimensions of innovation in agriculture are described and enhance the understanding of their impact on innovation. By exploring systems perspectives on innovation within industrial and agricultural contexts, I explain how institutions are predominantly defined as functional and structural elements of innovation systems (IS). This demonstrates how innovation has been rendered technical in agriculture, and I argue for an institutional turn to rebalance IS towards the social and political. By applying a new institutionalist lens, I expand on the current view of institutions to define them as socially constructed, recursive, material, symbolic and political. I use this expanded definition to highlight the lack of approaches for institutional analysis in agricultural innovation systems (AIS) and introduce the institutional logics (IL) perspective as a basis for my research design. This research is a case study of the influence IL have on managing nutrient pollution in agriculture. It draws data from two contexts that have grappled with this issue for decades, namely the Australian sugarcane industry and agriculture in the Netherlands. My analysis centred on the discourse surrounding each context, drawing on data from unstructured interviews with 22 innovation actors, 119 submissions to an Australian senate inquiry, and 59 documents. Interviews covered actors in the policy, program management, intermediary and farming practices, while documents included those addressing the cases technical, policy and strategy dimensions. My analytical framework draws on the foundational elements of IL and seeks to describe the interrelationship between problem framing, chosen theories of action and justifications used to legitimise action. This was used to develop an initial position on IL observed in the case. I then used qualitative content analysis of data from two discursive hotspots to explore how IL impact innovation activity and performance. Through this process, I describe a dominant discourse within the Australian context anchored in what I label a scientific logic. While this logic dominates the discourse, another competing logic drives an alternate discourse. This I label the experiential logic, which is characterised by a contrasting relativism that questions every aspect of the scientific logic. This resulted in a polarised problem domain leading to diminished action to address the problem and limited progress towards nutrient pollution targets. In the Netherlands, the discourse revealed a dominant societal logic that frames the problem legally and justifies action on the grounds of human and ecosystem health. This precipitates an instrumental theory of action that continually layers expectations for actors in agriculture around compliance with various standards and limits. Sitting behind this instrumental facade was a social process built over centuries and focused on a pragmatic approach to building consensus. This resulted in a fusion of the instrumental approach to defining what must change with a social process of settling on how to achieve this. The polarisation observed in the Australian case was absent in the Netherlands; however, questions exist as to whether the consensus based approach to decision making can withstand the various social, political and functional pressures facing Dutch society. Synthesis of my findings showed how limited awareness of institutional processes, epistemological divergence and weak legal frameworks contribute to poor innovation performance in the Australian context. These insights demonstrate a divergence from the dominant technical and economic interpretations of innovation performance in agriculture and challenge the functional and structural black box approach to representing institutions within AIS. This has implications for the relative emphasis placed upon institutional analysis within AIS. Subsequently, this highlights the need for innovation actors to engage with the institutional dimensions of innovation if progress is to be made in complex problem domains. I propose an enhanced role for innovation brokers to facilitate this process and a representation of AIS that better captures this institutional turn.
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ItemEconomic analysis of ameliorating subsoil constraints using subsoil manure in a cropping system( 2019)To date, no studies have accounted for the effects of the yield and/or price risks that will occur over a run of years on the profitability of investing in ameliorating subsoil constraints within a cropping system. While addressing subsoil constraints is likely to increase grain yield, the key economic question for a grower is whether the income from extra grain produced covers the extra costs of ameliorating the subsoil. The focus of this thesis was the likely profit and risk of investing in ameliorating subsoil constraints. Investment costs and annual activity gross margins for a set rotation were used to estimate the economic performance of subsoil amelioration. The marginal change to the gross margin as a result of subsoil amelioration was assessed using partial discounted cashflow budgets. Risk analysis was used to assess the effect of price and yield variability on the mean and variance of outcomes from an investment in ameliorating subsoil constraints in cropping. This study shows an investment in subsoil amelioration was more profitable on average than an alternative investment earning 6% (real). The size of the expected extra yield benefits and longevity of these benefits are the most important factors for a grower to consider when assessing the likely merit (return and risk) of investing in subsoil amelioration in their own situations.
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ItemThe 'Boxing Day' tsunami - effects and responses among farmers in Maldives( 2006)The `Boxing Day' tsunami of 26 December 2004 devastated coastal areas of eight countries within and surrounding the Indian Ocean, including Maldives. More than 200,000 coastal inhabitants in the affected countries lost their lives; those remaining in the affected areas faced severe disruptions and hardships. Maldives is an atoll island nation in the Indian Ocean. The exclusively low-lying nature of the islands of Maldives make them vulnerable to natural hazards such as tsunamis, wave surges from tropical storms and potential sea-level rise. Agriculture plays an important role as a source of income for the rural population of Maldives. It is carried out in mixed home gardens, settled rain-fed cropping fields, bush fallow shifting cultivation areas and year-round horticultural production fields across agricultural islands of Maldives. Waves of over four metres in height, resulting from the tsunami, swept across the atolls and islands of Maldives. The islands suffered massive physical destruction to structures and facilities. Farming communities, in particular, lost homestead trees, crops, buildings and infrastructure through wave action and inundation. Agricultural lands were inundated, and inland soils and water reservoirs were contaminated with seawater and detritus. This study, undertaken a year after the tsunami, sets out to determine the main effects of the tsunami on the livelihoods of the farming communities of Maldives. Social research methods were used to catalogue the immediate and long-term strategies that affected farmers adopted to deal with losses of food, income and productivity of lands. Case studies of three affected islands were used to explore the effects the tsunami had on livelihoods of farmers on these islands, according to the residents. Assessments were carried out on soils and groundwaters of case study islands to measure the possible long-term effect of the tsunami on farming areas. The study revealed that continued disaster aid, and improvement of people's awareness of natural hazards and disaster relief processes among farmers and agency staff are important for the sustainability of agricultural livelihoods in Maldives. Building institutional capacity in monitoring and assessment of soil and groundwater quality were also noted to be essential. Suggestions for assisting recovery of farming households are discussed, based on views of farmers, and these could be of use to international development organizations and local institutions, to assist in future planning and development of areas that are vulnerable to natural hazards in Maldives.
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ItemAgricultural and related education : past, present and future( 1998)Research funders, providers, educators and agricultural producers were surveyed to obtain their views on the future directions and needs of agricultural and related education. Information was gathered concerning the missions, challenges and likely major changes facing universities and state government agencies associated with agriculture over the next decade. An overriding focus on issues of environmental management and sustainability was evident in answers with a need for closer interaction between providers of education and research and users of knowledge, particularly agricultural producers. The need to attract high performing and motivated students to fields servicing agriculture was highlighted in the stakeholder survey as well as the literature review, and formed part of a second survey. This survey was conducted to assess the knowledge and perceptions of students' concerning agriculture and the various careers available in agricultural and environmental fields. Year 10 Victorian students from both metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions were surveyed as it was considered that they were at the stage of making first subject choices towards future career paths. A review of changes occurring in the land grant colleges of the United States and similar institutions in Scotland indicated concerns in similar areas. It was concluded that, in common with the United States, existing provision of educational services is failing to meet current expectations of producers in terms of their need for information, creation of learning environments and involvement in decision making of educational providers. It was also noted that the development of an education/research provider partnership with industry was seen as a logical outcome of current debates by some persons from each of the employment categories surveyed. The student survey showed that a greater number of non-metropolitan students had considered a career in agriculture than metropolitan students. It was also found that the most important influence on student knowledge about agricultural careers came from parents, school, and the media; that overall student knowledge of the various careers available to graduates of agricultural science was limited, and where such knowledge existed, it was biased by misconceptions of the role and activities of agricultural scientists. Furthermore students placed great importance on high paying careers, yet did not consider careers in agriculture to be high paying. It was therefore determined that more work needs to be conducted to increase the profile of the variety and activities involved in careers available in agricultural and related areas. The two surveys indicated need for change in Australian agricultural and related education, in similar directions to changes being debated in the United States and elsewhere. This was found in particular with respect to a stronger natural resource management or an environmental approach to agriculture and related education, and enhanced information exchange between industry, and agricultural education and prospective students.