Labor as a driver of changes in herd feeding patterns: Evidence from a diachronic approach in Mediterranean France and lessons for agroecology

Aubron, Claire; Noël, L.; Lasseur, Jacques

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.02.013

Cited by 46 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…This is a current practice among shared employees and farmers of employer groups (Chabanet et al, 2000). In addition, other studies confirm our results demonstrating that structural changes on farms (increase in herd and farm size) affected the work of farmers by changing routine tasks (pathway 2), such as feeding (Aubron et al, 2016) and grassland management (Moulin et al, 2004). Moreover, improving technical skills is a strong way to develop employee careers (pathways 4 and 5) (Everaere, 2006;Abdallah and Ammar-Mamlouk, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Evolution pathways of employees' work on dairy farms according to task content, specialization, and autonomy

Malanski¹,

Hostiou²,

Ingrand³

2017

Cah. Agric.

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-Evolution of employees working on dairy farms is related to the increase in farm size and the decrease in the size of family workforce. Thus, maintaining employees on dairy farms is a major problem for dairy farmers. We hypothesize that maintaining employees is related to their evolution pathways of work according to the tasks assigned, the level of versatility vs. specialization and the level of autonomy. Our aim was to describe different pathways for employees according to these three dimensions of work. Eight farmers and 14 permanent employees on eight French dairy farms were interviewed individually. Eight variables were identified to describe the evolution of tasks assigned to employees, the trend toward versatility vs. specialization, and the evolution of autonomy. Five evolution pathways of employees' work were identified. The longer-term goal is to discuss these results with farmers, employees and agricultural advisors to validate the results and assess their usefulness in a reflexive process concerning employees' career on farm.Keywords: work / hired labor / permanent labor / dairy farms / France Résumé -Trajectoires d'évolution du travail des salariés dans les élevages bovins laitiers selon le contenu des tâches, le niveau de spécialisation et d'autonomie. Le développement du salariat dans les élevages laitiers est lié à l'agrandissement des exploitations et à la diminution de la main-d'oeuvre familiale. Ainsi, pérenniser les salariés sur les exploitations laitières est un enjeu pour les éleveurs. Notre hypothèse est que la pérennisation des salariés relève de leurs trajectoires d'évolution du travail, que nous caractérisons par trois dimensions : l'attribution de tâches, la polyvalence vs la spécialisation et le degré d'autonomie. Notre objectif est de décrire les différentes trajectoires possibles pour des salariés en tenant compte de ces trois dimensions du travail. Huit éleveurs et 14 salariés permanents de huit exploitations laitières françaises ont été interrogés individuellement. Huit variables décrivent les évolutions dans les tâches attribuées aux salariés, la tendance vers la polyvalence vs la spécialisation et l'évolution du niveau d'autonomie. Cinq types de trajectoires d'évolution du travail des salariés ont été identifiés. Les perspectives de ce travail sont de discuter ces résultats avec les employeurs, les salariés et les conseillers, afin d'évaluer leur utilité dans un processus réflexif sur la carrière des salariés en élevage.Mots clés : travail / main-d'oeuvre salariée / main-d'oeuvre permanente / exploitation laitière / France

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Evolution pathways of employees' work on dairy farms according to task content, specialization, and autonomy

Malanski¹,

Hostiou²,

Ingrand³

2017

Cah. Agric.

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“…Differences between C1 and C2 AFs in terms of yields, expenses and labor requirements were partially due to different average sizesalthough the DEA showed that efficient operation could be achieved by reducing the number of animals reared-while farms were relatively homogeneous in terms of other practices and faced with similar physical conditions. Therefore, it can be argued that differences in economic performance and efficiency are mainly due to grazing-and in particular to the choices of farmers regarding the feeding patterns of their farms-and not on geophysical or market external factors [48][49][50]. However, it cannot be supported that the impact of grazing can be definitely positive or negative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Contribution of Pastures on the Economic Sustainability of Small Ruminant Farms in a Typical Greek Area

Papadopoulou

Ragkos²,

Theodoridis

et al. 2020

Agronomy

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Small ruminant production is predominantly linked to the use of natural pastures; however the intensification process in past decades has led to a gradual abandonment of grazing and the prevalence of intensive patterns. This paper contributes to the discussion about the economic performance of small ruminant farms relative to the use of pastures. Using data from a sample of Greek sheep and goat farms it is shown that grazing does not necessarily increase economic performance. If not organized carefully, farms which graze more do not reduce their feeding costs or they counterbalance this reduction with increases labor expenses. An efficiency analysis of the sample using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) shows that farms which graze less are generally more efficient than the ones which graze more. Furthermore, the input-oriented DEA model reveals that the same level of output could be achieved with less a reduction of hours grazing by 12.5% and 11.9%, respectively for farms which graze less than 1800 h and more than 1800 respectively. It is concluded that a higher level of organization is required to render grazing a practice with positive economic impact on farms, including infrastructure for better accessibility of pastures, more efficient rations and training. This applies also to the framework for pasture use in Greece, as the delivery of Integrated Grazing Management Plans is expected to provide guidance and stability to small ruminant farmers.

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“…The choice of a standard workday of 8 h for the calculation of time available may seem too far from the reality of livestock farmers in some countries. These rules, even if they sometimes result in a rejection of the method, make it possible to obtain the same basis for comparison (Aubron et al 2016) and show a large variation in flexibility (from 0 to 1800 h of CTA per person per year). Furthermore, the figures produced do not have much meaning in themselves for farmers because they are not "tangible."…”

Section: Flexibility Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing work organization on livestock farm by the Work Assessment Method

Cournut

Chauvat

Correa

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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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.

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Labor as a driver of changes in herd feeding patterns: Evidence from a diachronic approach in Mediterranean France and lessons for agroecology

Cited by 46 publications

References 46 publications

Evolution pathways of employees' work on dairy farms according to task content, specialization, and autonomy

Evolution pathways of employees' work on dairy farms according to task content, specialization, and autonomy

Evaluation of the Contribution of Pastures on the Economic Sustainability of Small Ruminant Farms in a Typical Greek Area

Analyzing work organization on livestock farm by the Work Assessment Method

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