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Regional TV and local radio can be used to highlight local issues that interest or
affect farmers.
The Farm Adviser
The value of the adviser in face-to-face communication has been noted in a number
of studies of information provision in agriculture (Jones et al., 1987; Cox et al.,
1990; Fearne 1990; Angell et al., 1997). Farm visits and face-to-face advice was
the preferred method of advice delivery stressed by farmers in farmer panels and
agency interviewees, in an appraisal of conservation advice undertaken for English
Nature (Winter et al., 2000). Farmers emphasise the need for a trusted individual
to act as a mentor or interpreter and, for the most part, farmers put greatest value
on information that has been interpreted and given in a specific form. Thus, Winter
et al. (2000) found that farmers prefer face-to-face contact with someone who has
interpreted the information within the context of their own business, reflecting the
farmer’s lack of time, the increasingly technical and legislative nature of the required
information and the perceived need for location specific advice. Where organisations
only provide written material, they recognise that its value is greatest if it is read by
professionals who then go on to provide advice to farmers (Angell et al., 1997). The
success of agri-environment schemes, such as ESAs and CSS, has been shown to
be critically dependent on the work of project officers or other advisers promoting
the scheme (Cooper, 1999). The crucial role of advisers/consultants in supporting
farmers in their use of complex nutrient management systems was also noted in
a study of European Input-Output accounting systems (Goodlass et al., 2003).
Morris et al. (2000), examining the uptake of arable options in the CSS, also found
that face-to-face interaction with advisors on the farm was an important channel
of communication. The research showed that, although the mass media appeared
to have been the chief vehicle through which farmers became aware of the CSS,
personal communication with advisors played a significant role in persuading farmers
to take up the schemes that they had heard of through the farming press.
In the context of environmental pollution, the FACTS scheme of adviser registration
and continuing professional development (CPD) has an important role to play in
ensuring that advisers are up to date and well informed about the risks associated
with poor fertiliser and manure management practices.
Voluntary Versus Compulsory Measures
Best practice measures may be voluntary, as for example in the Codes of Good
Agricultural Practice. The adoption of such measures is likely to depend on how easy
they are for the farmer to implement. Financial penalties are a significant disincentive
to uptake whilst marketing advantages of compliance such as in some Quality
Assurance schemes increase uptake (Goodlass et al., 2003). Overall the methods
used to encourage uptake of best practice are often a combination of the ‘carrot and
stick’ approach, where the ‘carrot’ usually takes the form of government support,
and the ‘stick’ is regulation and non-compliance penalties.
In the absence of the legislative ‘stick’, a Danish study on what influences farmers
to change their practices suggests that a combination of farmer study groups with
associated one-to-one advice is very effective (Halberg et al., 2005). However, this
is expensive in terms of advisory input time and only reaches a small number of
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