Research interests

• Economic assessment of land and water management issues
• Returns to R&D investments 
• Farming systems research  
• Whole farm modelling

Background

Rajinder P Singh, Research Economist, Yanco joined NSW Agriculture* in 1998 after serving for more than 15 years as an Economist at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.
 
During his ten years at Yanco, he has undertaken economics research in evaluating the benefits to rice growers and the community of various research and extension projects and programs and compared these benefits, within a benefit-cost framework, to the investment in research and extension activities made by various research institutions and funding bodies. He has also undertaken representative farm modelling and has developed representative whole farm models of different rice based farming systems in the Murrumbidgee Valley.

He is currently a Research Economist in Farming Systems branch within the Science and Research Division of NSW DPI.

*NSW Department of Primary Industries was formed on July 1, 2004 through an amalgamation of NSW Agriculture, NSW Fisheries, State Forests of NSW and the NSW Department of Mineral Resources.

Qualifications

• B.Sc. (Agric Hons.) –  Punjab Agricultural University India 1977 
• M.Sc. Agricultural Economics – Punjab Agricultural University, India 1981 
• PhD Agricultural Economics – Guru Nanak University, Amritsar, India  1993

Current projects

• Finetuning the Happy Seeder Technology for adoption in Northwest India 
• Policy instruments to address air pollution issues in agriculture 
• Permanent beds for irrigated rice-wheat and alternative cropping systems in north-west India and south-east Australia 
• Whole farm modelling for rice based farming systems 
• Australian Vegetable Crops – Maximising Returns from Water 
• Economic Evaluation of Alternative Resource Management Strategies in a Risky Environment
• An assessment  of the economic, environmental and social impacts of the Ricecheck program

Recent Publications

Singh, R., Dhaliwal, H.S., Tejpal-Singh, Sidhu, H.S., Manpreet-Singh, Yadvinder-Singh and Humphreys, E. (2007) ‘A financial assessment of the Happy Seeder for rice-wheat systems in Punjab, India, in Humphreys, E. and Roth, C.H. (eds), Permanent beds and rice-residue management for rice-wheat systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Proceedings of a workshop held in Ludhiana, India, 7-9 September 2006. ACIAR Proceedings No.127

Dhaliwal, H.S, Singh, R.P., Singh, T, Singh, Y S, Humphreys, E and Kukal S. S (2007), ’A financial analysis of permanent raised beds for rice-wheat and alternative cropping systems in Punjab, India’. in Humphreys, E. and Roth, C.H. (eds), Permanent beds and rice-residue management for rice-wheat systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Proceedings of a workshop held in Ludhiana, India, 7-9 September 2006. ACIAR Proceedings No. 127.

Singh, R. P., Brennan, J. P. and Lacy, J. (2007) An Economic Evaluation of the Ricecheck Extension Program in NSW, Australasian Agribusiness Review - Vol. 16, 2007

Singh, R., Brennan, J., Lacy, J., and Felicity, S. (2005), ‘Economic Research Report, An Assessment of the Economic, Environmental and Social Impacts of the Ricecheck Program; ERR No. 28, June 2005

Singh, R. Mullen, J.D., and Jayasuriya, R.T. (2005), ‘Economic Research Report, Farming Systems in the MIA of NSW: An Economic Analysis’, ERR no. 10, May 2005.

Singh, R., Williams, R., Mullen, J., Faour, K and Lewin, L. ‘Valuing a Test for Nitrogen Status in Rice’, Australian Agribusiness Review 13 (2005), Paper at www.agribusiness.asn.au
 
Singh, R., Brennan, J., Farrell, T., Williams, R., Russell, R., Lewin, L. and Mullen, J. (2005), 'Economic evaluation of developing cold tolerant varieties in rice in Australia’, Australian Agribusiness Review 13 (2005), Paper at www.agribusiness.info

Singh, R. and Beecher, G. (2005), ‘Analytical framework for economic evaluation of Permanent beds for irrigated rice-wheat and alternative cropping systems in north-west India and south-east Australia’, in  Roth, C.H., Fischer R.A. and Meisner C.A (eds), Evaluation and performance of permanent raised bed systems in Asia and Australia:, Griffith, 1-3 March 2005. ACIAR Proceedings No. 121

Crean, J. Shaw, A., Singh, R. and Mullen, J. (2004), An assessment of the Economic, Environmental and Social Impacts of NSW Agricultural Advisory Programs in Water Use Efficiency, Economic Research Report no. 21, July 2004 

Brennan, J.P., Singh, R.P. and Singh, I.P. (2002), ‘Economic potential for improving the nutritional characteristics of feed grains, Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics 46:4, PP 1-20.

Brennan, J.P. and Singh, R.P. (2000), Economic Assessment of Improving Nutritional Characteristics of Feed Grains, Economic Research Report, No. 3, ISBN 073471212X, April, Wagga Wagga (68 pp).

Professional associations and activities

• Australian Society of Agricultural Economics
• International Association of Agricultural Economists
• Indian Society of Agricultural Economics

Fields of Research

• 140201 Agricultural Economics 

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)