Defining farmer typology to analyze the current state and development prospects of livestock breeds : the Avileña-Negra Ibérica beef cattle breed as a case study

Abstract

We developed a general farmer socioeconomic typology to help in analyzing the herd dynamics and farmers׳ decision making and in designing strategies for the development of local animal breeds. The typology was built on few measurable socioeconomic factors that are often used as indicators of the economic and cultural capital of farmers. We used a sample of 85 farmers of the Spanish Avileña-Negra Ibérica (ANI) local cattle breed to illustrate and test the procedure. The farmer types were defined by a hierarchical cluster analysis with a set of canonical variables derived from five socioeconomic factors: formal educational level and age of a farmer, year since the farmer started keeping the ANI breed, percentage of the total household income covered by the farm and percentage of the total farm land owned by the farmer. Five farmer types were determined based on the formal educational level of a farmer and on the percentage of the total household income covered by the farm: (1) Land owners, medium educated; (2) Owners of part of the farm land, low educated; (3) Owners of part of the farm land, high educated; (4) Landless farmers, medium educated; and (5) Landless farmers, low educated. The farmer types were found to be linked to several other attributes used in summarising farm profiles. The farmer types also differed in how farmers make farm management decisions about herd size and breed composition, breeding aims and collaborative activities with other farmers. In addition, the farmer types had a variable dependency on subsidy payments suggesting that the changes in subsidy programme will lead to a redistribution of farmers across the types. We conclude that typologies based on farmers׳ cultural and economic capital, could be a useful tool to foresee farmers׳ decision-making concerning the on-farm breed development.