The impact of agricultural knowledge transfer resources on farm level profitability during the economic recession – a quantitative study

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The impact of agricultural knowledge transfer (KT) is related to the access to and the quality of services available. Within this context, the allocation of resources in terms of KT offices and the number of advisers are important considerations for understanding KT impact. This quantitative study evaluates the impact of KT resources on farm profitability for clients in Ireland during the recessionary period 2008–2014.

Design/Methodology: Teagasc, the public KT service provider in Ireland, experienced significant office closures (43%) and a reduction in advisers (38%) during the economic crisis, yet client numbers declined only slightly (4.5%). Administrative data are merged with a panel data set on farm-level performance to evaluate the impact through Random Effects estimation.

Findings: The results show that clients gained a 12.3% benefit to their margin per hectare over the period. However, there was a negative effect of 0.2% for each additional client assigned to the adviser which averaged at 9.6%.

Practical Implications: The quantitative findings provide a measure of impact that represents the value for money for the KT service. The key implication is that the client ratio for advisers should be considered when allocating resources and lower ratios would positively impact client margins.

Theoretical Implications: This article outlines the value of quantitative studies to estimate impact in a clear translatable manner which can aid the policy discussion around resource deployment.

Originality/Value: This study evaluates the impact of KT during a recessionary period when resources were constrained, and uses client ratios to examine the spatial effects.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge transfer
• agricultural advisers
• organisational change
• panel data

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C33
• Q10
• Q16

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

A. Cawley is a PhD who completed his doctorate funded under the Walsh Fellowship Programme of Teagasc from 2014 to 2018. His main research interests are based on evaluating agricultural policies through multiple methods with an emphasis on knowledge transfer-related impact.

C. O’Donoghue is the Dean of Arts and Social Science at NUI Galway and Professor of Public and Social Policy. Prior to this, he was the head of Teagasc’s Rural Economy and Development Programme. He was also a member of the Fund Council of CGIAR. His research interests include economic analysis of rural issues with an emphasis on microsimulation analysis.

K. Heanue is Teagasc’s (Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority) Evaluation Officer where he leads the development of an evaluation culture through the cyclical evaluation of its research programmes, extension activities, and once-off evaluations of organisational activities and functions.

R. Hilliard is a senior lecturer with the Department of Management in the School of Business and Economics at NUI Galway. Her main research interests are in the role of learning and innovation in organisations, developing organisational capability theory, and especially the nascent theoretical area of dynamic capabilities.

M. Sheehan is a professor of International Management, specialising in Human Resource Management, Human Resource Development, organisational performance of MNCs and SMEs and in developing empirical methods of management research. She is also the director of the International Centre for Management and Governance Research.