DEV Method

Posted 31 July 2006 - 10:12pm by Frédéric Morand

OBJECT: ANALYSIS-DIAGNOSTIC OF THE BURREN

STUDY OF AGRO-SYSTEMS OF THE BURREN

A - CONTEXT

We are French students at the National Agronomy Institute, Department 'Comparative agriculture and rural development'. We are completing a Master's degree in economic and social sciences, specialised in Agricultural development.

This final year specialization focuses on understanding and analyzing the transformation processes in agriculture within the context of changing international socio-economic relations. To validate our degree and to apply our concepts to a concrete situation on the ground, we are spending five months in the field for our placement.

 

B - GOAL

The aim of this research placement is to study the recent evolution and the current situation of agriculture in the BURREN, in order to emphasize and understand its main constraints and opportunities for agricultural and rural development. A particular focus will be placed on the environmental strategies of farmers and the potential role of eco-innovations in the present situation.

 

C - METHOD

Our fieldwork will be divided into three steps:

1. To analyze the landscape features of the BURREN and to link these with agricultural activity.

2. To research the recent past and retrace the technical and economic changes of farming in the region over the last 50 years.

3. To survey around fifty farms in an economic and technical way.

 

The sample of interviewees will be selected at random, by hear-say, door-knocking, pub visits and informal inquiry. A typology of farmers will be built according to the key technical features of their agricultural practices (technical itinerary, productivity and profitability indicators).

 

D - RESULTS

This study will deliver a typology of the farming systems. Key characteristics of each type will include, inter alia, its validity within a specific interval of surfaces per labour unit (or animal head per labour unit), its technical itinerary and its level of equipment. The types will also reflect the broader environment of farms (off-farm income, market price, farm policy including agri-environmental policy).

Our calculations will estimate the Net Added Value (after evaluation of depreciation of materials and buildings) and the Family Labour Income (which includes subsidies). This will enable us to describe farming trends. Our study could also complement a marketing chain survey from the upstream side, by addressing the technical barriers to sustainable production (land tenure, grazing and breeding systems, implements, etc...).

We expect to present our work at the end of August to interviewed farmers and relevant other practitioners and we will disseminate it in a report in English. Consolidated recommendations could be disseminated through other media (online, press, etc).

Provisional sequencing of the internship in the BURREN

March to Mid-April

Bibliography and preliminary contacts

Familiarisation with the study area

Landscape and geological analysis

First area zoning

 

April

Historical interviews with old farmers and people living here for a long time. Documentation on local climate, soil, policy and history conditions.

Identification of major traits in the agricultural history, trends, evolution of different forms of local agriculture, draft farm typology

 

May -> Mid-June

Technical interviews with farmers and farm workers for each type

Interviews with key persons of food-chain market,

Data analysis and definition of an accurate typology

 

Mid-June -> July

Economical interviews with the same farmers (around 50), data analysis and first synthesis, definition of a more accurate typology

 

Until Mid-August

End of calculations and identification of the technical barriers of the farmers.

Recommendations for agricultural development

Oral presentation to interviewed people (in the Burren if possible) + feedback and validation

Back to the field to obtain the last missing information and to complete calculations.

 

End of August

the synthesis (15 pages) and return to France

 

September

Redaction of the main report, viva in Paris in October

Elaboration of further dissemination products (articles, on-line)

 

 

Priscille Ghesquière & Dorian Fléchet