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Abstract
The present paper reports an economic evaluation of the long-term benefits to
Australia of research by the Cooperative Research Centre for Weed Management
Systems (CRC) into the improved management of
vulpia
, the major annual grass
weed of temperate pastures in New South Wales and Victoria.
Vulpia
reduces
livestock production by competition with more desirable pasture species, by the
production of low quality feed at critical times of the grazing cycle, and by injury
to animals. A 20-year stochastic benefit-cost analysis indicated that reducing the
impacts of
vulpia
in these pastures produced a mean net present value of
#
A58.3
million and a mean benefit-cost ratio of 33:1. Temperate pasture zone wool producers
would capture the largest shares of these benefits, Australian consumers
would gain, but wool producers in the rest of Australia would suffer welfare losses
from
vulpia
reductions in the temperate pasture zones.