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Uany pastoral leases in western New South Wales are too small to ensure that viable pastoral enterprisu will persist in the medium to longer term. Apart
from attendant welfare problems for leaseholders and their dependants, there is some evidence that this has exacerbated overgrazing problems which
creates undesirable and potentially irreversible degradation of vegetation and soil resources.
Arguably, the small size problem has sufficiently weakened the economic welfare of many lessees to make private acquisition of additional areas andl
or adoption of conservation oriented management practices non-economic. The future scenario is then one of greater public involvement in property
adjustment measures; or a growing population of non-viable pastoral enterprises with its attendant efficiency, welfare and resource conservation
problems.
The paper examines trends in property enterprise size, structure and concentration and the existence and extent of size economies for wool and livestock
production in western New South Wales. Several issues are addressed concerning the economic viability of pastoral properties and several public policy
prescriptions are presented for addressing the sizehiability problem.