15 pages, This paper studies Chinese grape growers’ time discounting and its implications for the adoption of technology that can reduce the negative effects of increasing precipitation. Using primary data collected in Xinjiang Province, we undertook a contingent valuation of rain covers that protect fruit from rain and estimated a discounted utility model using these data. Using a hierarchical Bayesian approach, we find that local grape growers discount the future very heavily, with a discount rate of 0.17 per year, which is almost four times higher than the Chinese market interest rate. Farmers also tend to underestimate the benefits of adopting covers, with their purchase decisions appearing to largely depend on their past actual losses rather than future anticipated losses. These findings have broader implications for policies promoting proactive adaptation in response to likely increased rainfall in the region. Targeting farmers who give lower weight to events far off in the future and understanding that many farmers may tend only to make adoption decisions that have strong short-term benefits could improve the efficacy of climate policies that target agricultural technologies.
12 pages, eOrganic, the Organic Agriculture Community of eXtension, has conducted webinars on organic farming research for over a decade. I examined questions asked by farmers and university researchers or educators during 52 webinars presented 2015–2017. A higher proportion of questions asked by farmers than questions asked by researchers/educators were about risks, benefits, and problem solving, and the farmers' questions contained many innovative ideas about production. A higher proportion of researcher/educator questions than farmer questions related to details of research studies, though farmers also posed questions about research methods. This article contains suggestions about tailoring research presentations to farmer audiences and confirms the mutual benefits of collaborations between farmers and researchers.
pgs. 137-158, Online ISBN: 978-981-10-8126-2, Online book chapter in Heshmati, H. and Yoon, H., Growth and Development in Ethiopia: Perspectives on Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, Springer, Singapore., Applying logit regression models, we present the factors that determine the tax compliance attitude of individual smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The evidence presented in this article is based on the 5th Afrobarometer Survey (2014). We find some similarities and some differences with earlier studies in factors that are correlated with the tax compliance attitude of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. We argue that tax compliance is a function of individual smallholder farmers and related variables and confirm that people who are happier with open administration arrangements have a tax compliant attitude. Those farmers who perceive that their ethnic group thinks that they have been treated unfairly are less likely to have a tax compliant attitude. Smallholder farmers’ tax knowledge is also significantly correlated with a tax compliant attitude in Ethiopia. We identify a taxpayer’s satisfaction with local government officials as another determinant of tax compliance. These findings are robust to different econometric specifications.
12pgs, In the UK, the pig industry is leading the way in the adoption of welfare outcome measures as part of their farm assurance scheme. The welfare outcome assessment (WOA), known as Real Welfare, is conducted by the farmers’ own veterinary surgeon. For the first time, this has allowed the pig industry to evaluate welfare by directly assessing the animal itself and to document the welfare of the UK pig industry as a whole. Farmer perspectives of the addition of a welfare outcome assessment to their farm assurance scheme have yet to be explored. Here, we investigate how the introduction of the Real Welfare protocol has been perceived by the farmers involved, what value it has (if any), whether any practical changes on farm have been a direct consequence of Real Welfare and ultimately whether they consider that the welfare of their pigs has been improved by the introduction of the Real Welfare protocol. Semi-structured interviews with 15 English pig farmers were conducted to explore their perceptions and experiences of the Real Welfare process. Our findings fall into three key areas: the lived experience of Real Welfare, on-farm changes resulting from Real Welfare and suggested improvements to the Real Welfare process as it currently stands. In all the three areas, the value farmers placed on the addition of WOA appeared to reflect their veterinary surgeon's attitude towards the Real Welfare protocol. If the vet was engaged in the process and actively included the farmer, for example through discussion of their findings, the farmers interviewed had a greater appreciation of the benefits of Real Welfare themselves. It is recommended that future similar schemes should work with veterinary surgeons to ensure their understanding and engagement with the process, as well as identifying and promoting how the scheme will practically benefit individual farmers rather than assuming that they will be motivated to engage for the good of the industry alone. Retailers should be encouraged to use Real Welfare as a marketing tool for pig products to enhance the perceived commercial value of this protocol to farmers.
Preconceived notions exist about small-scale farmers in the U.S. Beyond research on new and beginning farmers, few empirical studies have learned directly from small-scale farmers in the U.S. about their perspectives and experiences. By analyzing semi-structured interviews of small-scale farmers in Indiana, this study develops an in-depth understanding of the multi-dimensional motivations and experiences of small-scale farmers and the interconnected, multi-scalar challenges they face. The lack of social infrastructure to support small-scale farmers becomes paramount as they contend with dilemmas of engaging in pluriactivity, securing reliable labor, and navigating relationship building with consumers and peers for both short-term profits and long-term social capital. This study contributes to understanding how small-scale farmers’ motivations, experiences, challenges, and strategies interact to shape their relationship to the land, their farming enterprise, and their perception of and position in the larger agro-ecological-social-economic system, and highlights the need to improve social infrastructure to support small-scale farmers.
12 pages, Little comparative work has been conducted on the environmental belief systems and behaviours of conventional and organic farmers, especially in relation to farming culture, the environment and lowland farmland avifauna. Adopting a modified behavioural approach, this paper analyses the ways in which the environmental attitudes and understandings of farmers in central-southern England influence their behaviour. Key stakeholder and farmer interviews and a focus group discussion showed how some organic farmers tend to have small, diverse and untidy farms, ecocentric attitudes and a non-exploitative approach towards farming which includes an appreciation of farmland birds. This often contrasts with the tidy, well-organised conventional farmers with their larger, specialised farms, technocentric attitudes and exploitative view of nature, frequently related to creating pheasant cover and the belief that corvids and birds of prey are vermin and should therefore be eradicated. However, these attitudes and behaviours may not necessarily be representative of any differences between those farmers loosely labelled as ‘organic’ and ‘conventional’.
16pgs, Joint venture (JV) farm structures have the potential to increase the productivity and profitability of traditional family farms. However, such structures are not widely adopted within the farm business community. Furthermore, knowledge on the relative attractiveness of different JV models to farmers is limited. We use a choice experiment to explore what JV structures are preferred by Australian farmers, and how farmers’ socio-demographic and attitudinal characteristics influence the type of JV structure preferred. A latent class analysis revealed significant unobserved preference heterogeneity amongst the population. We identify four latent classes that differ in their preferences regarding the number of JV partners, access to new machinery, and/or the opportunity for additional annual leave. All classes of farmers displayed positive preferences for operational decision-making with other JV partners, although they varied in their preferences towards final operational responsibility. The diversity in preferences shows that there is no ‘one size fits all’ JV design, leaving opportunities for a range of JV decision models. Such flexibility in JV design is likely to have advantages when seeking JV partners, with a significant proportion of the sampled population open to collaborative decision-making models.
9pgs, The initiatives of one burgeoning social enterprise give Black-owned farms a platform while connecting them to a wider swath of locals and visitors.
6pgs, Diesel prices are at record levels. The prices of dry fertilizer for corn are double what farmers paid last year. Planting progress sits at the slowest pace since 2013, with farm machinery parts on backorder or in short supply. The latest Ag Economy Barometer shows farmers’ concerns seem to be overshadowing current optimism about commodity prices hitting decade-highs.