Farmers, in my experience, tend to be very sceptical of academic research unless it backed up with practical commercial scale demonstrated results. Research in the UK they believe is too often carried out for academic kudos rather than for the benefit of the farming industry. It has been quite clear from my studies that any research body, levy board or academic establishment wishing to gain the respect of the commercial dairy farmer will gain that respect best by demonstrating the impact of any research carried out on the ultimate financial performance of the farmer,s business.
I have been very impressed by the support that commercial farmers give respected research /development farms and amazed to see how far some people are prepared to travel to attend events at these establishments. The level of interest in the outcome of research also depends a great deal on how positive the stakeholders are on the state of their industry and on the prospects of a successful future for their business. This was quite evident currently in Australia where large areas of the mainland are suffering a long term drought, in contrast to Tasmania which has suffered very little. The more that development/demonstration farms involve the proposed end user of research, the more support the establishment seems to generate.
The purpose of his study was to define the role of discussion groups and to understand how the mechanisms of farmer focus groups assist in the development of successful dairying. In New Zealand and Australia discussion groups are an established form of information gathering and dissemination with a long history of proven grass based research and education. However, Irish groups differ from those in the southern hemisphere, as they started comparatively recently but are extremely progressive.
He wanted to:
+ Meet participants and facilitators.
+ Research the reasons for discussion groups and how the concept has evolved.
+ Study different methods of running groups.
+ Analyse and define 'successful dairying' to quantify the achievements of discussion groups.
His full report will attempt to:
+ Successfully introduce more farmers to the discussion group concept, through emphasising the personal and financial benefits that involvement can bring.
+ Show the relevance of DG theories and practices in relation to the forthcoming changes in British dairying and agricultural support.
+ Further develop farmer focus groups in the UK as an education tool, to research, evaluate and monitor new ideas.
+ Re-establish links between dairy organisations and producers, to try and create some uniformity and focus within the industry.
+ Compare and contrast the structure of overseas groups in relation to the UK.
+ Dispel the inevitable association with 'that New Zealand system'!
In the past the UK was a leading example of agricultural development and expertise. However political and business changes that have taken place within the past decade have meant that farmers have had to diversify and learn new skills as intensive production is no longer favoured.
This report aims to improve the opportunities for UK farmers in accessing support and funding for rural development initiatives, by assessing those operated abroad, in order to define a best practice approach that could be employed by UK government. The author begins by outlining the scenario of rural Britain post-war with the "food production at any cost" approach and the change that has been undertaken with regard to the greater bureaucracy and environmental regulation that is now apparent in today's consumer-oriented world. Considerable focus is given to initiatives and programmes set up such as England Rural Development Programme, designed to encourage alternative enterprise and agri-environment scheme adoption. Focus is then given to approaches utilized in the EU, namely Germany and Denmark, in addition to Canada, highlighting the need to develop sustainable solutions based upon economic performance to secure the future of rural communities, as current systems (agri-environment schemes) are financially unsustainable.
The author's journey included visits to Denmark, Germany and Canada, in addition to UK travel, to complete this report.
As fuel and labour costs continue to rise, the overall cost of food production (bared by farmers) is increasing. However, supermarkets continue to dominate supply chains and as a result continue to reduce prices offered to consumers, yet maintaining margins in the process. The challenge is how UK farmers are to survive this continual squeeze, and as a result what should be changed to achieve this.
The author began this report by defining marketing, as set out by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, as after all this is the key component to altering today's market structure. All of the various routes to market are outlined, including the emerging internet market, prior to giving considerable focus to trends in food consumption. A number of sources of market information are analysed, one of which being Tesco and its successful clubcard strategy. The US approach is also explained, highlighting the need for communication within the supply chain, as UK consumers may not actually demand foreign produce and if the current scenario continues, UK agriculture may invest elsewhere, by which time it will be too late for the supermarkets. We need recognise the changing demand of consumers and build upon the branding that is possible from UK food, produced honestly and genuinely in rural communities.
Stephen travelled to the USA and within the UK as part of his report.
The perception of farm jobs as long tiring days working alone in all weather in return for low pay is, understandably, not going to attract the required labour force of the future. In order to halt the decline in the number of young people wanting to pursue a career in agriculture, action must be taken now to secure the workers with the correct skills for the next generation of farmers.
This report outlines how agricultural education systems currently operate in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden, demonstrating how there needs to be more knowledge held by careers advisors in schools of the opportunities available in agriculture as opposed to other industries. Also recommended is the obligation of colleges to teach more practical skills through apprenticeships and the need to create a professional perception of agricultural employment so that it can be recognised as a valuable career. In addition this is emphasised as a means to retain employees through motivation, to create stable and thus sustainable businesses of the future.
To enable the author to complete the report, he visited Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Sweden.
As demographic change prevails more and more people lose sight of the method by which food is produced and therefore education is now viewed as very important in terms of improving the state of the food industry.
This report firstly describes an argument to merely assist children to learn about agriculture, food and the environment which is essentially carried out by reviews the work being carried out in a number of countries around the world including the USA and Canada. The author considers the value of many initiatives and programmes used abroad such as Agriculture in the classroom (AITC), which has been adopted in many countries. The findings are concluded with the very pro-active approach taken abroad in terms of agricultural education and the recommendation for UK producer groups to embrace some similar volumes of energy and tremendous amounts of money into education as is evident in North America, because the effort of DEFRA to do this is clearly questionable.
The author visited Denmark, the USA and Canada to produce this report.
The recent CAP reform and decoupling of subsidy support has meant that focus will now be drawn back to the farm itself, therefore highlighting the need for considerable co-operation and communication to improve sustainability and profitability in the future.
This report highlights how the UK has little knowledge of farmer forums but yet across New Zealand, there are many groups to join and more importantly many farmers are keen to be involved in them. Benchmarking is presented as a method of achieving improvements, demonstrating how comparisons and discussions between producers themselves are often more effective than using individual consultancies. Many examples of pro-active groups across Australia and New Zealand are included demonstrating what can be learnt by the UK industry. The author presents many conclusions, each with a recommendation displaying how discussion groups must operate as effective organisations and take on the correct role within the community allowing access to expertise, for example from scientists, thus to the benefit of its members.
The author travelled to Australia, New Zealand and Argentina to produce this report.
Amongst farmers, as in all groups, there will always be those who are innovative, adopting new technology immediately and in many cases will search it out for themselves. However all British dairy farmers pay for research and development through their Milk development council (MDC) levy, but yet not all benefit from it.
This report examines successful technology transfer to and implementation by dairy farmers in countries abroad with a view to applying these methods to the UK. Technology transfer is defined and examples are considered such as when extended grazing began to be used in the UK from the innovators through to the early adopters and the early and late majority. Other countries are considered and conclusions drawn as to the need to make farmers feel more in control and make existing information more accessible, as information is useless if it cannot be acted upon. Furthermore the author emphasises the need to be more innovative when designing technology transfer and extension tools, learning from other countries and even other industries.
The author visited Australia, Holland and Denmark to carry out research for this report.
There are many projects and programmes run now to assist disabled or disadvantaged people improve their quality of life. However most of these are run in or through schools, community centres and hospitals perhaps presenting a market for alternatives to clinical therapy.
This report presents the concepts of animal assisted therapy and activities in countries around the world whilst demonstrating an insight into Forest schools and the associated activities. The core theme of the report is that of human-animal interaction showing technical side of the activities including qualifications that can be gained from training and considering the marketing and funding of these projects. This report shows the various opportunities that are available to conduct this educational work through agri-tourism or the use of off-farm sites allowing non-farmers to become involved. This is developed into a structured conclusion recommending that this education will assist in developing sustainable agriculture and that further research is needed into the psychological benefits of animal interaction.
The author visited Brazil, New Zealand and Australia alongside travel throughout the UK to enable this report to be compiled.
As UK farming experiences current difficulties there is a requirement to improve efficiency to maintain returns enjoyed in the past. In order to do this it is quite clear that improvements in technical performance are the key to increased profitability.
This report presents how traditionally UK farmers are sceptical of academic research and that producers across New Zealand, Australia and Ireland are more involved in the decisions over what research is conducted and assist more widely with the operation of such development/demonstration farms. It is evident that these organisations need to communicate the need for farmer/industry involvement to enable the full benefits to be reaped from them. The author focuses on the dairy industry comparing the different countries alike, concluding that New Zealand has the most effective research programme as it is 100% farmer owned, demonstrating the need for producer involvement. Nevertheless the UK clearly has difficulties, despite the best efforts of the Milk Development Council to replicate examples from across world.
The author travelled to New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and across parts of the UK to produce this coherent report.
