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Abstract
Pasture-cropping is a novel approach to increase the area of perennial crops in mixed
sheep and cropping systems. It involves planting annual cereals directly into a living
perennial pasture. There is interest in subtropical grasses as they are winter dormant and
their growth profile is potentially well suited to pasture-cropping. However, a wide range
of factors can affect the uptake of such systems. This paper assesses the relative
importance of factors that can influence decisions to introduce pasture-cropping. In this
paper the research question is: what factors predispose a farm to take up a new
technology such as (1) subtropical grass and (2) subtropical grass that is pasture-cropped.
The analysis uses the MIDAS model of a central wheatbelt farm in Western Australia.
The results suggest the adoption of subtropical grasses is likely to be strongly influenced
by soil mix; feed quality; and whether the farm is predominantly grazing or cropping and
by the presence of meat versus wool producing animals. The same factors are relevant for
subtropical grass that is pasture-cropped but in addition yield penalties due to competition
between the host perennial and the companion cereal become important. The results
suggest the level of forage production by subtropical grass is less important but this factor
is likely to become more important if feed quality can be improved.