Introduction.With increasing herd sizes and decreasing workforce availability, precision livestock farming (PLF) is being developed in the dairy sector to facilitate herd monitoring. A desire to reduce the drudgery of repetitive tasks is another factor contributing to the adoption of PLF. This study, based on a review of the scientific literature, focuses on the impact of PLF on the profession and work organization of dairy farmers. Literature. Time savings are observed because robots and sensors take on recurrent physical tasks (milking, feeding) while simplifying the monitoring of animals (heat, health problems, etc.). Farmers appreciate the additional flexibility in organizing their work. The information provided can reduce the mental workload due to the anticipation of events (insemination, health problems). However, the mental workload can sometimes be increased due to the complexity of the information involved in managing the multiple alarms or alerts and equipment failures. The relationship between farmers and their animals is also modified. Conclusions. Precision livestock farming can have a positive impact on dairy farmers' work and can be attractive for young people. However, if the tools are not adapted to farmers' needs and skills, PLF can also lead to negative impacts on farmers and animals. It is therefore critical to consider the different dimensions of farmers' work to facilitate their adoption of these new technologies.
All over the world, farmers have to face up to increasing uncertainties (market and climate). They have to adapt their activity to the new contexts and challenges of livestock farming (producing more and better, and satisfying the expectations of society, consumers, and of downstream operators), while at the same time responding to their own expectations in terms of income, quality of life, and working conditions. In order to understand these changes and consider the future, work organization must be taken into account. The Work Assessment Method, developed by French livestock researchers, provides a framework able to capture work organization, taking into account the specifics of the livestock activity. Based on a comparative analysis of nine case studies that used the Work Assessment Method from six contrasted countries, this review (1) gives generic ideas on work organization indicators and their variation; (2) identifies four generic patterns of work organization which are not linked to the local context but marked by the workforce composition; (3) demonstrates that the relevance of the Work Assessment Method to tackle work issues, and its capacities to be adapted to a variety of livestock farming contexts throughout the world, is linked to the properties of its framework, which was developed by combining different disciplinary approaches; (4) highlights the principal limits of the method: lack of coordination with other dimensions of work (labor productivity; sense of the job), and limited characterization of the work organization flexibility; and (5) proposes some possibilities of change to better respond to the diversity of work situations and questions about work, and take better into account the evolutions of livestock farming systems.
The organization of work and changes in patterns of working life is of increasing concern to farmers worldwide. This creates challenges for advisors, who do not always know (i) how to recognize farmers' or their own needs for knowledge and new approaches to farm work organization or (ii) how to assess different methods of advice to tackle this issue. How are advisors responding to this concern and what are the implications for advisory roles and the advisory situation? In this paper, we review the situation of farm work organization changes and advisory responses. We describe a conceptual framework integrating different foundations relating to work organization on farms, the farmer-advisor relationship and methods of advice. Applying this framework to farm work organization and advisory responses in Australia, Belgium, France and Uruguay, our findings are as follows: (i) the specific characteristics of work are a source of difficulties for both farmers and advisors; (ii) for the farmers, work is a very personal subject linked to identity; (iii) for the advisors, it requires different methods of advisory practice and skills; (iv) success of advisory roles in the context of farm work requires the control of various 'role statements'; and (v) the organizational framework in which advisors carry out their activity, as well as specific training, can make it easier to identify and organize the skills.
De façon paradoxale, alors que le travail constitue un enjeu important pour la pérennité des exploitations d’élevage, les éleveurs en parlent relativement peu et sollicitent rarement de façon spontanée un accompagnement sur ce thème. Parallèlement, les conseillers sont nombreux à faire part de leurs difficultés à s’approprier le sujet et à se positionner comme des personnes ressources sur ce thème auprès des éleveurs. A partir d'expériences de terrain, nous avons analysé les difficultés que les conseillers ressentent et expriment, en vue de formuler quelques recommandations pour les lever. Parmi les difficultés énoncées, certaines sont liées au fait que le travail est à la fois un sujet intime et tabou, et un sujet multifacette. Ces caractéristiques questionnent d’une part le choix d’une posture adéquate (prescription, expertise, accompagnement…) selon la situation de conseil dans laquelle ce sujet est abordé, et d’autre part les relations avec les collègues, car il est souvent nécessaire de s’appuyer sur des compétences et des intervenants complémentaires. Les recommandations pour la mise en oeuvre d’un conseil sur le travail portent sur les évolutions des pratiques des conseillers eux-mêmes mais aussi sur le cadre organisationnel. Les conseillers ont tout d’abord besoin de connaissances sur le champ du travail, de compétences pour faciliter l’émergence de besoins, accompagner dans la durée les agriculteurs, et ont besoin d’outils et de méthodes pour étayer leur conseil. Le cadre organisationnel doit aider à articuler des compétences et des organismes complémentaires afin de constituer une offre de conseil centrée sur le travail.
Ce chapitre de l'ouvrage L'agriculture en famille : travailler, réinventer, transmettre est publié en Open Access sous licence creative commons CC-BY-NC-ND permettant l'utilisation non commerciale, la distribution, la reproduction du texte, sur n'importe quel support, à condition de citer la source.
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