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A Survey of Local Perceptions of The Impact of A Dairy Grazing System on Southwest Missouri Economy and Community Life Spring 2012. Conducted by the Graduate Survey Research Class Division of Applied Social Sciences College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources University of Missouri.
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A Survey of Local Perceptions of The Impact of A Dairy Grazing System on Southwest Missouri Economy and Community LifeSpring 2012
Conducted by the Graduate Survey Research Class Division of Applied Social Sciences College of Agriculture, Food and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Missouri Survey Team: Mustapha Alhassan, Annie Cafer, Erica Campbell, Jasper Grashuis, Kristina Haug, Christal Huber, Kristin Kovar, Curtis Langley, Adam Marx, Sarah Massengale, Elliot Meador, James Rossi, Ye Su, Wenxu, Xu Instructor: Professor David O’Brien Contact: obriendj@missouri.edu
Two Basic Questions to be Answered by the Survey: • How do local dairy farmers and non-dairy farmer business owners/managers perceive the impact of intensive grazing systems on the dairy industry and other sectors of the local economy? • How do local dairy farmers and non-dairy business owners/managers view the New Zealanders who have been involved in this type of dairy management system?
Some Background Data On The Impact of Intensive Grazing Systems on Southwest Missouri • University of Missouri Extension Involvement in Supporting Intensive Grazing Systems • Data Showing the Economic Impact of Intensive Grazing on the Southwest Missouri Economy Source for the Next Four Slides: Joe Horner Extension Economist Commercial Agriculture Program University of Missouri 223 B Mumford Hall Columbia, MO 65211-6200 Phone: 573-882-9339 Fax: 573-884-6572 www.agebb.missouri.edu/dairy
Population Characteristics of the Southwest Missouri Dairy Regionincludes Barry, Barton, Lawrence, Jasper, Newton and Vernon Counties The population in the region in the study is growing more than other areas of Missouri but has more poverty and a less educated population.
The Sample Frame for the Survey Consisted of • All Class A dairies in the Southwest Region Counties Selected for the survey, and • A non-random stratified sample of non-dairy businesses in the selected counties in the Southwest Region
The Non-Random Stratified Sample Frame for the Non-Dairy Farm Business Owners Survey Sample • Questionnaires Were Sent to the Following types of Businesses : • Retail (non-agricultural):8 • Utilities: 32 • Construction and Building Supply: 71 • Veterinarian Services: 18 • Food and Restaurants: 25 • Financial, Legal, Insurance: 34 • Agricultural Supply: 30 The sample frame included legal, insurance and banking service businesses only in Barry, Lawrence and Vernon counties and restaurants only in Nevada and Monett
Response Rate for Southwest Missouri Survey • DAIRY FARMERS • 39/154 = 25.3% • 161 questionnaires were mailed, seven returned as not deliverable • NON-DAIRY BUSINESSES • 44/209 = 20.6% • 218 questionnaires mailed, nine were returned as not deliverable TOTAL SAMPLE N = 83 A return rate of 20% is typical for a mailed survey
Selected Characteristics of the Sample Dairy Farmer Non-Farm Business • Median Age 46-55 46-55 • % Male 97.3 72.1 • % Married 86.8 85.7 • Med. Education HS Grad 2 Year College The age of the farmers in the sample is substantially lower than the farm operator population as a whole. The higher educational level and larger number of women in the non-farmer business owners sub-sample, however, is more likely to reflect real differences between farm operators and other business owners in the population.
Dairy Farmer Sub-Sample Farm Characteristics • The vast majority of farms are owned by a single family (94.9%, n=39). • Fourteen of these farm operators responded that they employed non-family labor with a mean of 2.0 employees. • Most farms used grazing as a considerable portion of their rations with 61.1% falling in the 26-75% of ratio used for grazing. • 25.3% of farm operator respondents considered themselves having a mixed practice and 15.7% considered themselves pasture based.
Business Classification for Non-Dairy Business Respondents in the Southwest Missouri Survey Sample
Farmer Operator Views on the Future of Their Farms • Overall, the farmers in the sample see the dairy business as unpredictable. • They see a great deal of uncertainty regarding successors, profits, and retirement.
Among Respondents Who Have Increased Pasture-Based Grazing What Were the Most Important Factors in Their Decision? Besides Purely Economic factors – greater profit, herd health and lower feed costs – better family quality of life was very important in their decision making. Two-thirds cited MU Extension, three-fourths cited dairy discussion groups as either somewhat or very important, and slightly less than half cited NZ diary producers as influencing their decision making.
Respondents’ Views on The Impact of Pasture Based Dairy and New Zealanders on the Local Community
Responses to: How harmful or helpful do you think the introduction of pasture based dairy has been to your local community? 1=very harmful, 2= a little harmful, 3=no effect, 4=a little helpful, 5=very helpful Responses to three questions – “maintaining traditional values”, “land prices,” and “sense of community” indicate a negative view of the impact of pasture based dairy on the local community. The mean responses to the remainder of the questions are neutral. There are no statistically significant differences between the farmer and non-farm business respondents on any of these questions..
Responses to: How Harmful or Helpful, Continued….. N Mean SD Responses to these questions fall either within or slightly above the the middle value “no effect.” The responses of farmers on all questions are more negative than those of the nondairy business respondents but there is only one statistically significant difference between these two groups, on the question about the economic impact of New Zealanders on the local community (p<.01)
Degree of Agreement with the Following Statements About New Zealanders Impact on the Local Community (1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Slightly Disagree, 3=Neither Agree or Disagree, 4=Slightly Agree, 5=Strongly Agree): N Mean SD Overall, responses to these items fall in the negative direction. On three of the items, the dairy farmers are more negative than the nondairy business respondents in their attitudes toward the New Zealanders. *Difference between Dairy Farmers and Nondairy business owners p<.05 **Difference between Dairy Farmers and Nondairy business owners p<.01
Perceived Impact of New Zealanders on the Local Community, continued …. N Mean SD . Overall, respondents did not see New Zealanders as good dairy producers and experienced them as arrogant when they first arrived in Missouri. The strongest negative reaction by both farmers and non-farm business owners toward the New Zealanders is a perception that they received financial breaks from the government. **Difference between Dairy Farmers and Nondairy business owners p<.01
Frequencies of Different Types of Interactions Respondents Have Had with New Zealand Dairy Operators and/or Their Employees
The majority of the respondents do not report any type of contract with New Zealanders. One-third of the nondairy business respondents have business transactions and one-fifth of them have engaged in informal discussions about farming with the NZs. Close to one-quarter of the dairy farmers have been in dairy discussion groups with NZs and a slightly higher percentage have had informal conversations with them about farming. Very little social contact – children’s school, fishing etc., church - between locals and NZs outside of business.
The Effect of Contact with New Zealanders on Views of the Impact of Dairy Grazing Systems and New Zealanders on the Local Community • Regression Analysis allows us to examine the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable, controlling for the effects of other independent variables. • In this case we are looking at the effect of contact with New Zealanders on whether respondents view the dairy grazing system and New Zealand farmers as helping the local economy, while controlling for the effects of education, age, gender, and whether the respondent is a dairy farmer or a nondairy business owner.
Controlling for age, gender and occupation (dairy farmer vs. non-dairy business owner), respondents with more education are slightly more likely to think that pasture based dairying has been helpful in creating jobs for local residents(p<.09). Contact with New Zealanders has a stronger positive effect (p<.001) on the view that the introduction of pasture based dairying has had a positive impact on creating jobs for local residents.
Respondents with higher educational levels (p<.09) and women (p<.05) have a slightly more positive view of the impact of New Zealand farmers on the local community, but having contact with New Zealanders (p<.01), has the strongest effect in producing positive attitudes toward them.
Conclusion • About half (48%) of the dairy farmers report increasing pasture-based grazing on their farms. • Although economic reasons are very important – profit (71%), herd health (84%) and lower feed costs (89%) – 78% of adopters cite “better family of life” as a very important reason for increasing pasture-based grazing. 61% of the adopters cite MU Extension and 73% cite the Dairy Discussion Groups as either somewhat important or very important in their decision. 47% cite New Zealand Dairy Producers as somewhat or very important in their decision. • There is, however, a disconnect between the economic impact of pasture based dairy systems on southwest Missouri and the subjective perceptions of local dairy farmers and non-dairy business owners. • Most of the responses about the impact of pasture based dairy were neutral to slightly negative. • Views of the New Zealanders tend to be more negative than views toward the pasture based system itself. • Overall, dairy farmers are more negative than nondairy business owners toward New Zealanders. • The majority of respondents do not report contact with New Zealanders and among those who have had contact, it is mostly business related, either transactions or informational. • There is much less contact between locals and New Zealanders in non-commercial social spheres. • The best predictor of attitudes toward New Zealanders, controlling for age, education, gender and occupation, is whether or not respondents have had contact with them. More contact is associated with more positive attitudes.
Conclusion - Continued • These findings suggest that one way to reduce the transition of inaccurate information and to reduce generalized negative attitudes towards pasture based dairy and New Zealand farmers would be to identify ways to strengthen existing networks that facilitate contacts and identify and facilitate the building of new types of networks. • Research on rural communities finds that it is the small size of the networks of rural residents, rather than simply a generalized culture that is most responsible for resistance to change and negative judgments that are not based on facts. Paranoia grows best in social isolation. • A key point to keep in mind: A large amount of social science research shows that prejudicial attitudes between members of two groups are reduced when members of these groups interact on an equal status basis but prejudice increases when one group is in a dominant position in relation to the other group. Research on the origins of agricultural cooperatives in the US, for example, finds that the social bonds and network ties between farmers in churches, schools, local voluntary associations, and other local community activities. played a key role in developing the trust that enabled them to work together for a collective effort. • This was a small pilot study, with all of the limitations associated with little time and little resources. Nonetheless, it could be used in a proposal to NRI at USDA for a more in-depth study, especially focusing on measuring the structural properties of networks in the local area and how they either facilitate or hinder the transmission of accurate information and trust among dairy producers and other local businesses that depend upon dairy production for a significant part of their livelihood.
