13 A Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Microwave Technology in an Herbicide Resistant World

Abstract

A system transfer function for crop yield potential as a function of herbicide application has been derived in Chapter 3. This transfer function can be used to determine the crop response to expenditure on weed management using herbicides. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010), the area under grain production was approximately 24 million ha in 2008. According to Jones, Vere, Alemseged, and Medd (2005), the total expenditure for weed management in cropping systems, including herbicide application or tillage, was AU$1.18 billion. Therefore, allowing for inflation (Tab. 13.1), the expenditure per ha for weed management in Australia was about AU$57 ha-1, in 2010, when the area under cropping was determined. Allowing for further inflation, the current average direct expenditure for weed control is therefore approximately AU$74.67 ha-1. It was also pointed out in Chapter 2 that the indirect costs of herbicide use in Australia, due to environmental contamination, crop yield loss and human health costs, could be approximately US$433 million per annum. Allowing for inflation and the currency exchange rate of AU$1.00 = US$0.75, this equates to an additional AU$31.50 ha-1; therefore, the real expenditure (both direct and indirect) of herbicide treatment could be up to AU$106.20 ha-1.