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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    The conversion of family farms in Southland": A case study for “rural futures: building adaptive management capability to deliver sustainable pastoral farm systems”
    Project description
    This research on farm conversions in Southland is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation as an independent project. It has joined the RURAL FUTURES project (a MSI funded programme) to serve as a case study of the social aspects involved in farmers’ decision-making.
    The aim of the research is to identify non-economic motivators to farm conversion. Focusing on family farms, it contributes to a better understanding of farmers’ decision-making and adaptive strategies. The case of family farm conversions in Southland provides a very interesting and valuable example of how major decisions are made within the family business.
    The research is based on a sample of 31 in-depth interviews: 23 converted farmers, 4 sheep farmers and 4 professionals involved in farming. All the interviews were fully transcribed and analyzed using NVivo, software designed specifically for qualitative data. The results of the analysis are described below.

    Understanding conversion from the farmer’s point of view
    Farm conversion from sheep to dairy involves a range of major changes. This section summarizes how the interviewees describe — and sometimes mitigate — those changes at different levels of the farm business.

    From sheep to cows
    The transition from farming sheep to milking cows implies the acquisition of new stockman skills and understandings. From new animal health knowledge, to comprehending the technical operation of the milking shed, the learning is a broad process. However, many interviewees emphasize the similarities between sheep and dairy farming, for example that both are based on grass production and pasture management. Comparing the two farm systems, farmers often define dairy farming as more technical and science-based than sheep farming. For this specific reason, several interviews argue that a dairy farm is “easier” to run. The dairy system is based on precise schedules and a diverse range of specific measurements (grass growth, daily milk production, etc.), and thus provides regular feedback and opportunities to adjust the farm management. On the other hand, the running of a sheep farm is said to rely more on intuitive knowledge, with little feedback on progress or success until sending the lambs to the meat works or bales of wool to processors.

    Changes in scale: capital and work
    Farm conversion involves high capital investment that has to be financed, with a significant proportion of converters using borrowed money. This leads to high debt levels — compared to the average sheep farm — in turn results in increased pressure on the productivity and profitability of the farm. In the process of converting the farm, farmers often describe spending millions of dollars building the dairy shed and new lanes, purchasing cows and adapting the paddocks: even though these farmers know they are responsible for the investments, such expenditure is frequently a real trial. Furthermore, on both spending and earning sides, the economic scale of the business increases dramatically. Managerial tasks and skills in turn grow in importance. Consequently, farmers tend to step back from the daily work on the farm to focus on management.
    Dairy farms are labour intensive and generally employ staff — aspect is unanimously mentioned as a central difference between dairying and sheep farming. With the conversion, farmers become employers and thus must learn about staff and team management. Finding good staff and making them happy enough to stay are central in the stability of the farm business. The farmers describe some of the challenges connected with this change: they have to learn to delegate tasks and responsibilities; they become responsible for the livelihood of several other families; and the balance between being people-friendly and ensuring the effectiveness of the staff is not always easy to find.

    Motivators to convert: a means to an end
    Economic factors are essential in farm business strategies. However, human beings also refer to other dimensions of reality in order to make decisions. This research process has identified two major non-economic dimensions that play an important role in the decision to convert the family farm.

    Farm succession
    With one accord, the interviewees put long term survival and farm succession at the top of their list of motivations to convert the farm. They emphasise the willingness to provide good opportunities to the next generation, and stress that they saw no way to do this within the sheep industry. Here, dramatic increases in land price have played a major role. Farm prices are now based on the potential inherent in dairy, thus making it very difficult to take over a sheep farm. More generally, the participants made many references to the importance of keeping the farm in the family.
    On the other hand, the various types of job positions that exist in the dairy system, from worker to farm manager or sharemilker, progressively open new possibilities to involve a younger generation in the farm business. Sons and daughters, for instance, are directly employed in several of the farms visited. Again, the scale of the dairy farm allows the involvement of more than one successor, while increased capital growth makes it easier to buy out siblings who are not interested in the farm.

    ”Good farming”
    Several recurrent patterns became obvious in the interviews: together they address a cultural and social definition of farming. According to the interviewees, core parts of this definition had been questioned in their former situation as sheep farmers. Farmers emphasize their incapacity to demonstrate their skills through good performances and to be rewarded for it within the sheep industry. Being good sheep farmers didn’t change the frustration: they felt limited and cornered, being deprived of the ability to develop their business in the way they would have liked. In this sense, they say the conversion has provided the new and stimulating challenge they were longing for. Moreover, in their eyes, dairy farming provides better and clearer rewards for farmers’ efforts and performances. So the conversion is described as a combination of challenges and rewards.
    Furthermore, the global success met by the dairy industry produces a very attractive image. In strong contrast to the conflicts between meat companies, many farmers highlight the unity displayed within the dairy industry, stressing aspects such as trust in the industry and in the long term prospects of dairy production. Dairy farming has become, in the eyes of most of the participants, the way of success, both at the economic and symbolic levels.

    Conclusions
    Exploring the perception of sheep to dairy conversion by the converted farmers themselves and analysing their motivations to convert results in a better understanding of what is at stake for New Zealand farmers in the current context. In making the choice to convert, the interviewees showed a powerful ability to instigate change in farm organisation and production systems. At the same time, their motivations appear, in a sense, conservative. Indeed, they are all directed to protect fundamentals, which can be summarized as “farm succession” and “good farming”.
    The process of conversion significantly modifies the family farm, both in its physical shape and its general operation. However, there is no evidence of a decreasing family dimension in the converted farms. On the contrary, family labour sometimes increases, with a higher level of involvement by the wife and/or children. Indeed, in the interviews, non-family-based and corporate farming are often presented as counter-examples, in order to criticize uncaring behaviours towards environment, communities or staff.
    Dairy farming development is, however, led by economic principles such as increasing scale, high levels of competitiveness, high debt levels, highly intensive practices and high productivity expectations. The interviews reflect this general description. These principles are potentially in conflict with others, such as family ownership, community- and environmentally-friendly practices, and fair staff management. These tensions constitute a challenge for individual farmers who have to find a balance between the economic incentives and the social and environmental pressures for sustainable practices.