Qualification and assessment of work organisation in livestock farms

Madélrieux, Sophie; Dedieu, Benoît

doi:10.1017/s175173110700122x

Cited by 57 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…As the available work force is often limited on farms, work organisation is of particular importance: what tasks need to be done, who can perform the task, is it possible to hire skilled workers, can work flows be adapted to react flexibly, e.g. to changing weather (for a review see Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008).…”

Section: Flexibility To Increase Response Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptiveness to enhance the sustainability of farming systems. A review

Darnhofer

Bellon²,

Dedieu³

et al. 2010

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

326

225

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-During the last decade the context in which farmers must manage their farm has changed rapidly, and often with little warning. Dramatic price swings for agricultural commodities, more stringent quality requirements, new environmental regulations, the debates surrounding genetically modified crops, extreme climatic events, the demand for energy crops, the revision of the Common Agricultural Policy and the consequences of the financial crisis all create uncertainty regarding future threats and potentials. During such turbulent times, a one-sided focus on efficient production is no longer enough. Farmers also need to be able to cope with unexpected events and to adapt to new developments. Based on a literature review, we identify three strategies that strengthen the adaptive capacity of a farm: learning through experimenting and monitoring its outcomes, ensuring a flexible farm organisation to increase the options for new activities by the farm family, and diversifying to spread risks and create buffers. Implementing these strategies enlarges the farmer's room to manoeuvre and allows identifying transition options. These options do not depend only on the farm itself, but also on the farmer's ability to mobilise external resources and to engage in collective action. Change is then no longer seen as a disturbance, but as a trigger for the reorganisation of resources, and for the renewal of the farm organisation and activities. Implementing these strategies comes at a cost, so that farmers need to tackle the inevitable trade-offs between efficiency and adaptability. However, unless farmers master this challenge they cannot ensure the sustainability of their farms.adaptive farm management / adaptive capacity / evolutionary approach / complex adaptive systems

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Section: Flexibility To Increase Response Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptiveness to enhance the sustainability of farming systems. A review

Darnhofer

Bellon²,

Dedieu³

et al. 2010

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

326

225

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show abstract

“…The increase in farm sizes -and consequently herd sizes -at constant labour levels has made work organization a central concern for livestock farmers (Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008). Most livestock farmers tend to address these work organization problems by simplifying farm management practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Productivity and technical efficiency of suckler beef production systems: trends for the period 1990 to 2012

Veysset

Lherm

Roulenc

et al. 2015

Animal

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Over the past 23 years (1990 to 2012), French beef cattle farms have expanded in size and increased labour productivity by over 60%, chiefly, though not exclusively, through capital intensification (labour-capital substitution) and simplifying herd feeding practices (more concentrates used). The technical efficiency of beef sector production systems, as measured by the ratio of the volume value (in constant euros) of farm output excluding aids to volume of intermediate consumption, has fallen by nearly 20% while income per worker has held stable thanks to subsidies and the labour productivity gains made. This aggregate technical efficiency of beef cattle systems is positively correlated to feed self-sufficiency, which is in turn negatively correlated to farm and herd size. While volume of farm output per hectare of agricultural area has not changed, forage feed self-sufficiency decreased by 6 percentage points. The continual increase in farm size and labour productivity has come at a cost of lower production-system efficiency -a loss of technical efficiency that 20 years of genetic, technical, technological and knowledge-driven progress has barely managed to offset.

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“…The basic scale unit of organization is the day, represented by the concept of a 'set-day'. A set-day represents a daily work organization framework corresponding to the technical and social division of work (Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008). It is characterized by the routine work, the workforce performing the work and its duration, as well as the relations between routine work and seasonal work (Figure 1).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The QuaeWork method, built on livestock farming systems framework (Gibon et al, 1999), integrates conceptual developments from both the 'Bilan Travail' and Atelage approaches (Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008). The 'Bilan Travail' method, proposed by livestock researchers, aims at integrating the work dimension into the analysis of how livestock farming systems operate at year-round level (Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008). The goal was to quantify the work linked to herd and land management and to evaluate the time remaining for nonaccounted activities (agricultural or other).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, the efficiency debate tends to focus on automation, equipment and buildings, whereas farmers could adjust workforce and livestock management practices (Parsons et al, 2004). Work organization, as a component of the production process, can be considered as the interactions between livestock management, workforce and equipment facilities (Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008). The 'Bilan Travail' method, produced by livestock researchers, puts forward indicators, expressed over the year, such as work durations, work efficiency and room for manoeuvre (Hostiou and Dedieu, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A method for assessing work productivity and flexibility in livestock farms

Hostiou¹,

Dedieu²

2012

Animal

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Changes affecting livestock farming systems have made farm work a central concern for both the sector and for farmers themselves. Increased pressure on farms to be competitive and productive together with farmers' demand for greater autonomy, holidays or time to spend on private activities and the family converge to underline the two key dimensions of work -productivity and flexibility -required for the assessment of work organization. This paper proposes a method called the QuaeWork (QUAlification and Evaluation of Work in livestock farms) to assess work productivity and flexibility on a farm, and its use to identify how livestock management can contribute to work organization on dairy farms. The QuaeWork method was set up through an iterative process combining surveys conducted with farmers in two regions of France, discussions with different experts and literature review. The QuaeWork was applied on a sample of seven dairy farms in the southern Massif Central in France to identify patterns of how livestock management contributes to work organization. The QuaeWork was used to analyse work organization over the year through a systemic approach to the farm, integrating interactions between herd and land management, workforce composition, equipment facilities and combinations of activities through a characterization of 'who does what, when and for how long'. The criteria for assessing work productivity were work duration (routine work, seasonal work) and work efficiency (per livestock unit or hectare of utilized agricultural area). The criteria for assessing work flexibility were room for manoeuvre and adjustments to internal and external events. The three main patterns of livestock management practices to work organization were identified. In pattern-1, farmers used indoor stable feeding practices with delegated work, with moderate room for manoeuvre and efficiency. In pattern-3, farmers used simplified milking, reproduction and breeding practices to seasonalize work and make it efficient with consistent room for manoeuvre. The method suggests social sustainability criteria to assess work productivity and flexibility, which are important for making reasoned decisions on livestock farm changes, especially innovations. Researchers could usefully exploit the QuaeWork to integrate work objectives (productivity, flexibility) into technical and economic goals.

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Qualification and assessment of work organisation in livestock farms

Cited by 57 publications

References 16 publications

Adaptiveness to enhance the sustainability of farming systems. A review

Adaptiveness to enhance the sustainability of farming systems. A review

Productivity and technical efficiency of suckler beef production systems: trends for the period 1990 to 2012

A method for assessing work productivity and flexibility in livestock farms

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