Researchers return to continue goose management studies

Following a successful first visit to Orkney, university researchers who are working with farmers to understand their land and goose management preferences are returning to the county today, Monday.

Dr Isabel Jones and Dr Sarobidy Rakotonarivo — postdoctoral researchers at the University of Stirling — spent ten days in Orkney in May and June this year. The pair conducted interactive surveys involving 12 Orkney farmers, as well as meeting many other farmers to learn about the goose/agricultural conflict first-hand.

The researchers have said their goal is to understand Orkney farmers’ land management preferences, perspectives and decision-making regarding the goose-agriculture conflict.

To do this, they work with groups of four farmers and use innovative technology on tablet computers. In each interactive session, farmers each have a tablet computer through which they can manage their own digital farming landscape. In this digital landscape, farmers can choose to undertake a number of different activities in each of their digital “fields” — growing crops, shooting geese, using goose-scaring methods or setting aside land for goose habitat.

By connecting the tablets with a local wifi hub, farmers’ action not only affects their own land, but attracting geese or trying to get rid of them affects the number of geese for the other farmers in the digital landscape.

By giving farmers different scenarios in the interactive sessions, such as changing goose populations and subsidy levels, the researchers can analyse data on farmers’ decisions to understand and quantify decision-making and preferences. Their aim is to provide strong quantitative evidence on farmers’ views that they can share with policy-makers and the wider conservation community, through reports policy briefs and scientific publications.

Farmers participating in the interactive sessions also complete a detailed questionnaire where they can specifically outline their perspectives and preferences, helping to contextualise the results from the interactive land management sessions.

The researches are in Orkney from today until Friday, August 30. Due to the nature of the research, the researchers need to complete between 40 to 50 of the interactive sessions in Orkney and Islay.

Any interested farmers in Orkney are urged to get in touch with Dr Isabel Jones to learn more about the research and to organise participating in the research. She can be contacted on 07803766146 or via email i.l.jones@stir.ac.uk

key facts for interactive sessions:

• Farmers only need to participate in one session of 1.5 to 2 hours duration.
• Sessions involve groups of four farmers.
• Farmers make interactive decisions about their own digital farms as part of a landscape of four farms.
• Farmers have the opportunity to give detailed information on their preferences and perspectives in a questionnaire
• All data is anonymous