Sally CurzonPhD Year 1

Examining disease risk communication for disease control management: the case of implementation of biosecurity measures on English dairy farms

Context for PhD Research

•Literature concerned with biosecurity implementation in agriculture, animal disease control, bTB.•Biosecurity knowledge / meaning generation / tensions around understandings. •Issues around stakeholder engagement /uptake•New focus on communication models and methods. •Collaborative knowledge production / communication.

PhD Objectives

• To examine models and methods of communication for biosecurity implementation and risk in the dairy industry

• Particular emphasis on the control of bovine tuberculosis through biosecurity measures

• Examination of how actors communicate around biosecurity implementation; the nature and content of communications; why communications occur in the ways they do and what this means for effective communication of disease management practise

Phases of Research

Research Methodologies

Ethnographic fieldwork techniques and on farm observations of farmer practice, knowledge and network mapping.

Structured data gathering – interviews / surveys / focus groups / collaborative knowledge building / workshops

Ethical issues – farmers as ethnographic subject - they provide material for the data, however, need to produce a critique of the material arising from them and at the same time also feed back and work with them to develop new models.

Themes of Literature Review• Biosecurity / agricultural biosecurity • Communication models / risk communication• Farmer behaviour and cultures of farming –

other stakeholder cultures

First Working PaperThis paper will form the first theme of literature review …Biosecurity / agricultural biosecurity

Biosecurity risk communication

methods

Literature Review – ThemesHistory of bTB disease and its management in

UK farming

History of emergence of policy concerning

bTB disease in UKBasic aetiology

(causations) of bTB disease

Current status of scientific developments

such as vaccine for cattle, testing efficacy

and methods

Background to farming / livestock

methods relating to this study: dairy, beef, intensive, extensive,

organic etc.

Farming context of globalisation,

international trade and standards, sustainable

intensification, agri-technology

History of bTB disease in relation to

development of public health policy in UK

bTB management in relation to the

development of trading standards both national

and international

Background to disease risk management and risk management in

general / defining riskBackground to

development of biosecurity concept and

implementation

Meanings and understandings relating

to biosecurity as a method and practice of disease management

Farmers, vets, policy makers, scientists, consumers, food

industry suppliers,

Disease risk communication

models, national and international

History of attempted interventions and

attempts to influence farmer behaviour

Other literature where behaviour change of

communities has been attempted

Collaborative methods and work to change

attitudes and behaviour

Communications / marketing /

influencing / new technologies and

multimedia

Epidemiology of bTB disease and current

statistics concerning its prevalence in particular

farming systems and regional spread

Cultural values, attitudes and

behaviour, behaviour change theory

ReferencesAnimal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (2013). Protecting you herd against infection with TB in high incidence areas: reducing the risks to your herdAvailable from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protecting-cattle-against-tb-infection-in-high-incidence-areas

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). (2002) Biosecurity Guidance to Prevent the Spread of Animal Diseases.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (2004). Biosecurity Code for Northern Ireland Farms

Donaldson, A. (2008) Biosecurity after the event: risk politics and animal disease. Environment and Planning A. 40(7): 1552-1567

Ellis-Iversen, J., Cook, A., Watson, E., Nielen, M., Larkin, L., Wooldridge, M. and Hogeveen, H. (2010) Perceptions, circumstances and motivators that influence implementation of zoonotic control programs on cattle farms. Prev Vet Med. 94(3-4): 318 - 318

Enticott, G. (2008) The spaces of biosecurity: prescribing and negotiating solutions to bovine tuberculosis. Environment and Planning A. 40(7): 1568-1582

Enticott, G. (2014) Biosecurity and the Bioeconomy: The case of disease regulation in the UK & New Zealand. In, Morley A and Marsden T. (ed.) Researching Sustainable Food: Building The New Sustainability Paradigm. Earthscan London: 122-142

Fisher, R. (2013) ‘A gentleman's handshake’: The role of social capital and trust in transforming information into usable knowledge. Journal of Rural Studies. 31(0): 13-22

Hinchliffe, S. (2014) Biosecurity. [Unpublished University of Exeter]

Hinchliffe, S. and Ward, K. J. (2014) Geographies of folded life: How immunity reframes biosecurity. Geoforum. 53(0): 136-144

Ilbery, B. (2012) Interrogating food security and infectious animal and plant diseases: a critical introduction. The Geographical Journal. 178(4): 308-312

National Animal Disease Information Service (NADIS). (2014) Farm Biosecurity TB and BVD Risk Assessment. [online] Available from: http://www.nadis.org.uk/riskassess.aspx?id=6068 [Date

Oreszczyn, S., Lane, A. and Carr, S. (2010) The role of networks of practice and webs of influencers on farmers' engagement with and learning about agricultural innovations. Journal of Rural Studies. 26(4): 404-417

Scottish Government. (2014) Biosecurity Practices for Animal Health. [online] Available [Date accessed: October 2014]

Sligo, F. X. and Massey, C. (2007) Risk, trust and knowledge networks in farmers’ learning. Journal of Rural Studies. 23(2): 170-182

Welsh Government. (2013) Bovine TB Eradication Programme. [online] Welsh Government. Available from: http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/ahw/disease/bovinetuberculosis [Date