Economic aspects of legume management and legume research in dryland farming systems of southern Australia

Legumes have played an increasingly important role in Mediterranean farming systems of southern Australia. The paper describes and explains the key factors and interactions which affect a farmer's management decisions regarding legume crops and pastures. These management decisions include which species to grow, which soil types to grow them on, which rotations to practise, and which tillage practices to adopt. These decisions are affected by a wide range of factors which are discussed here under five headings: short-term profit factors, dynamic factors, sustainability factors, risk factors and whole-farm factors. The difficulty and complexity of integrating all these factors into management decisions is outlined. Numerical examples are drawn from experiences with the whole-farm bioeconomic model MIDAS.