Livestock farmers’ learning toward an agroecological management of herd health: an approach based on the learning potential of prescriptive systems

Context and challenges

Livestock diseases management can be complex for dairy cattle farmers. To that should be added agroecological incentives that are intended to make husbandry practices more ecological and sustainable. However, knowledge regarding agroecological health management remains unclear. Finally, livestock farmers can if they wish receive support from a variety of sources, from a veterinarian to their family, each with their own views of health and how it should be managed. So how should farmers now consider the health of their animals in an agroecological manner, in such a context? How can different approaches to animal health enable farmers to deal with livestock diseases, and how can they be helped to resolve the health issues they encounter on their farms in an agroecological manner? The objective here is to contribute to defining what "support for livestock farmers" actually means. Understanding how farmers receive support to develop their skills in integrated health management is a scientific challenge requiring to consider the support system from which they benefit. Numerous studies have been carried out on the profession of advisers on both arable and livestock issues, how this has changed, the advice required by farmers, and the effects of advice on livestock farmers and their practices and on the development of knowledge and experience through practical work groups. On the other hand, little research has focused on the numerous prescriptions given to farmers and their effects on learning in terms of agroecological health management. By choosing an approach via prescriptive systems and their potential in terms of learning, I do not wish to simply describe the work of livestock farmers but also what facilitates their development and their learning with respect to agroecological health management.

Objectives

The aim of this project is to conceptualise the notion of prescriptive systems for livestock farmers, seen as a set of resources used by them in order to learn how to manage the health of their herds. I will focus on characterising prescriptions from a socio-constructivist standpoint, adopting the view that livestock farmers construct their knowledge and skills and develop in interaction with real-life situations and other people. The project will be based on an empirical study of a sample of livestock farmers with a diversity of agroecological practices concerning animal health, who fall within contrasting prescriptive systems and are more or less involved in exchange of practices networks.

Species concerned

Partnerships

• UMR Territoires, INRAE, ACT Division
• UMR AGIR, INRAE, ACT Division