APSRU PROJECT SUMMARY

PROJECT NO.

178

Project Title

Effective computer-mediated decision support in the ‘pragmatist’ market.

Project Leader

Lisa Brennan

Organisation

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems

Funding Body

RIRDC

Administration Contact

Allan Kearns

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems

GPO Box 284

Canberra ACT 2601

Ph: 02 6242 1783 Fax: 02 6242 1742

Email: allen.kearns@csiro.au

Commencement Date

Completion Date

Research Proposal Summary

Over a quarter of a century after the computerised decision support system (DSS) idea arrived in agriculture, 75 per cent of Australian farmers own and use computers, hundreds of decision support packages are readily available and affordable, yet nowhere can it be said that computerised DSS is an integral part of the management of the contemporary Australian family farm. Cognisant of this, APSRU has conducted research over the past 10 years that has resulted in the development of an approach, which has demonstrated that farmers, their advisers and researchers can jointly explore alternative farm management practices by testing and using computer simulation of farming systems. Farmer participants in this alternative, FARMSCAPE approach (Farmers, Advisers, Researchers, Monitoring, Simulation, Communication And Performance Evaluation) have experienced significant benefits to their management (www.farmscape.cse.csiro.au). The approach offers a promising alternative to traditional extension concerning matters of tactical risk management and strategic planning.

A major challenge for delivery of this approach is gaining the attention of farmers beyond ‘Innovator’ and ‘Early Adopter’ types to those who comprise the majority – a section of the market that cannot be ignored if the risk of environmental degradation is to be adequately managed. This proposal concerns the testing of a new strategy for penetrating the ‘Early Majority’ market for improved risk management. According to traditional technological diffusion theory, adoption progresses through a community over time according to rates described by a “bell” curve. Promotion of a new technology is targeted initially at the first category i.e. the innovators. Success in ‘selling’ the technology to other adopter categories (i.e. the early majority, late majority, laggards) assumes the process of diffusion, in which later adopters use earlier adopters as their reference point. However, for certain types of technologies, including computerised DSS, the experiences of the ‘visionaries’ do not serve to reduce uncertainties about the technology for the ‘pragmatists’. While visionaries are motivated to use new technology to get a competitive edge, pragmatists want the benefits of new technology to improve existing processes and want to avoid risks associated with the new technology. Consequently, pragmatists see visionaries as insufficiently like them to serve as relevant uncertainty-reducing referents. Therefore the diffusion of technology across adopter categories is anything but smooth, pointing to the existence of a chasm separating two distinct market places for technology products.

The FARMSCAPE experience has been that while the initial positive responses came from 'visionaries', the group processes deployed resulted in a degree of penetration to 'pragmatist' farmers that was sufficient to motivate agribusiness to invest in developing FARMSCAPE services. However, given the tendency of agribusiness to focus their work on ‘visionaries’, there is a risk that the pragmatist market will be left behind. This project targets the task of creating the first reference groups of satisfied pragmatist adopters among agribusiness clients. This will be done by bypassing the diffusion process, working with agribusiness advisers, and utilising core aspects of the FARMSCAPE approach to alleviate the uncertainties preventing adoption for ‘pragmatists’.

Aims

§ To demonstrate a way to effectively implement powerful computer-mediated decision support for risk management in dryland farming among a sufficient segment of the farming community to enable a viable commercial agribusiness service.

§ To contribute within an existing network of consultants and farmers in which the FARMSCAPE approach to decision support is being implemented in the Northern Cropping Region by intervening to create reference groups of satisfied adopters among ‘late adopter’ categories of ‘farmers who are crucial to the diffusion process required for viable market volume.

Potential Outcomes

§ Benefits from computer-mediated risk management support, previously confined to the “early adopter” market, more equitably distributed - Australian farmers in the mainstream provided with increased capacity to manage climatic risk, strategically plan enterprise shifts, and weigh economic-environmental tradeoffs.

§ Consolidation of the provision of a novel risk management service for crop producers in the Northern Region by four agribusiness firms raising the ceiling market for a technology normally of interest only to farmer ‘technology enthusiasts.’

§ Increased awareness of the potential of these approaches in other regions of Australia.

Milestones

Budget

RIRDC	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007	TOTAL $
Salaries and On Costs	40,000	40,000	40,000			120,000
Travel	10,000	10,000	10,000			30,000
Operating	35,000	35,000	35,000			105,000
Capital (equipment)	10,000	10,000	10,000			30,000
RIRDC Total*	95,000	95,000	95,000			285,000
RESEARCH ORGANISATION*	95,000	95,000	95,000			285,000
Total of INDUSTRY & OTHER FUNDING* (Non levy and in-kind contributions
PROJECT TOTAL*	190,000	190,000	190,000			570,000

*Note: All figures should be GST exclusive

Resource Requirements

& Contributions

Staff

% / year

Prior Provision of IP &

Rights of Ownership

Ownership, equity in and use of IP to be developed

Rights of Publication

Strategic Plan KRA Area

Relevance to Strategic Plan