Using market research to understand the adoption of irrigation management strategies in the stone and pome fruit industry

Kaine, Geoff; Bewsell, Denise; Boland, Anne-Maree; Linehan, Chris

doi:10.1071/ea01183

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…First, the technologies being promoted may be too expensive, risky or complex to confer a relative advantage over what the irrigator is already doing, given that water is often a small proportion of the input costs (Batz et al [8]; Stirzaker [9]; Pannel et al [10]). Second, the technologies may not be compatible with the broader goals of the farm family or farm manager, which are influenced by social, cultural and historical factors (Vanclay [11]; Kaine et al [12]; Lineham et al [13]; Pannel et al [10], Montagu et al [14]). To understand why, we need to look closer at who are using objective irrigation scheduling methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do two-thirds of Australian irrigators use no objective irrigation scheduling methods?

Montagu¹,

Stirzaker²

2008

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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There is significant pressure on irrigators to improve on-farm water use. A range of objective irrigation scheduling methods, such as soil monitoring, evaporation and decision support tools, have been developed to address this need. We examined how these tools have been adopted by Australian irrigators using data from an Australian Bureau of Statistics water survey of 7,280 irrigators in 2003. A total of 2.2 million hectare's were irrigated in 2002−2003 with irrigated pasture accounting for 39% of the area irrigated and 36% of the water consumed by agriculture. Cotton, grape and fruit irrigators, who account for 27% of the water used for irrigation, are the biggest users of objective scheduling methods. But still only one quarter to a third of growers are using these methods. For most irrigated crops the use of objective irrigation scheduling methods increases with farm size. The exceptions being pasture and sugar, where the use of objective irrigation scheduling methods remains low irrespective of the farm size. The major users of objective irrigation scheduling tools are where enterprise profitability is directly linked to improved crop water management, such as cotton, grape and fruit production. Other industries, particularly pasture, will lag in the use of these tools because the profitability of their enterprisers is not as sensitive to water management. Until new drivers emerge then it is unlikely that these enterprises will invest in tools to improve irrigation management. With drought and increased competition water reducing allocations, and the increased focus on river and ecosystem health, we may be seeing some of the new drivers emerge.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do two-thirds of Australian irrigators use no objective irrigation scheduling methods?

Montagu¹,

Stirzaker²

2008

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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“…Involvement is the basis for an approach, outlined by Kaine (2008), used to understand and predict adoption of technologies in agriculture. This approach has been used to understand and predict the adoption of new irrigation technology among horticulturalists (Kaine et al 2005), pest and disease management techniques among horticulturalists (Kaine & Bewsell 2008) and once-a-day milking among dairy farmers .…”

Section: Involvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Involvement: a novel approach for understanding responses to nutrient budgeting

Bewsell

Brown

2011

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research

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The New Zealand dairy industry has responded to concerns about the impact of dairying on the environment by implementing a range of voluntary policy initiatives. One initiative emphasises that all dairy farmers have systems to manage nutrient inputs and outputs, with the completion of a nutrient budget as a measure of achievement. The research outlined in this paper was designed to explore the effort farmers put into responding to the policy in order to determine their involvement in nutrient budgets. Qualitative interviews with 20 dairy farmers were undertaken. The results suggest that involvement with the current policy is low. Further work is required to determine whether and how involvement could be increased to help industry and policy makers with the next stage of this initiative. This research demonstrates that understanding how involved farmers are in an issue is one way of highlighting possible policy adoption drivers and barriers during the implementation process.

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“…Convergent interviewing techniques (Dick 1998) were employed to identify key issues influencing participation in EMS programs or training and therefore possible adoption of an EMS. These techniques allow exploration of the reasoning behind actions of the interviewee and identification of consistent themes (Kaine et al 2005). Interview questions and subsequent discussions covered the following topics: (i) general details of the vineyard (e.g.…”

Section: Understanding Drivers For Participation In Ems Initiativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voluntary adoption of Environmental Management Systems in the Australian wine and grape industry depends on understanding stakeholder objectives and drivers

Tee¹,

Boland²,

Medhurst³

2007

Aust. J. Exp. Agric.

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In recent years, members of the Australian wine and grape industry have been encouraged to participate in a range of Environmental Management System (EMS)-type programs. These have been sponsored by a variety of stakeholders including government organisations, environmental non-government organisations, industry associations and large corporations. Collectively, these stakeholders have a diverse range of objectives they are seeking to address through the adoption of EMS by grape growers. These objectives range from natural resource management outcomes through to maintenance of market access and meeting investor expectations. However, these stakeholder objectives may not align to the individual needs of grape growers, nor to the drivers that may influence the adoption of an EMS by such individuals. To date, there has been variable success with voluntary adoption of EMS (or similar concepts) across viticulture regions throughout Australia. This paper seeks to clarify this variability based on an assessment of the needs and circumstances of various industry groups associated with EMS initiatives. A conceptual framework is proposed which categorises these particular needs according to different scales of influence (e.g. industry, region, business and individual). In addition, the drivers that operate at the individual grower level are further explored through a qualitative field study. This study has implications for the design and promotion of EMS programs for the wine and grape and other agricultural industries. It is clear that a ‘one size fits all’ approach will not meet the varying needs and objectives of all industry participants. Furthermore, grape growers may not perceive a need to change and, therefore, are yet to identify any benefits from voluntary adoption of an EMS. Alternative mechanisms such as market-based or regulatory instruments may need to be considered, dependent on the objectives that are sought.

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Using market research to understand the adoption of irrigation management strategies in the stone and pome fruit industry

Cited by 23 publications

References 5 publications

Why do two-thirds of Australian irrigators use no objective irrigation scheduling methods?

Why do two-thirds of Australian irrigators use no objective irrigation scheduling methods?

Involvement: a novel approach for understanding responses to nutrient budgeting

Voluntary adoption of Environmental Management Systems in the Australian wine and grape industry depends on understanding stakeholder objectives and drivers

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