Associate Professor Scott Waldron

Associate Professor

School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability
Faculty of Science

Overview

Scott grew up on a mixed farming property in western Queensland, has an Honours degree in International Business/Asian studies and a PhD in agricultural economics.

At UQ he has conducted 25 agricultural development projects mainly in China, but also Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The projects aim to build development, capacity and relationships in partner countries. A related research theme is agricultural trade and trade barriers. Funded by ACIAR, DAFF, DFAT, MLA and AWI, the research is highly collaborative, cross-disciplinary and fieldwork-intensive.

Scott has led several large multi-stakeholder research programs including: on the cattle trade in Southeast Asia and China with partners from nine countries (funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) and; the Commodities component in a consortium of 11 Australian and Indonesian universities (funded through the Partnership for Australia-Indonesian Research).

In China, Scott worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit, graduated from the Nanjing-Hopkins Centre for Advanced Chinese and American Studies and is fluent in Chinese. He has collaborated with 20 Chinese research and government organisations, conducted fieldwork at county level and below for at least 30 months, and provided technical assistance in trade negotiations on beef and wool. He has written eight books on China, two of which have been translated into Chinese and has published in The China Journal, China Quarterly and China: an International Journal.

He leads the UQ China Agricultural Economics Group that has conducted collaborative agricultural research and development projects in China since 1990. CAEG is currently conducting the project “Informed engagement between the Australian and Chinese agricultural sectors” funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.

In his teaching, Scott aims to bring theory to life through his first-hand, frontier research. He applies an economics approach to teaching the courses:

  • AGCR7520 International Agricultural Development (Masters level, Coordinator)
  • AGRC7127 Agricultural and Natural Resource Policy (Masters level, Coordinator)
  • ECON 3820 Understanding China (Third year, Coordinator)
  • AGRC6631 Agricultural Research Methodologies (Masters, Lectures)

Scott provides expert advice through Australian policy and industry forums and media comment.

Research Interests

  • China
    Economic, rural and agricultural development. Sino-Australian trade, investment and relations. Pastoral and semi-pastoral systems in western China
  • International agricultural development
    Macro developments in demographics, food supply and human development. Micro developments in farm intensification, commercialisation and technological change.
  • Agricultural trade
    Sino-Australian agricultural relations, trade and investment; the cattle and beef trade in China, Southeast Asia and Australia.
  • Economic development
    China especially Western China; Southeast Asia especially Indonesia and East Timor; the Pacific especially Vanuatu
  • Ruminant livestock economics
    Beef, wool, sheepmeat, cashmere, dairy, forages – in pastoral, livestock-cropping and intensive systems
  • Agricultural research methodologies
    Agricultural economics, agribusiness, value chain analysis, policy analysis, institutional analysis, farm management

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, Griffith University
  • Bachelor, Griffith University

Publications

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Supervision

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Available Projects

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Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Langford, Zannie, Ruhon, Radhiyah and Waldron, Scott (2024). Reconciling Indonesian seaweed industry statistics from different sources. Globalisation and livelihood transformations in the Indonesian seaweed industry. (pp. 239-250) edited by Zannie Langford. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Waldron, Scott, Langford, Zannie, Pasaribu, Syamsul, Nuryartono, Nunung, Julianto, Boedi and Siradjuddin, Irsyadi (2024). The Indonesian seaweed industry. Globalisation and livelihood transformations in the Indonesian seaweed industry. (pp. 51-76) edited by Zannie Langford. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003183860-4

  • Ruhon, Radhiyah, Waldron, Scott, Langford, Zannie, Komarek, Adam, Zhang, Jing and Cahyadi, Eko (2024). The South Sulawesi seaweed industry. Globalisation and livelihood transformations in the Indonesian seaweed industry. (pp. 77-98) edited by Zannie Langford. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003183860-5

  • Zhang, Jing, Langford, Zannie and Waldron, Scott (2024). The global carrageenan industry. Globalisation and livelihood transformations in the Indonesian seaweed industry. (pp. 23-50) edited by Zannie Langford. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003183860-3

  • Kemp, David, Wu, Jianping, Lang, Xia, Gong, Xuyin, Li, Ping, Han, Guodong, Zhao, Mengli, Behrendt, Karl and Waldron, Scott (2020). Chinese livestock numbers and grassland impact. Sustainable Chinese grasslands. (pp. 17-38) edited by David Kemp. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

  • Addison, Jane, Brown, Colin G., Lkhagvadorj, Enkh-Orchlon, Jing, Zhang, Waldron, Scott, Bao, Zhang and Bukhbat, Duinkherjav (2020). Institutions and macrodevelopments. Common grasslands in Asia: a comparative analysis of Chinese and Mongolian grasslands. (pp. 12-47) edited by Colin G. Brown. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781788974059.00009

  • Brown, Colin G., Waldron, Scott A. and Longworth, John W. (2014). A diachronic analysis of the beef industry. The Political Economy of Agro-Food Markets in China: The Social Construction of the Markets in an Era of Globalization. (pp. 127-151) edited by Louis Augustin-Jean and Björn Alpermann. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137277954.0013

  • Waldron, S. A. and Brown, C. G. (2014). Chinese and South-East Asian cattle production. Beef cattle production and trade. (pp. 121-142) edited by David Cottle and Lewis Kahn. Collingwood, VIC, Australia: CSIRO Publishing.

  • Brown, Colin G., Waldron, Scott A. and Longworth, John W. (2014). Drivers and dynamics of the Chinese wool market. The Political Economy of Agro-Food Markets in China: The Social Construction of the Markets in an Era of Globalization. (pp. 210-235) edited by Louis Augustin-Jean and Björn Alpermann. Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137277954.0017

  • Waldron, Scott A., Brown, Colin G. and Komarek, Adam M. (2014). Growth, globalization and upgrading of the Chinese cashmere industry. The Political Economy of Agro-Food Markets in China: The Social Construction of the Markets in an Era of Globalization. (pp. 257-278) edited by Louis Augustin-Jean and Björn Alpermann. Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137277954_11

  • Waldron, Scott, Brown, Colin and Longworth, John (2011). The role of the state in modernizing China's fine wool marketing sector. Politics and markets in rural China. (pp. 137-152) edited by Bjorn Alpermann. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203814888

  • Longworth, J. W., Brown, C. G. and Waldron, S. A. (2010). Chinese Sheep and Wool Industries. The International Sheep and Wool Handbook. (pp. 113-152) edited by D. J. Cottle. Nottingham, UK: Nottingham University Press.

  • Brown, C. G., Waldron, S. and Longworth, J. (2000). Rangeland Degradaion, Beef Industry Development and Regional Development in the Pastoral Regions of China. Economic aspects of the beef and cattle industry in China. (pp. 35-56) edited by Yuman, Lui. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press.

  • Waldron, S. (2000). The Types of Agricultural Industralisation Development and its Organisational Models in China. Economic Aspects of the Beef and Cattle Industry in China. (pp. 181-207) edited by Liu and Yuman. Beijing, China: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Edited Outputs

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.