Ecology and Farming

Contribution of Farmer Participation to
Research in Organic Livestock Production
by Mette Vaarst, Stephen Roderick, Willie Lockeretz and Vonne Lund
This paper discusses how farmer groups in various
forms can contribute as a learning and advisory forum
for the development and improvement of organic
livestock herds. Drawing on practical experiences from
Denmark, UK, Norway and the US, this paper illustrates
the strength of farmer groups participating together in
achieving farm-level developments.
Introduction
Participatory approaches used in agricultural
research for development of farming systems
throughout the world seem particularly relevant
for organic farming. The need for a whole farm
approach, with all its inherent complexities, plus
the emphasis on innovation in organic farming,
perhaps provide a good platform for practitioners,
researchers and advisors to work together. Despite
the relevance and importance of participatory
approaches, there are several practical difficulties
and challenges associated with implementation.
Further, there also appears to be a lack of a
clear understanding and acknowledgement of
participatory approaches in many research
environments.
Farmers can be involved in several different
ways in research projects, and the definition
of ‘participatory’ does not always reflect this.
For example, there are situations whereby
farmer participation may be minimal e.g. as
survey respondents or providers of land for
trials. In other cases farmers are the innovators,
implementers and interpreters of research and the
academics and advisors role if that of facilitator.
Action research refers to situations that involve
a common experiential learning of farmers
together with researchers, and where research and
development are combined to solve problems and
to simultaneously build general knowledge using
scientific and other methods. When using the latter
approach, the researcher is taking a dual role as
participant and observer of the system through
the phases of the research cycle, e.g. problem
identification, planning of intervention strategies,
implementation/action and finally observation as
a basis for another round starting with a revised
problem description.
In the following, we will use examples from the
research environments of the authors. Based
on these, we will discuss the role, potential and
possible models for participatory approaches for the
development of organic livestock farming, with a
focus on animal health initiatives.
Denmark experience: action research in a ‘Stable
School’ approach
In Denmark, a group of organic dairy farmers
initiated a project in March 2004 with the aim of
phasing out the use of antimicrobial drugs from
organic dairy herds. As an important part of the
project, and in order to support this process, four
so-called ‘Stable Schools’ were initiated among the
Special Feature: Animals in Organic Production
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