Making up the Mind in Dairy Farming

What can we learn from studying the behavior of dairy farmers? The Swedish dairy sector has over the last decades gone through a huge transformation due to structure rationalization, where many of the smaller dairy farms have disappeared in favor of bigger and more specialized farms.

My research focuses on dairy farming and farmers' behavior when working with the animal health and welfare of their dairy cows. One of my main interests is how the interrelationship between humans and animals, and how this relationship affects the behavior of farmers. With my background in health psychology, I integrate insights from psychology and business studies into my projects where I study the process that occurs when farmers make up their minds while managing uncertainties and balancing short-term needs with long-term goals on the farm with a specific focus on the health of their livestock.

In the first part of my presentation, I will talk about the complex factors that affect behavior, from emotions, cognitive biases, social pressures, and economic constraints in the context of dairy farming, and how the current demographic of farmers can play a role in the future. I will also give an overview of how I position myself within business studies and how my previous and ongoing studies add to the research society at large.

During the last part of my presentation, I will focus on the complexities and changes occurring in agriculture today and the needs I see for future research. I will show how current methods can be expanded and how transdisciplinary research is the way forward. I will argue that we need to reconsider the methods we use today when studying behavior and how this can be performed.  In Sweden, dairy farmers often operate independently, where the stakes of each choice are high. While studying the behavior of dairy farming is a complex task, understanding how farmers make up their minds can significantly impact how we understand challenges in agricultural businesses with livestock animals in the future.

Findings from my research are not solely valid for dairy or livestock farming per se but give insight into the behavioral processes that occur when humans manage uncertainties and complex choices while making up their minds.