Theme 7-2: Capacity, Institutions and Innovations for Sustainable Development--Poster Sessions

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Innovations in the management of grasslands in Poland are important to preserve them as a source of different ecosystem services. In the farmers point of view the most promising is forage production for herbivores, particularly dairy cows. Individual farmers have different opinions about innovations. To stimulate innovations in grassland-based farming systems in Poland, it is important to determine the drivers for their promotion and to define the barriers to overcome problems by their implementation. Analysis of the attitude of Polish farmers towards innovations on grasslands were conducted within the H2020 Inno4Grass project. The majority of respondents were young and had relatively well-developed farms. An on-line questionnaire on innovations on grassland was developed using SurveyMonkey. The questionnaire studied the attitude of grassland farmers towards innovations, e.g. their importance, factors influencing decisions of their adaption, barriers and drivers. Answers were scored on a Likert scale. Furthermore, some general questions were asked: available grassland area, main type of animal, farmer age, etc. The questionnaire was available from winter 2017/2018 onwards and closed at the end of June 2018. At the time of closing the questionnaire, 157 valid responses were obtained. Dairy cows were the most common animal type in grassland farms, followed by beef cattle. The majority of respondents indicated that innovations are important or very important in general, in grassland and in grazing, respectively 92%, 88% and 62%. The most important influencing factors on farmer’s decisions with respect to grasslands (> 60%) were own values and norms, image of the farm/the sector, family, consumers and advisors. Farmers pointed out that the most important driver for innovation is money/profit/better income (17.5%), followed by time saving/improved labour conditions (14.2%) and animal health (11.6%). In the opinion of the respondents, the main barriers to innovations in grasslands are money/costs too high/benefits too low (23.9%), too little technology on farm (15.0%) and risk (13.6%).

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Analysis of the Attitude of Farmers towards Innovations in the Management of Grasslands in Poland

Innovations in the management of grasslands in Poland are important to preserve them as a source of different ecosystem services. In the farmers point of view the most promising is forage production for herbivores, particularly dairy cows. Individual farmers have different opinions about innovations. To stimulate innovations in grassland-based farming systems in Poland, it is important to determine the drivers for their promotion and to define the barriers to overcome problems by their implementation. Analysis of the attitude of Polish farmers towards innovations on grasslands were conducted within the H2020 Inno4Grass project. The majority of respondents were young and had relatively well-developed farms. An on-line questionnaire on innovations on grassland was developed using SurveyMonkey. The questionnaire studied the attitude of grassland farmers towards innovations, e.g. their importance, factors influencing decisions of their adaption, barriers and drivers. Answers were scored on a Likert scale. Furthermore, some general questions were asked: available grassland area, main type of animal, farmer age, etc. The questionnaire was available from winter 2017/2018 onwards and closed at the end of June 2018. At the time of closing the questionnaire, 157 valid responses were obtained. Dairy cows were the most common animal type in grassland farms, followed by beef cattle. The majority of respondents indicated that innovations are important or very important in general, in grassland and in grazing, respectively 92%, 88% and 62%. The most important influencing factors on farmer’s decisions with respect to grasslands (> 60%) were own values and norms, image of the farm/the sector, family, consumers and advisors. Farmers pointed out that the most important driver for innovation is money/profit/better income (17.5%), followed by time saving/improved labour conditions (14.2%) and animal health (11.6%). In the opinion of the respondents, the main barriers to innovations in grasslands are money/costs too high/benefits too low (23.9%), too little technology on farm (15.0%) and risk (13.6%).