Kevin Heanue

Quantifying the Effect of Discussion Group Membership on Technology Adoption and Farm Profit on Dairy Farms

Abstract Purpose: Participatory extension, specifically farm discussion groups, has become a very popular form of agricultural extension in Ireland. The purpose of this article is to assess its effectiveness in promoting the adoption of new technologies and improving farm profit. Design/Methodology/Approach: Following a review of the background and theory of discussion groups, statistical analyses are conducted. Two discrete choice models are estimated. The first assesses the factors associated with participation in discussion groups. The second model controls for these factors while testing the effect of discussion group membership on technology adoption. A multiple regression is used to estimate the effect of group membership on farm profit. Findings: The results of the analysis show that selection bias is an issue with this form of extension. Typically discussion group members tend to have larger farming operations in more advantaged regions than those not participating in the groups. Even when these advantages are controlled for, discussion group membership still has a positive impact on technology adoption and profit levels. Practical Implications: The results of this analysis have implications for those involved in designing and delivering discussion groups. There is evidence to support that discussion group membership increases technology adoption and farm profit, however, greater efforts could be made to include more diverse cohorts of farmers into these groups. Originality/Value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that aims to empirically estimate the effect of discussion group membership on technology adoption and farm profit.

Embeddedness and innovation in low and medium technology rural enterprises

This paper is based on case studies of four low- and medium-technology firms, two in the furniture industry and two in the metal products industry. The research on innovation and geographic proximity, combined with a reconceptualisation of the Granovetterian concept of embeddedness, provides the theoretical context. Among the issues addressed are whether deep, local embeddedness is essential for innovativeness and whether there is a pattern of change over time in the nature of the relationship between embeddedness and innovation. For example, is deep, local embeddedness associated with innovation in the early but not later stages of the development of the firm? The particular elements of innovation that are examined in relation to firm embeddedness are network relations, interactive learning and knowledge base. The results of close examination of the case study firms suggest that different policies may be appropriate for different firms, in different industries, at different stages in their development. Interspersed throughout is discussion of the relevance of the research to rural industrial development.

Opportunities and constraints to improving milk quality in Ireland: enabling change through collective action.

Ireland plays a key role in contributing to the global supply of dairy produce, and increasing international demand, as well as the abolition of milk quotas in the European Union in 2015, present opportunities for the Irish milk industry. Improving milk quality is required to maximize these opportunities. National action on milk quality is spearheaded by Animal Health Ireland, yet the potential for collective action at an industry level is undermined by the inability of individual stakeholders to accept responsibility for action. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with n=12 stakeholder representatives. The theoretical concepts of collective action (i.e., when a group of people with a shared interest undertake some kind of voluntary common action in pursuit of that shared interest) is applied to understanding the results and identifying a collective way forward. Though consensus is apparent on the need to improve milk quality, differences exist about individual responsibility and the best way to achieve higher quality standards. The propensity for collective action is undermined by shifting responsibility to other stakeholders, stakeholder positions, trust concerns, and concerns over the commitment of other stakeholders to cooperate. Understanding how collective action works provides Animal Health Ireland with a knowledge framework in which to build stakeholder consensus. The paper concludes with practical examples of how Animal Health Ireland continues to apply this understanding by bringing individual stakeholders together to achieve milk quality improvement.

Factors Influencing New Entrant Dairy Farmer's Decision-making Process around Technology Adoption

Abstract Purpose: The aims of this paper are to (1) evaluate the main factors influencing grazing system technology adoption among new entrant (NE) dairy farmers within Europe and the Irish pasture-based dairy industry, and (2) to determine the extent to which economic factors influence decision-making around technology adoption and use among NEs to the Irish dairy industry. Methodology: Multivariate analysis is used to investigate the associations between region, education level, previous experience in dairy farming, herd size, age and the farmers perception of the usefulness (PU) and ease-of-use of a technology (PEOU), and the likelihood of that technology being adopted. Findings: The results of this study identify a high rate of grazing, artificial insemination (AI) and financial management technology adoption among NE dairy farmers whose technology decisions are primarily motivated by financial considerations and are closely related to the PU and PEOU scores of the technology. Grassland measurement had the lowest adoption rate (51%) compared to AI (86%) and farm financial management (84%). Practical Implications: The substantial importance of PU and PEOU to technology adoption decisions indicates that future research, extension and education programmes should place increased emphasis on the benefits and usability of key technologies in addition to evaluating their scientific merit. Originality/Value: For the first time information assessing technology adoption amongst new dairy farmers is available. This has the potential to improve and increase extension and education for new dairy farmers in a future post-quota environment.

Worth the Risk? The Behavioural Path to Well‐Being

There is increasing interest in the ‘economics of happiness’, reflected in the volume of articles appearing in mainstream economics journals exploring the major determinants of self-reported well-being. We contribute by exploring the factors influencing how satisfied farmers are with their quality of life. We find that farm income, subjective perceptions relating to the adequacy of household income, debt, health and personal characteristics such as age and relationship status are significantly associated with farmers’ self-reported life satisfaction. While significantly associated with farm income, farm structural variables such as farm size, farm type and the presence of a farm successor were not found to be significantly related with life satisfaction. Our results also suggest that farmers who are more risk averse enjoy significantly lower levels of both life satisfaction and farm income than their more risk seeking or risk neutral counterparts. We suggest that, in the same way that risk aversion inhibits farmers from making choices that could lead to an increase in their income, it may also constrain farmers (and the wider public at large) from engaging in certain types of behaviours that could lead to an increase in their self-reported quality of life. Finally, we find that while farm income is significantly related to self-reported life satisfaction, the direct correlation between these variables is weak, suggesting that farmer life satisfaction can be distinct from business success.

The Impact of Extension Services on Farm-level Income: An Instrumental Variable Approach to Combat Endogeneity Concerns

Agricultural extension is an important policy instrument utilized to diffuse knowledge and increase profitability among farmers. However, analyses on impact are subject to endogeneity concerns, causing multiple biases. Failure to combat endogeneity can lead to false inferences on impact. This article addresses this issue by applying an instrumental variable approach with distance to local advisory office and a policy change chosen as instruments for extension participation. The results show that participation significantly increased farm income and that OLS estimates underestimated the impact. Therefore, a superior estimate of impact is achieved which can be leveraged to better support accurate policy making.