Abstract:
Agricultural science has produced compelling data to show that soil
biota may be exploited to increase agricultural efficiency. However, field application
is entirely dependent on farmers’ knowledge. This study assessed current New
Zealand dairy farmer’s soil management practices, knowledge on earthworms and
soil microbes and their willingness to monitor and manage them for nutrient use
efficiency. Farmers indicated that soil quality influences their farms’ overall success
with 84% acknowledging that it is enhanced by irrigation and effluent application
practices. Although they indicated that earthworms and soil microbes are
responsive to management, there were clear gaps in implementation at the farm
scale level. For example only 6% of the respondents used soil microbes as soil quality
indicators. Scientific findings are not transmitted adequately to farmers, who
increasingly rely on scientific expertise to maintain or boost production. Farmers are
willing to monitor and use earthworms and soil microbes in future soil management
practices. However, they lack the expertise and skills necessary for this management.
Therefore, scientists and policy makers should actively involve farmers to
develop specialised, reliable and less technical decision support tools that match
farmer’s goals, aspirations, knowledge, constraints and opportunities for adoption. A key finding of this study is that farmers’ knowledge can help in prioritizing research
options that fill scientific lacunae and at the same time produce information
and guidelines that are readily accessible to the working farmer.
