Living Standards and Western Australian Agriculture Research Overview and Key Findings

This paper presents an overview and key findings of the collaborative research carried out on the Western Australian agriculture sector at the Economic Research Centre (ERC), University of Western Australia. The Department of Agriculture Western Australia (DAWA) and the Australian Research Council (ARC) jointly supported this research. Under the ARC’S ‘Strategic Partnerships with Industry Research and Training’ Scheme DAWA took part in this research as the ‘industry partner’. The paper discusses the background of the research; the development of the database and the economy-wide model for WA agriculture; and summary and major finding of the research. Several colleagues have contributed to the successful completion of the project. Ken Moore was the key person who encouraged initiate the project. Celia Cornwell, and Graeme Wilson subsequently continued their support until its completion. Professor Ken Clements has provided intellectual and logistic support to the project. Helal Ahammad has been the key expert in developing the State’s economy-wide model and the database. Inputs from Ye Quang and Peter Johnson have also been helpful in completing the project. This paper is benefited from the comments by Ross Kingwell and Lucy Creagh and from the editorial assistance provided by Malcolm Howes