27Jul 2020 by Stephen Dummett
The benefits of sharing intellectual capital in the beef industry

The benefits of sharing intellectual capital in the beef industry

Articles & Publications, Opinion Pieces
By Ian McLean and Phil Holmes We believe the management of capital is an issue for the beef industry. The returns on financial capital are insufficient, environmental capital needs preservation and intellectual capital is undervalued. While all aspects are important; we will focus here on intellectual capital as it influences the management of the other two. Within the context of pastoral business management, we have defined intellectual capital as the hard-won knowledge that smart producers have learnt from their peers and predecessors about profitable pastoral production, along with their own experience and knowledge gathering. It is distinct from intellectual property which is more about a breakthrough in understanding due to a completely new way of looking at issues. Managing a modern pastoral business is a multi-disciplinary vocation, requiring skills in…
Read More
05Nov 2019 by Ian Mclean No Comments
Avoid Magic, opt for Science

Avoid Magic, opt for Science

Articles & Publications, Opinion Pieces
Contributed by Dr Phil Holmes and Ian McLean Unfortunately, and to its detriment, broadacre agriculture is not always an evidence-based industry at producer level. Yes, there are areas where evidence drives what is done, but it is far from universal. Too much attention is placed on fads and searches for silver bullets. By way of contrast, consider engineering. If it was not based on hard evidence, planes would fall out of the sky, buildings would collapse and bridges would cave in. It is the ultimate discipline in everyday life. But back to broadacre agriculture, specifically livestock. Fads go past the front gate of the property every day. Some of them are relatively benign and some seriously detrimental to business. There have been heaps of them. The whole Soft Rolling Skins…
Read More