Research
Our research is motivated by the ultimate goal to contribute to achieving a sustainable and resilient agricultural and food sector.
To this end, we mainly focus on understanding farmer decision making in a variety of contexts using survey and experimental methods, as well as secondary data. We explore topics such as agricultural production decisions, technology adoption and extension effectiveness, climate change mitigation, animal welfare and recently farmers’ protests.
Sometimes, we also explore consumer decisions in relation to sustainable food choices.
Below are examples or current and past research projects. If you are interested in any of these topics and want to work with us, please get in touch.
A wave of farmer protests hit Germany and many other EU countries at the end of 2023 and in the spring of 2024, which received considerable media attention. While protests were triggered by country-specific issues, there are common themes such as low farm prices, environmental regulations, bureaucracy and perceived unfair market conditions.
In this project, we are asking farmers in Germany and other countries directly about reasons to protest and explore how the media reported on this.
Climate Change and Agriculture
The agricultural sector contributes to, but is also impacted by climate change.
In the ERA-NET funded project 'SmartDairy' we assess challenges, innovations and solutions to achieve a climate smart food system with a focus on dairy production. In Ireland, we explore how to make carbon trading in the agri-food sector operational. You can find out more about the project here.
Among other things, we explore what farmers think about implementing a cap-and-trade program in the agricultural sector and whether consumers are willing to offset carbon emissions from their dairy and meet consumption.
Other research focuses on what farmers can do to mitigate climate change. In one project, we explore eco-efficiency of Irish dairy farms and its development over time. In a previous project, we explored the link between productivity improvements and GHG emissions. This work is published in Agricultural Economics and you can find the paper here and a short report here.
Information Provision and Climate Change
Information provision is very important to facilitate the transition to sustainable and resilient food systems, but it is often less effective than anticipated.
For example, one focus of our group is on information provision for farmers to support the uptake of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation measures. For this, we conducted a survey that included a randomized information experiment with over 500 livestock farmers in Ireland to test how to increase engagement of farmers with climate change information. You can read a short policy paper published in EuroChoices here.
In a related project, we conducted an information experiment with Irish dairy farmers to investigate behavioural factors in the uptake of clover as a GHG mitigation measure. This work is in collaboration with Teagasc, Ireland.
Animal Health and Welfare
The agricultural sector increasingly receives negative press coverage, for example, due to animal welfare or environmental concerns. Failure to maintain public acceptance could drive negative perceptions and reduce trust, lowering consumer demand and creating legislative or regulatory pressures.
In a recent paper, we explored over 500 Irish dairy farmers’ choices to view a picture of transported dairy calves. Our findings show that over 20% of farmers prefer to remain in a state of ignorance (you can find the paper here)
In a previous project, we explored the implication of dairy sector expansion and calf welfare (you can find the paper published in the Journal of Dairy Science here). We also explored the link between animal welfare, altruism and policy support, which is published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (you can find the paper here). This work was funded by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
In the same project, we also assessed biosecurity practices and economic outcomes on Irish dairy farms. This paper is published in the Journal of Animal Science (you can find the paper here).
Organic agri-food systems offer an alternative to the sustainability challenges of conventional systems, as they are widely recognized for their environmental benefits. However, whether organic production facilitates a pathway towards lower GHG emissions is still under debate.
In this project, we investigate the Brazilian agricultural sector to determine whether and how the expansion of organic agriculture affects the sector’s environmental performance in terms of GHG emissions. We use secondary data with an 18-year time series structure that provides comprehensive information on the characteristics of the agricultural sector and its respective GHG emissions at the municipality level.