Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
Social-Ecological Gaming and Simulation Lab, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 5;14(1):17427. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-67385-z.
The 2018 African swine fever (ASF) outbreak highlighted the importance of biosecurity in food production systems. Despite the significant economic impacts, the sociopsychological consequences on decision-making have been overlooked. Previous studies have focused on algebraic models and simulation-based models without considering the complex psychological and social factors that influence farmers' biosecurity behaviors and decision-making processes. This study aims to classify livestock producers into distinct subgroups based on their attitudes towards biosecurity. We conducted a survey presenting producers with three scenarios to assess their willingness to report suspected ASF cases, trust in government agencies, risk perception, biosecurity knowledge, willingness to purchase livestock insurance, motivation to invest in biosecurity, readiness to report suspected infections, and intention to contact a veterinarian. Using latent class analysis, we identified three distinct classes: Biosecurity Sceptics, Biosecurity Compliant, and Biosecurity Ultra-Compliant. Our results show that producer characteristics significantly influence biosecurity attitudes and class membership, with small-scale producers less likely to adopt ultra-compliant biosecurity practices. Attending at least one eradication program encouraged biosecurity compliance. This research informs the design of targeted food policy and risk communication strategies that account for attitudes of livestock producers to encourage biosecurity adoption and reduce the likelihood of Tier 1 disease incursion.
2018 年非洲猪瘟（ASF）疫情凸显了食品安全生产体系中生物安全的重要性。尽管疫情对经济造成了重大影响，但人们忽视了其对决策产生的社会心理后果。先前的研究主要集中在代数模型和基于模拟的模型上，而没有考虑影响农民生物安全行为和决策过程的复杂心理和社会因素。本研究旨在根据他们对生物安全的态度将牲畜生产者分为不同的亚组。我们进行了一项调查，向生产者呈现了三种情景，以评估他们报告疑似 ASF 病例的意愿、对政府机构的信任、风险感知、生物安全知识、购买牲畜保险的意愿、投资生物安全的动机、报告疑似感染的准备情况以及联系兽医的意愿。使用潜在类别分析，我们确定了三个不同的类别：生物安全怀疑论者、生物安全合规者和生物安全超合规者。我们的研究结果表明，生产者的特征显著影响生物安全态度和类别归属，小规模生产者不太可能采取超合规的生物安全措施。参加至少一次根除计划会鼓励生物安全合规。这项研究为制定有针对性的食品政策和风险沟通策略提供了信息，这些策略考虑了牲畜生产者的态度，以鼓励生物安全措施的采用，并降低一级疾病入侵的可能性。
