Increasing demand for beef in Indonesia (Deblitz, Kristedi, Hadi, Triastono, & Puspadi, 2011) is reflected in heightened policy emphasis on domestic production. Local cow and calf production is being supported by a number of government programs. The great majority of Indonesian beef production, and cows and calves in particular, is in the hands of smallholder producers (Ilham, Saptana, Purwoto, Supriyatna, & Nurasa, 2015). A variety of constraints, however, limit the extent to which smallholders are accessing and using improved management and marketing approaches (Waldron, Mayberry, Marthen, Quigley, & Poppi, 2013). Smallholder producers are a diverse group, thus advancing their participation in the value chain is likely to require a variety of approaches. The current study discusses these constraints and proposes changes that will accelerate the future uptake of new management approaches and technology. This study therefore aims to produce a positive impact on the livelihoods of smallholder beef farmers through innovation interventions that help overcome constraints to economic progress. It identifies distinguishing features of smallholder producers by characterising these features in terms of business models — a process of identifying and actioning change to improve profitability for smallholder beef producers — and presents the identified business models as innovation-based mechanisms for engaging beef smallholders to improve their operational efficiency. This allows for effective targeting of innovation interventions according to needs and aspirations, rather than taking a broad-brush approach. Theories of business models are synthesised to provide an empirical classification method, identifying value proposition, value architecture and financing mechanism. Therefore, the innovation project describes a system for driving innovation enhanced business models in the Indonesian smallholder cattle value chain.

A survey of smallholder beef producers was conducted in two districts of the Indonesian island of Sumbawa in Nusa Tenggara Barat Province. Data collected included: households' production and marketing systems and performance" indicators of innovations" and intentions about implementing innovations. The innovations are then used to cluster smallholder producers. Alignment between observed innovation behaviour and the essential elements of business models allows identification of three distinct business models currently being applied by the smallholders. Those business models offer different entry points for extension services, and for technology adoption to address business model-specific constraints. The innovation is designed to serve smallholder farmers and is facilitated by policy and assistance from the Government of Indonesia, extension and government agencies, and buyers of cattle to facilitate farmers' practice change. An ex-ante simulation model is used to project gains in smallholder production and profits, associated with management and marketing change appropriate to the separate models. This is an alternative mechanism to the feedback mechanism from smallholder farmers, which could not be implemented due to mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ex-ante simulation model is employed to project benefits from adoption scenarios for targeted business models, avoiding expensive and inefficient more generalized extension solutions. The ex-ante has provided evidence regarding each business model: one business model does not include sales of animals, and this might be avoided by buyers and by extension agencies trying to commercialise smallholders. The ex-ante simulation, therefore, can also offer some insight to the interests of those users — extension and government agencies, and buyers of cattle, and the results have been discussed with representative of advisory services and government agency. Those users should be able to use the study's results about the innovation project and around interventions that lead to improvements in productivity — these actors could scale up interventions and generate further impacts.

The context-based research presented in this study and its findings make important and original contributions to knowledge of business organisation theory, in four key ways. First, we observed innovation via a survey of small farmers. Second, we used these innovations identify business models. Third, we demonstrate how business models can be used to make considerable progress towards achieve the objectives of national policy, including the promotion of market-oriented farming, the promotion of innovation and the improvement of the organization and livestock integration. Fourth, understanding the behaviour of interested parties when promoting innovation will (a) helps establish the business models by overcoming constraints, and (b) make the business models more productive by boosting adoption.

To complement an ongoing CCAFS project 'Enhancing capacities for MRV of sustainable livestock action in East Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia)', implemented by UNIQUE forestry and land use, ACIAR is supporting CCAFS to implement a Small Research Activity (SRA) entitled 'Building capacities for an integrated livestock MRV system in Ethiopia'. The objective of the SRA is to support improvements in methods and procedures used to produce and manage the livestock activity data required for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gases (GHG) in Ethiopia. The focus will be on administrative data that is needed for periodic MRV (including both the GHG inventory and mitigation reporting), and data gaps that can be filled through surveys. The SRA will be implemented between June 2019 and the end of December 2020. This report is the first deliverable under the SRA and describes the priority needs for improvement of livestock activity data in Ethiopia's national MRV systems.

Over recent decades, the Australian grains industry has faced various challenges arising from changing climate, increases in extreme weather events and declining public research, development and extension (RD&E). At the same time, there has been growing competition in Australia's main grain export markets. To increase the annual rate of productivity growth and maintain international competitiveness, more and better-aimed investments in agricultural RD&E are required. Equilibrium Displacement Models (EDMs) provide a framework for assessing the potential economic returns to investments in agricultural RD&E and the distribution of these returns along the industry supply chain.

In this paper, an EDM for the southern Australian grains industry, encompassing South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, is developed as a companion to the previously developed EDM of the WA grains industry. Using the EDM, three hypothetical RD&E investment scenarios are examined: a reduction in the cost of farm production variable inputs resulting from new farm technologies or improvements in cropping processes and practices; a cost reduction in stockfeed manufacturing resulting from new technologies and improved industrial techniques; and an increase in the willingness of overseas consumers to pay for wheat due to quality improvements or promotion. The results show that, directing RD&E towards a market segment of the supply chain with high gross revenue generates greater returns to the industry as a whole. As such, RD&E investment aimed at either farm production or bulk wheat export-segments of the supply chain which account for substantial gross value at farm gate and port-can yield high returns. Additionally, producers gain a greater share of benefits when productivity-enhancing research is directed towards on-farm rather than off-farm processes. Furthermore, producers can accrue large shares of the total benefits arising from research that enhances the quality of bulk grain exports because of the high price elasticity of demand for export grains.

This study reports on new product development and introduction by a sample of Danish food industry firms. A review of relevant literature identifies several recent trends and tendencies, including an increasing number of new food products on developed markets and a majority of products being copies of those sold by other firms (so-called "me-too" products). Furthermore, product life cycles are reported to be shortening and the processes of product introduction speeding up. A survey, yielding 131 observations (30% of the firms a stratified sample) indicates that although Danish food industry firms introduced more new products in 2005 than they did in 2000, product life cycles have slowed down and the speed of new product introduction has declined. However, firms consistently identify few barriers to new product introduction although 15-20% of firms claim that regulations constitute such a barrier. Average numbers of products introduced far exceed removals, indicating an increasing number of products on the market.

Survey results indicate that Danish food industry firms use a small proportion of total expenditures for either research and development or new product introductions. Moreover, firms report that these do not feature strongly in their strategy set. The majority of firms in the survey favour a strategy of "a core of existing brands with few new introductions and removals" over strategies involving new product introductions. The survey reveals interesting patterns of changes in the time taken to carry out the tasks of new product development and introduction, particularly that the early (conceptual) stages and phases dealing with regulatory issues have both become longer.

The survey generated substantial data on branding behaviour and the nature of firms' new products. Surveyed firms claimed to favour "truly new" products over me-too products and revealed that local and traditional brands are not favoured for new product introductions. Moreover, surveyed firms' branding profiles increasingly favour larger numbers of products per brand over a single product per brand. Retailers' own-label brands play an increasing role in firms' sales.

The shortage of empirical work in the field of new product introductions precludes comparisons with other sectors and other countries. Clearly, it is of interest to know whether the unexpected results (slowing down of product life cycles, many "truly new" products) indicate Danish food industry leadership of a trend, laggard performance and behaviour, or simply occupancy of some specific part of a broad distribution. More specifically, this report questions whether there are any problems apparent in firms' new product development and introduction.

If there are such problems, few firms in the survey identified them as explicit constraints on new product development. Surveyed firms claim to spend few resources on new product introduction and that it is not a widespread strategic action. These results suggest few policy options that would have the effect of accelerating new product introduction by Danish food industry firms. Evidence found of the exercise of market power as a barrier to new product introduction was fragmentary, with no clear lead given to policy makers on competition policy: indeed, competitive markets may offer to firms lower returns on new product introductions, than do concentrated ones. Further research recommended in this report focuses on metrics and measurement, clarification of definitions, and benchmarking across sectors and countries. Preparation for the survey included intensive training of interview staff on definitions of terms (e.g. "new product" and "brand"), while some scope was retained for respondents to use terms they were familiar with. Performance measures, however, were as difficult to define and use in this study as in most studies of this subject. A major econometric modelling exercise using data from this study is currently underway.

Research on the collaboration–innovation nexus emphasises that collaborations and innovation are multidimensional. Despite this emphasis, there is limited evidence on how firms' collaborative diversity affects their innovation diversity. This paper addresses this gap by examining the relationships between (i) a firm's functional diversity of collaboration (FDC) and innovation diversity, and (ii) innovation diversity and firm growth. We used longitudinal data from 738 Australian food firms, and our findings suggest that the positive relationship between FDC and innovation diversity reaches a point of saturation, beyond which additional collaboration negatively influences firms' innovation diversity. Moreover, innovation diversity depends on the motives behind alliance formation and the firm's focus on innovation. Finally, the association between innovation diversity and growth performance is heterogeneous across firms' conditional growth rate distribution.