Challenges and opportunities for the veterinarian-farmer relationship in organic dairy farming

Abstract

With the objective of scaling up organic animal production practices, this article aims to highlight how the collaboration between organic farmers and veterinarians contributes to generating and transmitting more sustainable animal health management practices. First, we present the general context of the working relationship between livestock farmers and veterinarians. Then the results of the literature review show that the relationship between organic farmers and veterinarians is rarely the subject of study. Their relationship appears as a secondary result, in studies focused on organic farmers’ animal health management strategies. The current literature does not allow a detailed understanding of interactions between organic farmers and veterinarians. However, a certain number of tensions in the working relationship between organic farmers and veterinarians which can explain cases of ambivalent relationships are identified. Tensions refer to divergent values and strategic choices for animal health and curative approaches. Farmers work with a strategic vision of health focused on the overall herd resilience and have expectations regarding veterinarians on this subject. Supporting organic farmers in their health strategies implies more adaptive and tailored advice approaches that mobilize more veterinary expertise, especially in diagnosis, or that are part of collective agricultural knowledge and innovation system configurations. Studying the veterinarian-organic farmer relationship is especially relevant because conventional agriculture can benefit from the knowledge gained in organic agriculture to adopt more agroecological practices.