Taking work into account in the production of benchmarks in organic livestock farming

Summary

In a context very favorable to organic farming, the availability of benchmarks to accompany increasing conversions is necessary. Within the framework of the Bioref project, farmer' work has been taken into account in the production of these benchmarks, and this study reports the main results in five organic ruminant production systems: beef cattle, dairy cattle, meat sheep, dairy sheep and goats. Surveys were carried out in 32 farms using the Work assessment method supplemented by additional information on free time and the experience of work by farmers. The work situations observed in our sample are very diverse, influenced by the production sectors but also by strategies that are very common in these systems, such as the diversification (multiple productions) and valorization of the production (processing and/or direct sales). Farmers' organizational choices reflect a search for consistency with what they expect from their profession. The indicator provided by the Work Assessment Method to assess the liveability of the work situation (the room for maneuver in time), does not reflect the farmers' experience of their workload. This experience seems to be more affected by the lack of weekends or the absence of breaks due to processing and direct sales marketing activities. We explain the specificities of organic livestock work from the point of view of the farmers surveyed. These results confirm that taking work into account contribute to improve the relevance of benchmarks in organic livestock farming.