Developing an approach to assess farmer perceptions of the value of pasture assessment technologies

Abstract

Measurement and monitoring of pasture have been identified as foundations for profitable and sustainable grazing systems. The value that farmers place on pasture assessment in feed management is difficult to ascertain and has seen limited research. The objectives of this study were to test a survey to quantify the perceived value of pasture assessment and identify key criteria for design of pasture assessment technologies. An online survey methodology was piloted with 44 New Zealand farmers to assess perceptions of actual and great grazing management outcomes, good and great pasture assessment, and the value associated with moving from good to great pasture assessment. Results highlighted that many farmers perceive a small potential for improvements in their current pasture performance, whereas industry-level studies suggest that this is not the case. We found limitations with farmers linking better pasture management performance with eventual improvements in milk production. There were anomalies with assessing current and potential improved pasture performance through this type of survey methodology, with many farmers claiming very high levels of current performance, and some rating themselves as performing at more than 100% of potential. This research highlights that pasture assessment technology designers need to be aware of the high expectations of farmers regarding performance, for example measurement accuracy and data timeliness. Over, or under, specification of technology for specific tasks, such as daily allocation of pasture at a herd level, may lead to farmer dissatisfaction around costs of technology, return on investment, and if the technology is fit-for-purpose.

Evolução da Produção Científica em Inovações e Adoção de Tecnologias na Cadeia Produtiva de Leite

“…Contudo, o uso de tecnologias nos setores agrícolas, ou ainda tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TICs), tem sido menor do que o esperado por pesquisadores e desenvolvedores (EASTWOOD et al, 2012). A adesão limitada de tecnologias na agricultura tem sido relacionada a diversos fatores, como baixo conhecimento de informática, educação, não entendimento sobre os benefícios e retornos econômicos do investimento, questões demográficas, familiares, culturais, políticas e institucionais mercadológicas -a nível de cadeia produtiva (KEBEBE, 2019;EASTWOOD et al, 2020).…”

A Review of Precision Technologies for Optimising Pasture Measurement on Irish Grassland

“…Deming et al [63], in a study of Irish dairy farms that were classified as labour efficient, found that farmers spent between 0.28 and 0.41 h cow −1 year −1 at grass measurement. Behavioural studies by Hall et al [64] in Tasmania and Eastwood et al [65] in New Zealand, reported that farmers reported a lack of confidence in accuracy and regarded measurement time and effort as major barriers to the adoption of measurement tools for pasture management. The requirement for the development of a universal pasture sampling methodology to reduce operator bias, give more precise representations of spatial variation, and minimise measurement labour has long been acknowledged [34,46,56].…”

GPS technology as a tool to aid pasture management on dairy farms

“…Unfortunately, measuring and recording paddock performance and grazing information is time-consuming and so is not common practice on many farms (Anderson and McNaughton 2018). For example, in New Zealand, although some farmers record pasture cover estimates and paddocks grazed during weekly farm walks to make feeding and farm management decisions, many do not (Anderson and McNaughton 2018;Eastwood et al, 2020). Furthermore, after the immediate decisions have been made, the data is not always retained (Stevens and Knowles 2011).…”