Abstract for: Dairy Business: Farmer Education Enables Precision Farming

Precision dairy farming is the application of information technologies to dairy cattle farm management and allows increase both the performances and the profit of the farm production processes pursuing objectives of low-input, high-efficiency and sustainability. Recent studies clearly showed that the critical point of adoption rate of precision farming technology in dairy farms is represented by farmer education level. This paper describes the role of farmer education and its constraints on driving the efficacy of precision farming techniques adopted by a certain dairy farm. The paper also describes a possible application to a specific dairy cattle production area of Italy. The conceptual map consisted of 6 causal- loop named: Precision farming; Reports; Break even; Efficiency target; Farmer background; Education demand. The proposed conceptual model showed as farmer education enables and stimulates the efficacy of precision farming technologies. Further developments must include the stock and flow diagram of the reviewed relationships and the model calibration with existing information on dairy practices and required local information on farmer capabilities.