I am a Professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics. My research aims to improve decisions about natural resource management, with a specific focus on greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture.

My name is pronounced [m AH - r ih t] [k r AH g t]

I studied Environmental Science with a major in Environmental Management at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. After briefly working at the Dutch Department of Foreign Affairs in The Hague and Beijing, I moved to Australia for a Masters of Economics and a PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra.

I started at the UWA School of Agricultural and Resource Economics (now UWA School of Agriculture and Environment) in July 2010. My work has covered carbon farming economics (with the CSIRO and some great PhD students), conservation decisions (with the ARC CoE for Environmental Decisions), and mine site rehabilitation (with WABSI and supported by an ARC DECRA). I now work predominantly on climate change mitigation in agricultural supply chains, with the Cooperative Research Centre for Zero Net Emissions Agriculture.

My expertise lies in interdisciplinary research, agricultural economics, climate change abatement, and non-market environmental valuation. Feel free to email me if you would like a copy of any of my research outputs.

• Director, Centre for Agricultural Economics and Development, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment

• Program Lead, Cooperative Research Centre for Zero Net Emissions Agriculture (ZNE-Ag CRC)

• Member, UWA Academic Workload Advisory Committee.

From 2021-2025, I served as UWA's inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor (Diversity Equity and Inclusion), and as Chair of the UWA Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee.

It is important to me to deliver timely and thorough research that targets policy relevant environmental issues. My research looks at farm management and adoption of sustainable land use practices, and integrates biophysical science and economics.

I have particular interests in
• Climate change mitigation in agriculture
• Enabling adoption of sustainable practices
• Values and preferences for land management
• Integrating non-market values of environmental goods and services into decision making

I am part of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy (CEEP) and inaugural Director of the Centre for Agricultural Economics and Development at the UWA.

I am part-time seconded from UWA to the Cooperative Research Centre on Net Zero Emissions from Agriculture (ZNEAg CRC), where I lead Research Program 4 (Delivering Value from Net Zero).

Projects that I am currently involved in:

• Project lead on a ZNEAg project that aims to develop insetting business models for Australian agrifood supply chains. This project involves multiple industry stakeholders, and will demonstrate how insetting can incentivise ongoing emission reduction that benefits farmers and their value chains.

• Collaboration with the Wheatbelt NRM to understand the impacts of on-farm natural assets on productivity and profitability. This project aims to build capacity of farmers to engage with potential investment opportunities in the emerging carbon-biodiversity sector.

• A project supported by the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration and the ZNEAg CRC on agrivoltaics, also known as agrisolar. We are evaluating the feasibility to integrate profitable agrifood production and renewable energy generation. The project is led by Dr Caitlin Moore.

• What support do we need to provide to accelerate the adoption and scale-up of low-emission agriculture? A ZNEAg supported project will work closely with primary producers, advisors, and supply chain stakeholders to address adoption challenges. This project explicitly looks at how we can better support farmers and the environment in which they operate.

• Using behavioural science to accelerate the uptake of new technologies in agriculture - with the ARC Industrial Transformation and Training Centre on Behavioural Insights for Technology Adoption (BITA) (supported by the Australian Research Council, in collaboration with QUT and UQ).

I am a Program Leader with the Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC, which undertakes research and extension to reduce emissions from agriculture in ways that retain the growth and profitability of the sector.

I am also Director of the Centre for Agricultural Economics and Development at UWA. We do research that aims to improve the sustainability and profitability of the agricultural sector. We have a specific interest in climate change mitigation and adaptation, benefit-cost analysis, regenerative agriculture, and farmer behaviour.

Feel free to contact me about collaboration and research possibilities.

I work on climate change mitigation in agriculture and farmer adoption of innovations. Please see the 'Grants' tab for funded projects.

I lead one of four research programs in the Cooperative Research Centre for Zero Net Emissions Agriculture (ZNE-Ag CRC), and am involved in several projects. The CRC brings together industry, government, researchers and community stakeholders to develop and scale strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

I am CI on the ARC Training Centre for Behavioural Insights for Technology Adoption (led by QUT), funded by the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Program, AU$4.28m (2022-2026).

English (fluent)
Dutch (mother tongue)
French (advanced)
German (intermediate)
Norwegian (basic)