Sociopsychological factors influencing Brazilian farmers' intention to regularize their cheese production

Abstract

Milk and cheese products serve an important economic and social function in Brazil, as most of the production is carried out on small-scale family farms. Farmers who fail to meet institutional and market requirements related to production scale and milk quality often abandon the activity or turn to selling raw milk or unlicensed cheese. In this research, we adopted the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a theoretical framework to investigate unlicensed farmers' intention to regularize cheese production. Interviews were conducted on site with 286 cheese producers in Paraná and Minas Gerais States, Brazil. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling—the procedures recommended in the TPB. The results were discussed based on the TPB and Brazilian institutional and market characteristics. Farmers' intention to regularize cheese production was positively correlated with social characteristics (farmer's age and experience in dairy farming) and farm characteristics (milk or cheese production area and milk volume). The construct perceived behavioral control (PBC) was the most important in determining cheese producers' intention to regularize cheese production, followed by the construct subjective norms (SN). The high importance of the PBC construct suggests that farmers believe they have sufficient capacities to regularize cheese production. The importance of the SN construct suggests that people close to farmers would support the regularization of cheese production. The attitude (ATT) construct was not significant in determining farmers' intention. The lack of significance of the ATT construct on farmers' intention indicates an absence of perceived incentive for licensing. The model defined by SN and PBC explained 24.9% of farmers' intention to regularize cheese production.