The extent that certain dairy farmer attitudes and behaviors are associated with farm business profitability

O'Leary, N. W., Bennett, R. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3226-8370, Tranter, R. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0702-6505 and Jones, P. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3464-5424 (2018) The extent that certain dairy farmer attitudes and behaviors are associated with farm business profitability. Journal of Dairy Science, 101 (12). pp. 11275-11284. ISSN 0022-0302 doi: 10.3168/jds.2017-14307

Abstract/Summary

The way in which farm managers' attitudes, personality, behavior, values, and sociodemographic characteristics influence farm business performance is, at best, only partially understood. The study reported here expands on this understanding by analyzing the attitudes and personal attributes of 80 dairy farmers in Great Britain in relation to the profitability over 3 yr of their farm businesses. Business goals, temperament, purchasing behavior, and having a growth mindset toward the business were found to be associated with profitability. A linear regression model consisting of 5 variables related to the above was presented that predicts 34% of the observed variation in profitability. Each of these variables were questions related to the participants' personal attitudes or beliefs. Other assessed variables, such as specific husbandry behaviors or practices, or management practices and sociodemographic characteristics, did not warrant inclusion in the final model. These results uniquely contribute to understanding how the attitudes, personality, behaviors, and attributes of dairy farmers are associated with, and thus likely to influence, the profitability of their farm businesses.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/79833
Identification Number/DOI	10.3168/jds.2017-14307
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
Uncontrolled Keywords	attributes of farmer, dairy farm profitability, farmer attitude, farmer behavior
Publisher	American Dairy Science Association
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