Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society

YouTube video by AARES David Pannell performing at the AARES 2026 conference dinner

#AARES2026 highlight:
David Pannell performing three original songs honouring retiring #AARES members - Ben White, Steven Schilizzi, Michael Burton, David Pannell, John Quiggin, Kym Anderson, Quentin Grafton, Caroline Saunders, Rob Fraser

A tribute to scholarship & friendship

youtu.be/eAR-T246YDo

It’s the Journey, not the Destination: Driving through Preferences with AI-Generated Landscapes David Worden, Maksym Polyakov, Dan Richards, Michael Burton Understanding how the public values trees in pastoral landscapes is important for designing land management policies. To explore these preferences, we developed a novel choice experiment framed as a hypothetical road trip, where travel time was introduced as a potential “cost.” To implement this approach, we used generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools to create photorealistic images of grazing landscapes, systematically varying the extent, configuration, and species of trees while holding other features of the landscape constant. Analysis with latent class models revealed substantial heterogeneity in preferences. We identified five distinct classes. Some respondents treated travel time as a cost, while others were indifferent or even expressed positive preferences for additional travel time, indicating that the journey itself provides utility. Preferences for native trees were consistently positive across most classes, while views on the extent and configuration of tree cover diverged. Some classes preferred clusters or full planting, while others favoured more open, treeless landscapes. This study contributes in three ways: (1) it provides new insights into the diversity of public views on trees in pastoral landscapes, (2) it demonstrates how GenAI-generated imagery combined with road trip framing can enrich stated preference methods, and (3) it highlights important implications for valuation approaches that use travel costs by showing that in some contexts, travel time may represent a benefit rather than a cost.

Check out our #poster "It’s the Journey, Not the Destination: Driving through Preferences with AI-Generated Landscapes" -- winner of the #AARES2026 Poster Competition People's Choice Award 📌🏆

Full poster in PDF: osf.io/psfu9

#econsky #EnvironmentalEconomics

Great #AARES2026 Special Session: “From Trees to Reefs: Landholder Preferences for Environmental Programme Design.”

Three synthesis papers (by Sayed Iftekhar, John Rolfe and myself), moderated by @soradatapsuwan.bsky.social

Lots of insights on designing better environmental programmes 🌱🌊

#econsky

#AARES2026 Presidential Address by Professor Jeff Connor: The Productivity and Wellbeing Value of Collegiality, Cooperation, and Collaboration

A strong New Zealand 🇳🇿 presence at #AARES2026 in Adelaide, SA 🇦🇺
#econsky

🎓 #AARES SA Student Conference Awards – Applications Open

🗓 Applications close 27 February 2026

Students, ECR, and young professionals who presented at the 2026 AARES Conference are invited to apply

Successful applicants receive free #AARES2027 registration

mailchi.mp/aares.org.au...

👏 Congratulations to @dpannell66.bsky.social, Robert Johnston, Michael Burton, Sayed Iftekhar, Abbie Rogers & Cheryl Day on winning the 2025 #AARES Quality of Research Discovery Award at #AARES2026 🎉🏆

For their paper "The value of value ...." in @jeem-econ.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

It was great to join pre-conference #AARES2026 6K run along spectaculat River Torrens under the leadership of experienced #AARES runners Lin Crase and @johnquiggin.bsky.social

#econsky

🖼️ Poster Competition
People’s Choice: Maksym Polyakov et al.
Winner: Claire Doll et al.
Runner-up: Bareerah Fatima

/end

🚀 First Time Presenter Competition
Joint winners: Ryan Singleton, Sidra Ishfaq
Runner-up: Venty Fitriany Nurunisa

/3

🎓 3-Minute Thesis Competition
Winner: Kathleen Mae Valencio
Runners-up: Iqbal Saleh Sitompul, Nisrina Qotrunnada

/2

🔔 #AARES2026 closed on a high note in Adelaide, with the traditional bell-ringing by the outgoing and incoming Presidents Jeff Connor and Emilio Morales and celebration of this year’s award winners:

/1

The 70th AARES #AARES2026 Conference kicked off in Adelaide!
📸 Welcome to Country – honoring the Traditional Custodians.
📸 SA Minister for Primary Industries – highlights innovation and sustainable primary industries
📸 AARES President Jeff Connor opens the conference by ringing the famous cowbell 🛎️

Off to a great start with the #AARES26 #ECRDay ECR Workshop participants

#Adelaide #BizEventsAdl #AdelaideCC

🎓 The #AARES South Australian Branch invites students and early career researchers presenting at the #AARES2026 Conference to apply for Student Conference Awards

📅 Applications close 27 February 2026

👉 Details and how to apply: mailchi.mp/aares.org.au...
#econsky

📢 New issue alert!

📃Volume 70, Issue 1 of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (#AJARE) is now available.

Read here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678489...

⏰ Another week to register for #AARES2026!
📅 Registration extended till Saturday, 31 January 2026
👉 Register here: aares2026.net/registration...
📘 Conference program: aares2026.net/conference-p...

Registration Conference Registration is now open.

⏰ Just one week left to register for #AARES2026!
📅 Registration closes Friday, 23 January 2026
👉 Register here: www.aares2026.net/registration...
📘 Conference program: www.aares2026.net/conference-p...

📢 The AARES 2026 Conference Program is now live!

Explore sessions, keynotes, and events on the conference website:
www.aares2026.net/conference-p...

The program may be subject to minor updates.

We look forward to welcoming everyone to Adelaide in February 2026 🇦🇺✨

#AARES2026 #AgEcon #econsky

⏰ 2 days left! Early bird registration for #AARES2026 is closing soon.

Join us for cutting-edge research in agricultural & resource economics and world-class keynote speakers!

👉 Register now: www.aares2026.net/registration...

#Adelaide #BusinessEventsAdelaide #AdelaideConventionCentre

⏰ Reminder: Early bird rates end soon!

📅 Make sure you register for #AARES2026 before 31 December 2025 to take advantage of early bird pricing www.aares2026.net/registration...

👋 Heading to #AARES2026 in Adelaide? Don’t miss our pre-conference field trips!

🌄 Feb 8: Adelaide Hills history & Waite ag precinct tour lnkd.in/g7u_CKfF
🍺 Feb 10: #Beeronomics brewery tour lnkd.in/gguQV7uD

Conference Registration 👉 lnkd.in/g7xNKxFJ

With #AARES2026 registration open, check out our pre-conference workshops on Tuesday 10 Feb 2026:

🌏 Climate Resilience & Sustainable Rural Transformation (9am–4pm) lnkd.in/g_RpQ5NE

🔄 Transformations in Agriculture & the Environment under Uncertainty (10am–4pm) lnkd.in/gm_NB2Jj

Are you an early-career researcher heading to #AARES2026?

Don’t miss the Early Career Economics Research Workshop on 9 Feb

A full day of mentoring 👥, skills sessions 📘, publishing & grant advice ✍️, networking 🤝

Learn more www.aares2026.net/early-career...

📢 Registration for the 70th Annual AARES Conference #AARES2026 is now open!

ℹ️ Follow this link for more information mailchi.mp/aares.org.au...

Register here 👉 www.aares2026.net/registration...

#econsky #Adelaide #BusinessEventsAdelaide #AdelaideConventionCentre

📣SAVE THE DATE📣

The #EAERE #Diversity, #Equity and #Inclusion Initiative - #DEI and the University of Ferrara are glad to announce the 2026 #workshop on "𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑩𝒊𝒐𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒚"🌱

Stay tuned for the launch of the call for papers in September👀

Reminder: two weeks till the Best Postgraduate Thesis Award nominations deadline

Reminder: two ekeeks till submissions deadline

OI Public Lecture Series- Climate Change and Atoll Islands: Do We Dare to Hope? Our final OI Public Lecture for 2025, featuring Prof Jon Barnett

REGISTER NOW 📑

Our final 𝗢𝗜 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗟𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 for 2025 with speaker Professor Jon Barnett (University of Melbourne) and a special guest panel to be announced soon.

events.humanitix.com/oi-public-le...

✍️ Writing for Today — a 3-part online workshop series for #AARES members organised by #AARESWA

Learn to write clearer, more compelling research papers and use AI to enhance your writing.

Register events.humanitix.com/writing-for-...

🗓 Nov 12, 19 & 27
📍 Online event
🎓 Delivered by Jason Downs