Geoff Kuehne

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Irrigator decision-making during a time of loss
and change

• Geoff Kuehne
• University of South Australia
• CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
• Henning Bjornlund
• University of South Australia and University
  of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

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Research Aim

• Examine the non-profit decision drivers of farmers

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Study Area

• Location
• Current situation
• Environment
• Economy
• Society

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50 kilometres
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Environmental cost
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Economic cost
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Social cost
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Methods

• Mail-out survey (quant qual)
• Photo-elicitation interviews
• Telephone Interviews

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• The best thing about being a farmer
• The worst thing about being a farmer
• Your most favourite place on the farm
• Your least favourite place on the farm
• Pictures of the future
• Pictures of the past
• This is what its all about - this is why I do it
• This is whats really important to me
• This is family farming
• The farming lifestyle
• This is my farming community
• Life with/without water
• Anything else that you think might be
  important/interesting to talk about.

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• Thats our 20,000 gallon rainwater tank. The
  neighbours cat drowned in it three years ago,
  which I wasnt very impressed with. It was six
  weeks before we found it. That was not good, I
  mean weve been drinking it quite happily until
  then ...
• ... we knew who our friends were because they
  still came round to have cups of coffee with us
  ...
• ... still for about a year after that, every
  time I made coffee I was looking to see if there
  were any hairs floating in the water. Well weve
  got a filter on it now anyway so they wouldnt
  come through so you have to carry on.

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• Thats our 20,000 gallon rainwater tank. The
  neighbours cat drowned in it three years ago,
  which I wasnt very impressed with. It was six
  weeks before we found it. That was not good, I
  mean weve been drinking it quite happily until
  then ...
• ... we knew who our friends were because they
  still came round to have cups of coffee with us
  ...
• ... still for about a year after that, every
  time I made coffee I was looking to see if there
  were any hairs floating in the water. Well weve
  got a filter on it now anyway so they wouldnt
  come through so you have to carry on.

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• Internal influence themes
• Optimism - resilience, hope
• Satisfaction - lifestyle, feelings of farming
  satisfaction, financial rewards, personal rewards
  
• Pessimism - trapped, despair, frustration
• Power - no control

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• External influence themes
• Change - forced adjustment
• Environment - drought, harsh environment, no
  water
• Financial - market and financial difficulties

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• Negative Internal Influences
• Pessimism
• Powerlessness

SALE

• External Influences
• Change
• Environment
• Financial

NO SALE

• Positive Internal Influences
• Optimism
• Satisfaction

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1. Optimism
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2. Satisfaction
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3. Pessimism
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4. Powerlessness
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5. Change
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6. Environment
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7. Finance
7. Finance
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2009
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2007
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Optimistic
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Depressed
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Favourite place
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Loss can be from

• bereavement
• divorce
• loss of a job
• physical disability
• changing houses
• traumatic injury
• loss of youth through ageing.

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Recovering from loss

• Shock and numbness
• Denial withdrawal
• Acknowledgement pain
• Adapting renewal

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Conclusions

• Non-profit decision drivers are still important
  under extreme conditions
• Photographs help to create a richer picture in a
  number of ways
• www.rirdc.gov.au
• geoff.kuehne_at_csiro.au

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Thank You