سنخ شناسی گاوچران برای اطلاع رسانی به یک رویکرد هدفمندتر برای توسعه سیاست های مدیریت منابع طبیعی و برنامه های توسعه کشاورزی

The use of landholder typologies to assist in the development of natural resource management (NRM) policies and agricultural extension programs has increased considerably in the past decade. In this paper we explore the potential of developing a typology of graziers to more effectively tailor policies and programs with the aim of improving land management outcomes. This is of particular importance since growing public concern about the environmental performance of the beef industry has led to increasing pressures on graziers to change their land management practices to decrease off-property impacts. To gain a better understanding of graziers’ land management practices and the factors that inform their decisions on how they manage their land we first developed a conceptual model of the relationship between grazier and grazing land where both can, ideally, thrive through conscious and timely land management decisions made and implemented by the grazier. A successful grazier land relationship is likely to be consistent with value systems and social and economic factors, although the particulars of any individual approach may vary spatially and temporally. These factors, in particular graziers’ values and motivations to follow a particular management strategy, guided the development of our typology of graziers. Australia's Bowen-Broken basin, which has been identified as a major contributor of sediment and nutrients that enter the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, served as a case study for this research. Three broad types of graziers emerged: (1) traditionalists, (2) diversifiers, and (3) innovators. The authors argue that by understanding graziers’ values and motivations underlying each of the grazier types, government agencies and NRM organisations can more effectively tailor their policy and extension programs towards specific types of graziers and can work with specific groups to achieve reductions in sediment and nutrient runoff from grazing properties.

It is broadly accepted that developing effective natural resource management (NRM) policies and agricultural extension programs necessitates better understanding of the people who manage these resources, including their socio-economic circumstances and value systems (e.g. Costa and Rehman, 1999, Cary et al., 2001, Cary et al., 2002, Webb et al., 2004, Vanclay, 2004, Pannell et al., 2006, Kuehne et al., 2007, Lankester et al., 2009, Sherren et al., 2010 and Greiner and Gregg, 2011). Cody (2004) argues that the condition of the natural resource base, a land manager's social and demographic characteristics, management practices and financial circumstances are all interrelated. This poses a major challenge to policy makers, NRM and agricultural extension program designers who are trying to avoid a blanket approach to the development of policy instruments while recognising that it is impossible to tailor policies and programs to individual circumstances for maximum uptake. Many researchers have recommended the use of landholder typologies to improve the effectiveness of agricultural, forestry and NRM policies and extension programs (e.g. Boon et al., 2004, Emtage, 2004, Vanclay, 2005, Emtage et al., 2006, Emtage et al., 2007 and Van Herzele and Van Gossum, 2008). The aim of our research was to develop a typology of graziers in the Bowen-Broken basin, Australia, and to explore its potential for supporting NRM policies and agricultural extension programs tailored to decrease off-property impacts. The Bowen-Broken basin, which has been identified as a major contributor of sediment and nutrients that enter the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon, served as case study (Prosser et al., 2001, Brodie et al., 2003, Bartley et al., 2004 and O’Reagain et al., 2005). Loss of sediment and nutrients not only affects livestock production, future productivity and profitability of grazing enterprises in the Bowen-Broken basin, but also impacts upon and threatens the long-term ecological, social and economic sustainability of the GBR (Access Economics, 2007). This has led to growing public concern about the environmental performance of the beef industry and pressure on graziers to change their management practices to decrease off-property impacts. While individual approaches to grazing land management may vary spatially and temporally across the Bowen-Broken basin, there are likely to be consistent characteristics and patterns of value systems, motivations and social and economic factors which influence graziers’ decision-making (e.g. Beedell and Rehman, 1999, Costa and Rehman, 1999, Barr and Cary, 2000, Fielding et al., 2005, Pannell et al., 2006, Greiner et al., 2008 and Richards and Lawrence, 2009). Taking a transdisciplinary systems approach (Tress and Tress, 2001), these underlying characteristics and patterns of value systems, motivations and social and economic factors that are founded on graziers’ perceptions of their land, guided the development of our typology of graziers. Thereby our typology contributes to the development of the less advanced and more contentious typologies which are based primarily on values and motivations and not on quantifiable indicators (Emtage et al., 2007). We argue that the typology's underlying patterns of value systems and motivations provides policy makers, NRM and agricultural extension program designers with critical social and economic information to more effectively tailor their policies and programs aimed at influencing graziers to adopt more sustainable land management practices (e.g. Emtage et al., 2007, Kuehne et al., 2007, Greiner et al., 2008 and Greiner and Gregg, 2011). It also supports Roger's (2003) theory that it is the adopter's perception of the innovation that affects its adoption. This paper is structured to first introduce the conceptual model of the dynamic relationship between grazier and grazing land, which we developed at the beginning of the project to form the theoretical basis for this research. The conceptual model determined the methods used to develop a grazier typology for the Bowen-Broken basin. Three types of graziers: traditionalists, diversifiers and innovators emerged from the analysis which we present including the defining features of each type. We then discuss the implications of our typology for developing NRM policies and agricultural extension programs to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff from grazing properties. Finally, we conclude the paper by highlighting the contribution of our typology to the academic literature and future research needs.

Using a transdisciplinary systems approach as the theoretical basis of our conceptual model enabled integration of the social, perceptual, economic and biophysical dimensions of grazing land management. The typology of graziers derived from the data analysis suggests that neither all graziers’ are the same (Kuehne et al., 2007) nor ‘one size fits all’ (Campbell et al., 2006). Our analysis suggests that graziers’ values and motivations, including their ability to make use of new opportunities, their skills and resources, seem to drive their perception of the grazing land and hence their overall grazing management and business strategies. These factors underpin the typology developed for graziers in the Bowen-Broken basin. Thereby our typology contributes to the development of the less advanced and more contentious typologies based primarily on values and motivations rather than quantifiable indicators (Emtage et al., 2007). We suggest that this contribution is due to the transdisciplinary systems approach used as the theoretical basis for this research. Taking a transdisciplinary systems approach also emphasises Rogers’ (2003) idea that it is the adopter's perception of the innovation (e.g. perceived outcome of management change/innovation) that affects its adoption. To explore the significance of the grazier typology and the considerations for government agencies and agricultural extension providers, new policies and extension programs, which aim to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff from grazing properties, need to be tested in the field. While programs achieving multiple benefits, such as environmental and economic benefits, seem to have a greater probability of being taken up by graziers (Gordon, 2007), it appears that by more specifically targeting such programs to the different types of graziers, greater benefits may not only be achieved for the participating individuals but also for the local, regional, national and international communities. Finally, a collaborative approach between all stakeholders is highly likely to achieve greater learnings from the combined experiences gained over time.