Factors influencing agro-environmental regulatory compliance behaviour on Canterbury dairy farms

Abstract

The Canterbury dairy industry has grown significantly in the past several decades in both the number of cows being milked and effective farming area. The industry has seen substantial growth in farm size, productivity and intensity. These increases have the potential to significantly impact the environment. Environmental regulations were implemented under the Resource Management Act (1991) to limit and mitigate the impacts of agricultural production, among other sectors. Compliance with environmental regulation as it pertains to effluent management on Canterbury dairy farms for the past several seasons has remained around 70 per cent upon first inspection. This research examines the factors influencing effluent consent compliance and the impact of their relationship on compliance. Understanding the factors influencing compliance behaviour is key to further developing efficient and effective regulation. An email-based electronic questionnaire collected quantitative data from Canterbury dairy effluent consent holders. The questionnaire was distributed to 513 consent holders, representing approximately 70 per cent of consents, for whom valid email addresses were available. A 14 per cent response rate was achieved. Data was analysed utilising SPSS 23. The results reveal insights into consent holder attitudes and perceptions and provide 11 statistically significant relationships between explanatory variables and compliance levels in the bivariate analysis and four significant relationships in the logistic regression analysis. These explanatory variables included: training workshop and farm group meeting attendance; farm size; amount of milking livestock on farm; the response to which group in society should have the primary responsibility of managing the environment sustainably; perception of the ease of access to information on compliance requirements; the perceived impact of non-compliance on reputation; the perceived ease with which the regulatory agency can detect non-compliance; the rating given for the regulatory process and inspections; historical non-compliance; and confidence in their ability and intention to comply at their next inspection. Recommendations provided to ensure a high level of, and an increase in compliance included an updated compliance rating system, leveraging communication tools and the ongoing development of a collaborative and education-focused strategy.