Greenhouse gas and groundwater recharge abatement benefits of tree crops in south-western Australian farming systems

E. Petersen, Steven Schilizzi, D. Bennett

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    9 Citations (Web of Science)

    Abstract

    The indirect benefits of a commercial tree crop for greenhouse gas and groundwater recharge abatement are analysed. Oil mallees are introduced into a whole-farm linear programming model as a source of income, an offset to greenhouse gas emissions from the mixed sheep and cropping enterprises and as a source of groundwater recharge abatement. The profitability of oil mallees is found to be very sensitive to the discount rate, yield and price assumptions and the relative profitability of other farm enterprises (especially the wool enterprise). Under standard assumptions where oil mallees are profitable, the trees significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions and groundwater recharge and the farm remains profitable. If farm-level policies are introduced for greenhouse gas abatement, without tree crops or some other technological change, the current farming systems would fail and be replaced by alternative land uses.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)211-232
    JournalAustralian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
    Volume47
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

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