Farmer First Research: A review of phase one results in relation to farmers' willingness and ability to change

Abstract

Formal knowledge of the goals, circumstances and constraints of a random sample of hill country sheep and beef farmers has been established. This knowledge was gathered, in collaboration with farmers from the Taihape/Bunterville and coastal Hawkes Bay regions, during phase one of the Farmer First Research programme based at Massey University. The data show that 75% of the farmers, in the study were willing to make changes to increase the profitability of their current farming system. However, although willing to change, 53% were unable to do so because of constraints they faced. Two of these major constraints identified by farmers were high debt and a low incomegenerating under-developed farm. Both of these constraints contributed to an inadequacy of cash for the farmer. The other major constraints identified were labour, an ownership structure which limited the farmers' decision-making role in the property and the relatively low production potential of their farms. Phase one data indicate that farmers would be more likely to adopt new technologies and implement change if the changes addressed the farmers' constraints and were appropriate to the circumstances of the farmer. Keywords: change constraints, Farmer First Research, farmer circumstances, goals