Farmer attitudes towards converting to organic farming

Despite the considerable interest in organic farming the Irish organic sector remains small. Therefore to target support for the sector it is important to understand why farmers make decisions in favour or against organic farming as well as to identify drivers and barriers affecting that decision. Adoption of organic farming is assumed to be driven by a variety of different reasons such as economic and socio-economic, structural and institutional factors (e.g. Defrancesco et al., 2008; Burton et al, 2003). However, information gathering (e.g. Genius et al, 2006) and attitudes of the farmer (e.g. Willock et al, 1999, Hattam, 2006, Rehman et al, 2007) are also important in that decision. This paper focuses on the role that the attitudes of farmers play in identifying drivers and barriers to the intention to convert to organic farming using the theory of planned behaviour. To set this paper in context, it is part of a larger study which aims to explain the decision to adopt or not to adopt organic farming over time with respect to a variety of factors such as economic, institutional and socio-economic as well as comparing the attitudes and objectives of organic and conventional farmers. The results presented here suggest that, under current circumstances, large-scale conversion to organic farming by drystock farmers within the next five years is uncertain, but nevertheless 6% of drystock farmers state considerable interest in going organic. It appears that farmers do not have strong opinions about organic farming but equally the results here suggest that they feel they do not have a good level of knowledge about organic farming. Therefore an increase in information mainly focused on promoting organic farming as a profitable alternative to conventional farming could have a positive impact on the tendency for conversion. Future conversion to organics is most likely to be financially driven, but nevertheless the farmers’ perception that only rich people can afford to buy organic food remains a barrier and considerations might be given towards approaches that might alter this mindset

Sustainable technology adoption: who and what matters in a farmer's decision?

EU milk quota removal brings a renewed focus on continued adoption of sustainable technologies. This article explores spatial effects in their adoption using Bayesian spatial probit models employing a representative sample of Irish dairy farms. We consider global and local spatial effects, and overcome a missing neighbour problem by implementing census data in our spatial weight matrix. The findings reveal that spatial effects spill over to neighbours and better educated farmers with larger more intensively managed farms are more likely to adopt. The article concludes with policy recommendations that arise from our spatial analysis

Spatial dependence in the adoption of organic drystock farming in Ireland

This article analyzes spatial dependence in the adoption of organic farming. A Bayesian spatial Durbin probit model is applied to survey data of almost 600 Irish drystock farmers. The findings reveal that farmers located in close proximity exhibit similar choice behavior. More specifically, communication and interactions among farmers influence adoption decisions as for example attitudes and social norms were identified to have spatial spillover effects. Overall, the findings from this study highlight that it is important to account for spatial dependence when explaining adoption decisions as this also influences policy recommendations

Communication and advice-taking: evidence from a laboratory experiment

We use a laboratory experiment with a focus on communication frequency and content to explore social learning. The experiment varied group composition by ability and included a randomized information treatment. We examine how information about own and peers’ abilities affects communication frequency and content, and assess how perceptions about own and others’ abilities correlates with advice taking. We find that knowing group members’ abilities reduces the need for communication and recognizing others’ abilities correlates with how much advice participants take. This suggests that benefits of social learning depend on group ability structures and the opportunity to communicate with one another