scholarly journals Does establishing lucerne under a cover crop increase farm financial risk?

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 1149
Author(s):  
T. L. Nordblom ◽  
T. R. Hutchings ◽  
R. C. Hayes ◽  
G. D. Li ◽  
J. D. Finlayson
Keyword(s):  
Cover Crop ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Financial Outcomes ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
The Face ◽  
Stocking Rates

Rainfed farms in south-eastern Australia often combine annual cropping and perennial pasture phases with grazing sheep enterprises. Such diversity serves in managing diseases, pests and plant nutrition while stabilising income in the face of wide, uncorrelated variations in international commodity prices and local weather over time. We use an actuarial accounting approach to capture the above contexts to render financial risk profiles in the form of distributions of decadal cash balances for a representative 1000-ha farm at Coolamon (34°50ʹS, 147°12ʹE) in New South Wales, Australia. For the soil and weather conditions at this location we pose the question of which approach is better when establishing the perennial pasture lucerne (Medicago sativa L.): sowing with the final crop of the cropping phase, or sowing alone following the final crop? It is less expensive to sow lucerne with the final crop, which can provide useful income from the sale of grain, but this practice can reduce pasture quantity and quality in poorer years. Although many years of field research have confirmed that sowing lucerne alone is the most reliable way to establish a pasture in this area, and years of extension messages to this effect have gone out to farmers, they often persist in sowing lucerne with their final cereal crops. For this region, counting all costs, we show that sowing lucerne alone can reduce farm financial risk (i.e. probability of negative decadal cash balances) at stocking rates >10 dry sheep equivalents (DSE)/ha, compared with the practice of sowing lucerne with a cover crop. Establishing lucerne alone allows the farmer the option to profitably run higher stocking rates for higher median decadal cash margins without additional financial risk. At low stocking rates (i.e. 5 DSE/ha), there appears to be no financial advantage of either establishment approach. We consider the level of equity, background farm debt and overhead costs to demonstrate how these also affect risk-profile positions of the two sowing options. For a farm that is deeply in debt, we cannot suggest either approach to establishing lucerne will lead to substantially better financial outcomes.

scholarly journals Earnings Volatility, the Use of Financial Derivatives and Earnings Management: Evidence from an Emerging Market

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Lian Kee Phua ◽  
Char-Lee Lok ◽  
Yong Xia Chua ◽  
Tan-Chin Lim
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Earnings Volatility ◽  
Financial Firms ◽  
Currency Exchange ◽  
The Face ◽  
Earnings Trends ◽  
The Relationship

In the face of crises such as Covid-19, businesses become devastated by greater risk exposure, particularly in currency exchange, supply chain disruption, and fluctuation in commodity prices that cause volatile earnings trends. Higher earnings volatility is frequently associated with greater risk. Consequently, firms could be inspired to engage in earnings management or derivative use as attempts to mitigate earnings volatility. Using a sample of 169 of the largest non-financial firms with 507 firm-years observations from an emerging market, the researchers examined the relationship among derivative use, earnings volatility, and earnings management. The results of a panel regression analysis showed that derivative use by Malaysian public listed companies was positively connected with earnings volatility, inferring that the use of derivatives did not mitigate earnings volatility as intended. This study also found that both earnings volatility and derivative use have a positive relationship with earnings management. This implies that firms engage in earnings management to curb earnings volatility under circumstances where derivative use is associated with higher earnings volatility. Evidence derived from this study contributes to extant literature on financial risk management involving financial instruments, an area that is very much understudied in the contexts of emerging markets.

The economic benefits of providing shelter to reduce the mortality of twin lambs in south-western Victoria

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Young ◽  
G. Saul ◽  
R. Behrendt ◽  
F. Byrne ◽  
M. McCaskill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Dual Purpose ◽  
Financial Benefits ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Western Victoria ◽  
Stocking Rates

Achieving higher lamb weaning percentages by reducing lamb mortality can improve the profitability of sheep enterprises. In this paper we estimated the financial benefits from providing shelter to reduce the mortality of twin lambs in self-replacing Merino or dual-purpose Merino flock enterprises in south-west Victoria. A whole-farm bio-economic model (MIDAS) was initially used to estimate the increase in profit from reducing mortality of twin lambs and a second analysis included the costs of using perennial grass hedges to provide the shelter during lambing. The economic value of providing shelter was tested at three rates of twinning (10, 30 and 50%), three rates of mortality without shelter (70, 50 and 30%) and two levels of reduction in lamb mortality by providing shelter (25 and 50% reduction). A sensitivity analysis to wool and lamb prices, costs of establishing the grass hedges and stocking rates in the shelter area were also tested. Overall, more than 2500 scenarios were tested. Across the range of twinning rates and levels of twin mortality tested, at standard wool and meat prices, providing shelter to the dual-purpose Merino ewe flock was always profitable ($0.05 to 11.35/ewe) and the profits from providing shelter to the self-replacing Merino ewe flock were generally lower ($0.15 to $6.35/ewe). The impacts of changing wool and lamb prices depended on enterprise type, whereas the costs of establishment of the hedges or stocking rate of ewes in the hedge area during lambing had little impact on profitability. The main factor that determined the economic return from shelter was the reduction in mortality provided by the shelter but the proportion of twin-bearing ewes in the flock and the base rate of lamb mortality without shelter was also important. Overall, based on the assumptions used, we conclude that the profitability of many sheep enterprises lambing during frequent high chill weather conditions in temperate areas of south-eastern Australia could be improved by providing low cost shelter for twin-bearing Merino ewes lambing from July to September.

A theory of phasmatid outbreak release.

1965 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 475 ◽  
Author(s):  
JL Readshaw
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Subjective Analysis ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Cool Summer ◽  
Competition For Food ◽  
Generation Period

The paper attempts to explain the causes of phasmatid outbreaks in a theory of outbreak release which is based on direct observations of the phasmatid Didymuria violescens (Leach) and a subjective analysis of several outstanding features associated with the history, distribution, and development of phasmatid outbreaks in the highlands of south-eastern Australia. The outbreaks of D. violescens are largely confined to mountain forests in southern New South Wales and Victoria where a 2-yr generation period predominates and a 2-yr cycling of population prevails with peaks and troughs of hatching, and hence "peak" and "off" years of phasmatid abundance, in alternate years. Birds greatly limit the survival rate of D. violescens during off-years but are ineffective during peak years because of their limited total response to increase in numbers of the prey. The theory implies that D. violescens has two systems of control: one at low density when increase is limited largely by egg parasites or birds or both; and another at high density when increase is ultimately prevented by intraspecific competition for food. The theory postulates that very cool summer weather conditions may occasionally disrupt the low-density system of control and thereby initiate outbreak release either directly in some situations or indirectly in others.

Russian Banking System under Conditions of Global Crisis

2009 ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Gref ◽  
K. Yudaeva
Keyword(s):  
Banking System ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Banking Crises ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Risk Appetite ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face

Problems in the financial sector were at the core of the current economic crisis. Therefore, economic recovery will only become sustainable after taking care of the major weaknesses in the financial sector. This conclusion is relevant both for the US and UK - the two countries where crisis has started, and for other economies which financial institutions turned out to be fragile in the face of the swings in the risk appetite. Russia is one of the countries where the crisis has revealed serious deficiency in the financial sector. Our study of 11 banking crises during the last 25-30 years shows that sustainable economic recovery and decrease in the dependence on commodity prices will be virtually impossible without cleaning of balance sheets and capitalization of the financial sector.

scholarly journals Black entrepreneurship and ethnic beauty salons: possibilities forresistance in the social (re)construction of black identity

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (87) ◽  
pp. 589-609
Author(s):  
Ana Flávia Rezende ◽  
Flávia Luciana Naves Mafra ◽  
Jussara Jéssica Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Black Racial Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Black Entrepreneurship ◽  
Racial Ethnic

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the case of five lack entrepreneurs who own businesses a public that for years has denied a esthetic and phenotypic traits. These spaces, branded as ‘ethnic salons’, aim to take care of the curly and / or Afrohair of Black men and women.In the face of this context, we ask: how canBlack entrepreneurs and enterprisesconfront colonialmentality in social relations, by creating businesses aimed at giving value to, and appreciatingthe identity of Black men and women? The field research was conducted via observations and interviews,collecting narratives from both. The narratives went through a process of synthesis and analysisprocesses that allowed us to flag the motivesbehind these enterprises, as well as the racial/ethnic acceptance present in these spaces. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is to discuss ‘hairtype’ as a constitutive element of Black racial identity, and the opportunity for more autonomywhen entering the labor market.

Grain protein responses to nitrogen applied to wheat growing on a red earth

1991 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
JF Angus ◽  
RA Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Ammonium Nitrate ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Yield Response ◽  
Grain Protein ◽  
Fertilizer N ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Red Earth ◽  
Subsequent Crop ◽  
Urea Ammonium Nitrate

Dryland wheat was fertilized with ammonium nitrate or liquid urea-ammonium nitrate at the time of sowing or about 3 months later (generally at the terminal-spikelet stage) on a well-drained site near Harden on the south-west slopes of New South Wales. The experiments continued from the second to the fifth year (1981-1984) of the cropping phase of a crop-pasture rotation. The maximum agronomic efficiencies for yield in the four consecutive years were 19, 4, 23 and 25 kg grain per kg of applied nitrogen (N). The three large responses were obtained in wetter than average seasons and the small response was obtained during drought. In the last three years of the study the yield response to nitrogen at the terminal-spikelet stage was found to be close to but slightly less than that for N applied at sowing. In those years the agronomic efficiencies for the late-applied N were 0, 22 and 22. The apparent recovery of fertilizer N in the above-ground parts of the crop at maturity was up to 70% of the fertilizer applied in the year of sowing, and, after the drought during which there was little uptake of fertilizer N, up to 62% by the subsequent crop. The fertilizer efficiencies in the non-drought years were higher than generally reported in south-eastern Australia, and indicate potential for profitable delayed application of N fertilizer to wheat. Grain-protein responses were variable from year to year and are discussed against a simple theoretical background of the amount of N applied and grain-yield response.

Evidence of High Sea Level during Isotope Stage 5c in Queensland, Australia

1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Pickett ◽  
C. H. Thompson ◽  
R. A. Kelley ◽  
D. Roman
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
New South ◽  
Good Condition ◽  
Coastal Dunes ◽  
Intertidal Sediments ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Maximum Period ◽  
High Dune

Thirty-nine species of scleractinian corals have been recovered from under a high dune on the western (mainland) side of North Stradbroke Island, eastern Australia. The corals are associated with thin intertidal sediments and their good condition implies burial in situ and preservation in a saturated zone. Most likely this occurred as the coast prograded and a large dune advanced into the littoral zone, burying intertidal sediments and coral. The species assemblage indicates a sheltered environment but one open to the ocean without wide fluctuations in salinity. Three species yielded a mean 230Th/234U age of 105,000 yr B.P. which is significantly younger than the nearest Pleistocene corals at Evans Head, New South Wales. The corals provide evidence of a sea stand near present sea level during isotope Stage 5c, which is considerably higher than previously suggested for this period. Their good condition implies that the overlying parabolic dune is of comparable age and formed during that high stand of sea level. Also, the isotope age provides a maximum period for the development of giant podzols in the podzol chronosequences on coastal dunes in southern Queensland.

An Aerial Survey of 3 Game Species of Waterfowl (Family Anatidae) Populations in Eastern Australia

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 213 ◽  
Author(s):  
LW Braithwaite ◽  
M Maher ◽  
SV Briggs ◽  
BS Parker
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Aerial Survey ◽  
Game Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Black Duck ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Central Eastern

Populations of waterfowl of three game species, the Pacific black duck Anus superciliosa, grey teal A. gibberifrons, and maned duck Chenonetta jubata, were assessed by aerial survey in October 1983 within a survey region of 2 697 000 km2 of eastern Australia. The numbers of each species were assessed on all surface waters of over 1 ha, and on a sample of smaller surface waters within 10 survey bands each 30 km wide and spaced at intervals of 2� latitude from 20�30' to 38�30'S. The area within the survey bands was 324 120 km2, which gave a sampling intensity of 12.0% of the land surface area. The area of features shown as wetlands or water impoundments within the survey bands on 1 : 2 500 000 topographic maps was 19 200 km2 or 11.2% of the total area of these features in the survey region. The area of surface waters surveyed was assessed at 465 300 ha. Assessments of populations of each species were tallied for wetlands by grid cells of 6 min of 1� longitude along the survey bands (258-309 km2 depending on latitude). Distributions were then mapped, with log*10 indices of populations in each cell. Distributions of the black duck and grey teal showed a pattern of intense aggregation in limited numbers of cells, that of the maned duck was more evenly distributed. The major concentrations of the Pacific black duck were recorded in northern New South Wales and the south-eastern, western, central eastern and central coastal regions of Queensland; those of the grey teal were in south-western, western and northern New South Wales and central-eastern Queensland; the maned duck was broadly distributed over inland New South Wales with the exception of the far west, inland southern Queensland, and central northern Victoria.

Multi-dimensional coping and adaptation strategies of small-scale fishing communities of Bangladesh to climate change induced stressors

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apurba Krishna Deb ◽  
C. Emdad Haque
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Development ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Fishing Communities ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fishing Villages ◽  
Climate Change And Variability ◽  
The Face

Purpose Coastal and floodplain areas are on the frontline of climate change in Bangladesh. Small-scale coastal and floodplain fishing communities of the country face a host of cross-scale stressors continually, some induced by climate change, and they have developed coping and adaption strategies based on customary social and experiential learnings. This paper aims to examine the coping and adaptation strategies that small-scale fishing communities undertake in the face of stresses including climate change and variability. Design/methodology/approach This research takes a nuanced ethnographic-oriented approach based on around two-year-long field study in two coastal and floodplain fishing villages, represented by two distinct ethnic groups. The study adopts direct observational methods to denote the ways small-scale fishing communities address the arrays of stressors to construct and reconstruct their survival and livelihood needs. Findings It was observed that fishers’ coping and adaptation strategies comprise a fluid combination of complex overlapping sets of actions that the households undertake based on their capitals and capabilities, perceptions, socio-cultural embeddedness and experiential learnings from earlier adverse situations. Broadly, these are survival, economic, physiological, social, institutional and religiosity-psychological in nature. Adaptation mechanisms involve some implicit principles or self-provisioning actions that households are compelled to do or choose under given sets of abnormal stresses to reach certain levels of livelihood functions. Originality/value Based on empirical field research, this paper recognizes small-scale fishers’ capability and adaptability in addressing climate change-induced stresses. Policymakers, international development planners, climate scientists and social workers can learn from these grassroots-level coping and adaptation strategies of fishing communities to minimize the adverse effects of climate change and variations.

When, where and why do people encounter Australian brownsnakes (Pseudonaja textilis : Elapidae)?

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 675 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. Whitaker ◽  
R. Shine
Keyword(s):  
Air Temperature ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
New South ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Experienced Observer ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Species Ecology

Encounters between humans and dangerously venomous snakes put both participants at serious risk, so the determinants of such encounters warrant attention. Pseudonaja textilis is a large fast-moving elapid snake responsible for most snakebite fatalities in Australia. As part of a broad ecological study of this species in agricultural land near Leeton, New South Wales, we set out to identify factors influencing the probability that a human walking in farmland would come into close proximity to a brownsnake. Over a three-year period, we walked regular transects to quantify the number and rate of snake encounters, and the proportion of snakes above ground that could be seen. The rate of encounters depended upon a series of factors, including season, time of day, habitat type, weather conditions (wind and air temperature) and shade (light v. dark) of the observers’ clothing. Interactions between factors were also important: for example, the effect of air temperature on encounter probability differed with season and snake gender, and the effect of the observers’ shade of clothing differed with cloud cover. Remarkably, even a highly-experienced observer actually saw <25% of the telemetrically monitored snakes that were known to be active (i.e. above ground) nearby. This result reflects the snakes’ ability to evade people and to escape detection, even in the flat and sparsely vegetated study area. The proportion of snakes that were visible was influenced by the same kinds of factors as described above. Most of the factors biasing encounter rates are readily interpretable from information on other facets of the species’ ecology, and knowledge of these factors may facilitate safer coexistence between snakes and people.

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