Animal Production and Health Unit, Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA), 50059 Zaragoza, Spain; AgriFood Institute of Aragon - IA2 (CITA-University of Zaragoza), 50013 Zaragoza, Spain.
Department of Animal Breeding, INIA, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Animal. 2021 Feb;15(2):100062. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2020.100062. Epub 2021 Jan 5.
Under-use of genetic improvement tools and low participation in breeding programmes are key drivers of breeding programmes under-performance. Both aspects are heavily influenced by farmers attitudes which, to date, have not been analysed in an objective and systematic manner. A key factor constraining the implementation of attitudinal studies towards livestock breeding tools is the lack of a reference scale for measuring attitudes. In this research, we provide the livestock breeding sector with such a reference measure. We developed the scale following the standardized psychometric methodologies and statistical tools. Then, as a case study, we used the scale to explore the attitudes of beef and dairy sheep farmers in Australia, New Zealand and Spain and analysed farmer and farming system factors related to those attitudes. Fourteen sheep and beef breed associations facilitated the implementation of a survey of 547 farmers, generating data that was used for the scale evaluation. The relationship between attitudinal factors and farmer and farming system factors was analysed using generalized linear models across and within breeds. The results suggest that the 8-item definitive scale we have developed is appropriate to measure farmer attitudes. We found that attitudes towards genetic improvement tools have two components; i) traditional selection and ii) genetic and genomic selection combined. This means that positive attitudes towards traditional phenotypic selection do not necessarily imply a negative attitude towards genetic and genomic selection tools. Farmer attitudes varied greatly not only across the studied breeds, species and countries, but also within them. High-educated farmers of business-oriented farms tend to have the most negative attitude towards traditional selection. However, attitudes towards genetic and genomic selection tools could not be linked to these factors. Finally, we found that the breed raised had a large effect on farmer attitude. These findings may help in the evolution of breeding programmes by identifying both the farmers most inclined to uptake breeding innovations in the early stages of its establishment and the farmers who would be more reluctant to participate in such programmes, thus informing where to focus extension efforts.
遗传改良工具的使用不足和参与育种计划的低参与率是育种计划表现不佳的关键驱动因素。这两个方面都受到农民态度的严重影响，但迄今为止，这些态度尚未以客观和系统的方式进行分析。限制对家畜育种工具的态度进行研究的一个关键因素是缺乏衡量态度的参考尺度。在这项研究中，我们为家畜养殖行业提供了这样的参考尺度。我们按照标准化的心理计量方法和统计工具开发了该尺度。然后，作为案例研究，我们使用该尺度来探索澳大利亚、新西兰和西班牙的肉牛和奶绵羊农民的态度，并分析了与这些态度相关的农民和农业系统因素。14 个绵羊和肉牛品种协会协助对 547 名农民进行了调查，收集了用于尺度评估的数据。使用广义线性模型在品种内和品种间分析了态度因素与农民和农业系统因素之间的关系。结果表明，我们开发的 8 项确定尺度适用于衡量农民的态度。我们发现，对遗传改良工具的态度有两个组成部分：i）传统选择和 ii）遗传和基因组选择的结合。这意味着对传统表型选择的积极态度不一定意味着对遗传和基因组选择工具的消极态度。农民的态度不仅在研究的品种、物种和国家之间存在很大差异，而且在品种内也存在很大差异。以企业为导向的农场的高学历农民往往对传统选择持最消极的态度。然而，对遗传和基因组选择工具的态度不能与这些因素联系起来。最后，我们发现所饲养的品种对农民的态度有很大的影响。这些发现可以通过确定在其早期阶段最倾向于采用育种创新的农民和最不愿意参与此类计划的农民，帮助改进育种计划，从而确定扩展工作的重点。
