Farmers’ choice of seed strategy : a case study of farmers’ operational decision making

Sammanfattning: Farmers make challenging and complex decisions almost every day. The focus of this study is farmers’ choice of seed. They can choose to buy certified seed, use seed that they clean from the previous year’s harvest or use a combination. The farmers’ choice of seed is an operational decision, which may have both economic and environmental consequences. They need to consider many factors in their decision, analyse their current situation and future risks. There is no earlier research about farmers’ choice of seed, which means that the present study contributes to a new dimension of research. The farmers’ choice is complex and includes many factors, such as choice of seed, what soil the farmers have, past harvest and the price for crops. In their choice, the farmers have to consider different types of risks. Their cognitive process affects how they make decisions. This study aims to clarify farmers’ decision-making regarding the choice between using purchased certified seed or seed from their own preceding year´s harvest. The empirical basis consists of data about how 13 Swedish farmers assess this choice, their sources of information and social networks. A qualitative method is suited for this study because the study requires deeper answers from the farmers that participated. To get viewpoints that are more varied the data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework is behavioral theories, i.e., decision-making process, social network, trust and collection of information. The result shows that when farmers choose seed by cleaning the previous year's harvest, this main reason is that they find this cheaper. One farmer, however, chose only certified seed, because he considered certified seed to be a high-quality commodity. Other farmers had the opposite opinion, i.e., cleaned harvest from previous year is of higher quality. Some farmers experienced that they were limited as concerns their choice of seed. The conclusion is that the farmers in this study do not consider the choice of seed to be particularly difficult, because it is an operational decision. They have a habit and experience enough to make these decisions. Furthermore, the farmers’ social network affects the decision making. Not the least, the choice between certified seed and farm-saved seed is influenced by economic factors.