Farmer private social performance depending on the degree of ecological approaches
Social performance is the pillar of sustainability that is the most often neglected, compared to the evaluation of environmental and economic performances of farming systems. Farmers' working conditions are rarely studied. To understand farmers' working conditions and to assess them, it is necessary to develop a multicriteria approach including not only quantifiable dimensions (e.g., the length of working days) but also dimensions that can explain how working conditions are experienced by workers (e.g., by understanding farmer's reasons for acting). Multiple factors contribute to determine farmers' working conditions such as the composition of the workforce, the region, but also the degree of uptake of ecological practices. This deliverable contributes to knowledge on this issue, explaining the work carried out in task 3.3 of the LIFT project. The main objectives of task 3.3 were: i) to describe farmers' and farm workers' working conditions in different farming systems characterised by different degrees of uptake or ecological practices and; ii) to identify factors explaining these working conditions (degree of uptake of ecological practices, workforce composition, country, etc.). To achieve these objectives, a set of indicators on working conditions was selected in a two-step approach: firstly, a theoretical basis from the literature, and, secondly, expert knowledge in the LIFT partners. Primary data was collected during interviews with 160 farmers in five European Union (EU) regions (Brittany in France, Puy-de-Dôme in France, Crete in Greece, Ireland, Salzburg area in Austria, Umgebung Steyr-Kirchdorf in Austria). Statistical analysis was conducted to describe the diversity of indicators (working conditions, workforce composition and farm structure) within the whole sample and in the different case study areas. A principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out on working condition indicators, using farms with complete data (123 farms). Farm characteristics and workforce composition indicators were shown on ...