Challenges and opportunities for conducting on-farm research

Q3 Environmental Science
Graeme Doole, Katherine Tozer, Christian Sauermann, David Stevens, Jamie Ward
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Availability of research farms owned by research institutions is declining due to their high operational cost, asset value, and limited distribution. The goals of this paper are to review their role and value in pastoral science and to identify challenges and opportunities for on-farm research. Research and commercial farms as trial sites may be mutually exclusive, complementary, or substitutes. Research farms are essential where science requires expensive facilities and/or rigorous control to maintain ethics and quality commitments. They can also provide information independent of scientific and commercial bias. Commercial farms provide access to more diversity, help scientists understand benefits and identify and resolve on-farm issues, and build industry credibility. Since the number of research farms is unlikely to increase, several lessons are important. Delivery, ethical, and science quality risks can accrue when the full cost of working with commercial farms is not considered or work most suited to a research farm is conducted in a commercial setting. Improved integration with farms owned by educational institutions; private trusts; regional and national government; and commercial companies offers opportunities for efficiency improvements. When working with commercial farmers, clear communication, flexible protocols, frequent oversight, and mutual respect are essential to maintain science quality. Paying farmers under a contractual agreement appears pragmatic. The value of opportunities to build farmer and researcher capability in the context of field experiments on research and commercial farms is identified.
开展农场研究的挑战和机遇
研究机构拥有的研究农场的可用性正在下降,因为它们的高运营成本、资产价值和有限的分销。本文的目的是回顾它们在畜牧科学中的作用和价值,并确定农场研究的挑战和机遇。作为试验点的研究农场和商业农场可能是相互排斥、互补或替代的。在科学研究需要昂贵的设施和/或严格的控制来维持伦理和质量承诺的地方,研究农场是必不可少的。他们还可以提供独立于科学和商业偏见的信息。商业农场提供了更多的多样性,帮助科学家了解收益,识别和解决农场问题,并建立行业信誉。由于研究农场的数量不太可能增加,有几个教训是重要的。如果不考虑与商业农场合作的全部成本,或者最适合研究农场的工作是在商业环境中进行的,则可能产生交付、伦理和科学质量风险。加强与教育机构农场的整合;私人信托;地区和国家政府;商业公司提供了提高效率的机会。在与商业农民合作时,明确的沟通、灵活的协议、频繁的监督和相互尊重对于保持科学质量至关重要。根据合同协议向农民支付费用似乎很务实。确定了在研究和商业农场进行实地试验的背景下建立农民和研究人员能力的机会的价值。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Journal of New Zealand Grasslands
Journal of New Zealand Grasslands Environmental Science-Nature and Landscape Conservation
CiteScore
0.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
27
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