Neil Botha

New Zealand.
Email: bothan@agresearch.cri.nz

In early 2000, a study into dairy effluent management was carried out in Victoria involving New Zealand and Australian researchers. This poster covers the results to an industry forum intended to provide a better understanding of farmers’ attitudes to dairy effluent management technologies. The results were used to design an extension programme to increase adoption of these technologies. The poster illustrates how the technique of Rich Pictures was used to portray information networks as experienced by different functional groups related to effluent management. These pictures can be compared to identify relationships that need to be changed if the decision-making of farmers is to be improved. The poster also shows the results of two of those pictures and the resultant proposed interventions.

Participatory Interdisciplinary Research – a case study of Endoparasite management.

Social and biophysical researchers worked alongside farmers and veterinarians to make progress on support for farmer decisions in this complex management area. The approach involved working with farmers to assess, their understanding and the sources of support (personal and documented) on the topic. The context for this research project was farmer decision making for endoparasite (internal parasite) management in the New Zealand sheep industry. The challenges and benefits of this interdisciplinary approach are covered in the poster along with the output from the research. A cognitive mapping tool was used in the farmer meetings and will be shown on the poster. The poster also covers the different research question(s), methodology, stages, and objectives.