One size does not fit all - recognizing heterogeneity in Australian farmers

Abstract

Farmers are heterogeneous, but policy makers are often criticized for treating them as a uniform group. A range of unique factors determine their decision making and their responses to new policy initiatives. Water scarcity has led to a necessary re-allocation of water among competing users. Provision of water for urban, recreational, and environmental purposes is being done at the expense of the irrigation sector; making it increasingly necessary to encourage effective communication between policymakers and irrigators. The shortcoming of the current one-size-fits-all approach to water management and planning is that it doesn't work for everybody, creating avoidable conflicts between users, compromised outcomes and significant social and community impacts. Irrigators in Australia's Namoi Valley are facing significant reductions in water entitlements from recent water reforms. An assumption behind the policy is that irrigators are a uniform group who will respond to these reductions in an economically rational fashion. Irrigators have however indicated that they do not intend to behave in this way. This research explores the influence of farmers' values, attitudes and goals, toward land, water, profit, family, and community on their behavior. Our findings suggest that farmers can be categorized into a typology according to how they associate with three value constructs; Family Lifestyle and Conservation. This research will allow policy makers and service providers to communicate better with farmers by using more complementary and more meaningful approaches. The management responses of irrigators are then likely to be more in line with policy expectations reducing the economic, social, environmental, and political impacts of new policy initiatives.