Implementing agroecological practices: what are the effects on working conditions of dairy farmers?

Session 45. Transformation of livestock practices in response to society’s expectations on animal welfare, market demand for animal products and environmental issuesInternational audienceTo limit their impacts on the environment, farmers are encouraged to adopt agroecological practices, which can affect their working conditions. This study aims to explore effects of the adoption of such practices on farmers’ working conditions. During fall and winter 2019-2020, 17 dairy farmers located in Western France were individually surveyed. The interview guide was designed to explore the relationships between the adopted agroecological practices and the effects on farmers working conditions. Dairy farmers were invited to make a list of their agroecological practices adopted and to describe how they experienced their working conditions. The latter were analysed with a broad framework allowing to depict farmers’ workload and work organisation, and to understand farmer’s perceptions of their job (physical and mental workload, skills, social relations, sense of coherence, etc.). More than thirty agroecological practices were identified concerning the crop, livestock system or landscape infrastructures. All farmers declared an effect of those practices on their working conditions. They claimed various impacts on workload, work organization and the need for special equipment, depending on the nature of the production system and the applied agroecological practices, mainly through: (1) a crop diversification or an increase in the share of grasslands; (2) change of technical operations on the cropping system. Farmers report a greater seasonality of tasks to perform. More generally, they all expressed a positive effect due to an improvement of the physical workload, their skills and relationship with the society, and their job satisfaction. This survey highlighted different effects of the adoption of agroecological practices on farmer’s working conditions that may help to design an appropriate support for farmers engaging in the agroecological transition. This study is part of the LIFT project funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (No 770747)