Are farmers motivated to select for heat tolerance? Linking attitudinal factors, perceived climate change impacts, and social trust to farmers' breeding desires
Martin-Collado, D. (Universidad de Zaragoza. Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón)
Diaz, C. (Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (Espanya))
Ramón, M. (Instituto Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Forestal)
Iglesias, A. (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)
Milán Sendra, María José (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments)
Sánchez-Rodríguez, M. (Universidad de Córdoba. Departamento de Medicina)
Carabaño, M. J. (Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (Espanya))

Date:	2024
Description:	19 pàg.
Abstract:	This study provides an understanding of dairy farmers' willingness to include heat tolerance in breeding goals and the modulating effect of sociopsychological factors and farm profile. A survey instrument including a choice experiment was designed to specifically address the trade-off between heat tolerance and milk production level. A total of 122 farmers across cattle, goat, and sheep farms were surveyed face-to-face. The results of the experiment show that most farmers perceive that heat stress and climate change are increasingly important problems, and that farming communities should invest more in generating knowledge and resources on mitigation strategies. However, we found limited initial support for selection for heat tolerance. This attitude changed when farmers were presented with objective information on the benefits and limitations of the different breeding choices, after which most farmers supported selection for heat tolerance, but only if doing so would compromise milk production gains to a small extent. Our results show that farmers' selection choices are driven by the interactions between heat stress risk perception, attitudes toward breeding tools, social trust, the species reared, and farm production level. In general, farmers willing to support selection of heat-tolerant animals are those with positive attitudes toward genetic values and genomic information and a strong perception of climate change and heat stress impacts on farms. On the contrary, negative support for selection for heat tolerance is found among farmers with high milk production levels; high trust in farming magazines, livestock farmers' associations, and veterinarians; and low trust in environmental and animalist groups.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación RTA2015-00035
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Attitudes ; Breeding tools ; Heat stress ; Selection ; SDG 13 - Climate Action
Published in:	Journal of dairy science, Vol. 107 Núm. 4 (2024) , p. 2156-2174, ISSN 1525-3198

DOI: 10.3168/jds.2023-23722
PMID: 37863285

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