Applying an understanding of farmers' values and goals to their farming styles

Abstract

A study was undertaken to identify the relationships between farmers' values and their farming goals. Fifty goals were first identified from interviews with 20 farmers in the Waikite Valley. In a further survey of 1100 farmers in Hawke's Bay, King Country and Taranaki, respondents were asked to score the importance of each of the goals. The survey had 680 responses. Cluster analyses of the scores from the survey were used as the basis for developing 10 goal categories. The most important category of goals for 43% of the farmers was that related to maximising farm production and profitability. These goals could be associated with people who put a priority upon values which emphasised individual success. The environmental goal category was prioritised by 7% of farmers, with values emphasising the welfare of others and the management of natural resources. The implications of this study for consultancy strategies are that although most farmers ranked their production goals very highly, they also wanted to realise a whole range of other goals (often including the environment), all of which needed to be addressed. Policy agencies associated with environmental management to implement the Resource Management Act (1991) should develop strategies of working with farmers that account for the multiple goal structure of farming styles. This can be done by providing farmers with management options that can be used to satisfy a number of farming goals. The availability of such management options is likely to encourage greater levels of voluntary change. Keywords: farming styles, goals, planning, values