Adoption of Best Practice Standards

by Dairy Farms in Colombia

D. Valencia , M. van der Giezen , A. Bailey , L. Zuluaga , J. Jia
1 1 2 2 2

Biosciences , Business School , University of Exeter, United Kingdom

1 2

ABSTRACT
This work presents a study conducted in Colombia in the dairy regions of Antioquia and coffee corridor and regin Cundi-boyacense, focusing on
the factors affecting the adoption of the Colombian public standard on best agricultural practices for dairy cattle, ICA-BPG (Buenas
Prcticas Ganaderas del Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario ICA). Collecting data through interviews and visits to both, certified anduncertified
farms,this multiple case study identified factors affecting the adoption or rejection of the standard implementation. These identified factors can be
classified for analysis as economic, institutional and personal. The first ones, refer to the certification bonus in the price of milk, the certification
costs, the land tenure and the inputs market. Institutional factors identified include technical assistance, rural education, associations, the relevance of
the standards, the audit approach and infrastructure. Finally, personal factors included the interest in the environmental conservation, the workers
resistance to change and other farmers attitudes. The ICA-BPG standard initiative is important for the sustainability of a polluting activity such as dairy
farming in Colombia, and according to the findings of this study, incentives that are meaningful for farmers need to be strengthened in order to increase
the level of adoption that this certification currently has.
INTRODUCTION FINDINGS
Economic Colombia has 494,402 cattle farms (beef,
Factors inferred from the interviews: Barriers/inhibitors (
) and
resilience dairy and double-purpose), but only 642 Incentives/drivers ( )
Investment
(0.13%) are ICA-BPG certified, from the Economic factors We depend on what they
Local economy
Product quality and
time when the law was enacted in 2008 to
Certified milk price (11/16) want to pay us, we deliver a
information this day. Certification costs (9/16) product, but we never know
Vulnerability ICA-BPG certification prioritises Health and Farm ownership (2/16) how much we are going to
Environmental
Integrity Safety (HS), animal welfare and holistic receive for it
Animal welfare management standards (analysis within the Institutional factors
Biodiversity FAO sustainability framework). The technical support is given

Technical support (12/16) by people from the city, they
Land Rural education (9/16)
Materials and energy should be rural people, from
Unsuitable standards the countryside
Water
(8/16)
Role of associations and When milk producers get
Good governance milk companies legal and formal, they seem to
Accountability (7/16) get into trouble, they get huge
Corporate ethics Certification audit scandals, persecution and
Holistic management approach (6/16) sanctions by the authorities.
Participation Not mandatory (3/16)
Those who are informal draw
Rule of law Rural infrastructure no attention, they work
(2/16) calmer. And when they see
Social wellbeing Personal factors
what happens with those who
Cultural diversity Environmental tried to be legal, why would
Decent livelihood consciousness (7/16)
Workers resistance (4/16) they want to be visible and
Equity
Other farmers attitudes persecuted and get into
Fair trading practices
Human safety and health (3/16) trouble?
Labour rights Farmers dont know what
keeping
DISCUSSION records is
METHODOLOGY Contrast with Literature
My worker didnt know what
Contrast with evidence: The
frequency means
Objective: To explore the motivations, barriers and limitations that review example of the certified raw
Colombian dairy farmers face in adopting the standards. Literatur
This milk price
e
Research question: What are the factors affecting the Colombian dairy study
farms decision to adopt the ICA-BPG certification? New factors:
Unsuitable
Methods: Exploratory study using standards and audit
approach
semi-structured interviews to conduct a Economic factors: Economic factors:
Costs, demand, Certified milk price,
multiple case study. land tenure costs, farm ownership
Construction of the case study Institutional: Institutional:
Technical Technical assistance,
validity: Using crossed-case analysis, assistance and rural education,
contrasting the findings with literature rural education
Personal factors: associations' role
Personal factors:
Environmental
and evidence. consciousness and
Environmental
consciousness and
resistance to
resistance to change
change

CONCLUSIONS
The main factors affecting the Colombian dairy farms' decision to
adopt the ICA-BPG standard are the certification bonus in the milk
price and the technical support. Both could be drivers or causes of
rejection, depending on the way the standards are implemented in
different areas of the country.
Additional factors that could affect the adoption in lesser proportion were
Interviewees: Government official, dairy extension agent, supplier identified: economic factors such as certification costs and farm
representative and 13 farmers. 16 interviews. Farms sizes: 7 - 160 ha. Herd ownership; institutional factors such as rural education, role of
sizes: 20 - 324. Sites: Antioquia, Chiquinquira, Filandia and Bogota. (Recorded associations, top-down unsuitable standards, and certification
interviews incorporated into a framework analysis). approach; and personal factors such as environmental awareness,
Antioquia workers resistance to change and other farmers attitudes.
El Retiro: 1 uncertified
Future prospects: Despite the importance of the ICA-BPG standard for
farmer
Ovejas: 1 certified the dairy farming sustainability in Colombia, it has a low level of adoption
farmer in its 8 years of existence. Further study is needed to understand how to
San Pedro de los strengthen the most crucial incentives for farmers. The findings resulted
Milagros: from this research could be helpful to formulate hypotheses for more
1Chiquinquira
supplier research. The raw milk KEY priceREFERENCES
formula, lack of demand, the bottom-up
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Rogers, E. M. (1983). Diffusion of innovations (3rd ed). New York: London: Free Press; Collier Macmillan.

The author thanks the departments of Biosciences and Business School of the University of Exeter and the Ayudar scholarship for their support. Special
gratitude to the participants from Colombia, in Bogota, Chiquinquira, Filandia and particularly in Antioquia, without whom the achievements of this
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research would not have been possible.