Exploring farmers’ decisions to engage in grass measurement on dairy farms in Ireland
Abstract
Purpose Employing a theoretical model of human behaviour (COM-B), the current study explores the factors influencing farmers’ engagement with grass measurement on Irish dairy farms.Methodology The current study employed a qualitative research design. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were carried out with 21 dairy farmers.Findings Factors inhibiting farmers from engaging in grass measurement included a high perceived task effort, a lack of skill and self-efficacy to carry out the task, uncertainty over personal value of engagement, a lack of tangible support, and a confidence in, and preference for, existing intuition-based decision-making.Practical implications Recommendations for communication, extension, education and technology development are offered to tackle the ‘high task effort’ associated with grass measurement by farmers and to support skill development and self-efficacy of dairy farmers.Theoretical implications The study proves value in moving from behavioural frameworks which focus solely on individual constructs as ‘barriers to adoption’ towards using frameworks which also account for the important role of factors external to the individual such as their social and physical surroundings.Value A comprehensive theoretical framework is offered for understanding dairy farmers’ engagement with grass measurement along with evidence-based suggestions for communication, extension, education and technology development.
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The general consensus in Irish studies is that adoption rates of practices in grassland management and reproductive performance are relatively low, notably due to information constraints.
“To date, the general consensus in Irish studies is that adoption rates of practices in the areas of grassland management and reproductive performance are relatively low, notably due to information constraints (Hyland et al., 2018;Regan et al., 2021;Shalloo et al., 2021Shalloo et al., , 2018)).”
From Extension and management pathways for enhanced farm sustainability: evidence from Irish dairy farms (2023) · cites this paper as Regan et al., 2021
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Extension and management pathways for enhanced farm sustainability: evidence from Irish dairy farms
Balaine, L., Läpple, D., Dillon, E. J., & Buckley, C. (2023) · European Review of Agricultural Economics · doi:10.1093/erae/jbac033 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
- Authors
- Regan, Á., Douglas, J., Maher, J., & O’Dwyer, T.
- Affiliations
- Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Regan, Áine
- ORCID
- Regan, Áine
- Venue
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-12-15
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 355-380
- ISSN
- 1389-224X (ISSN-L)
- 1750-8622
- OpenAlex
- W3110908525
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 4.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Innovations and Practices
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Development and Management
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Agriculture and Rural Development Research
- Keywords
- dairy farmers, farmer decision-making, COM-B model, self-efficacy, barriers to adoption, agricultural extension, grassland management, farmer education
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