How training and innovation link to farm performance: a structural equation analysis

Abstract

The complexity of modern farm management places great demands on the skill, knowledge and capability of farm managers and their families. Keeping abreast of emerging technologies and innovations that can affect each key farm enterprise, and knowing how best to marshal the resources required for profitable farm production, are key tasks of farm management. This study draws on a longitudinal data set of 240 broadacre farmers to compare and analyse their farm performance over a decade. Using structural equation modelling, we examine relationships between the farm family's involvement in training, their human capital, their use of various innovations and ultimately the linkages of these factors to farm financial and productivity performance. Several statistically significant interrelationships are found, and some factors are shown to have significant positive links to farm performance. We find that training undertaken by the farm family, the farm family's human capital and their use of innovations, particularly key cropping innovations, have significant beneficial impacts on farm performance. The farmer's skills in time and organisational management, their engagement in business planning and the unique environmental characteristics of the farm also significantly and positively influence farm performance.

What's driving innovation in small businesses in Australia? The case of the food industry

“…A recent Australian farm study exemplified a very strong link between skills and training, innovation and productivity (Xayavong et al . ).…”

Drivers of farm business capital structure and its speed of adjustment: evidence from Western Australia’s Wheatbelt

“…The farm businesses were clients of a consultancy firm that operates in the study region from whom the data were sourced. The data are a sub-set of data used by Xayavong et al (2015). The data are from farms able to afford an agricultural consultant, so some caution applies to extrapolating findings to the entire population of farms.…”

“…The data are from farms able to afford an agricultural consultant, so some caution applies to extrapolating findings to the entire population of farms. However, Xayavong et al (2015) checked the representativeness of the sample by comparing it with data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics ( 2008) agricultural census for the study region. No significant differences in farm characteristics, such as farm size or enterprise mix, were found.…”

Innovación y empresas: un análisis de sus características a nivel regional

“…En este orden, los resultados de un estudio realizado por Smith et al (2012) identificó una relación, aunque débil, entre la capacitación y la innovación al interior de las empresas. Por el contrario, otro estudio confirma que la capacitación del capital humano de una empresa agrícola australiana y el uso de innovaciones tienen un impacto significativamente beneficioso en el incremento del rendimiento de los cultivos alcanzados (Xayavong et al, 2015). Por tanto, se puede establecer que la capacitación se configura como un elemento diferenciador entre las compañías el considerar las funciones de investigación como una actividad permanente y no de forma esporádica (Czarnitzki et al, 2011).…”