New Zealand dairy farmers as organisational learners

The dairy industry is an important element of the New Zealand economy, and its key producer organization (the New Zealand Dairy Board) views itself as being progressive in relation to the acquisition and adoption of technology. However it accepts that in order to remain price competitive in international markets, technological improvement is a continual necessity. As a result the Board needs to increase production efficiency by encouraging farmers to “learn about” (and adopt) new methods and processes. In 1997 the Board initiated a strategy for improving learning within farm organisations. A project was undertaken to examine the barriers to learning for farmers and to explore alternative methods for enhancing their learning. This paper reflects on the use of action research (AR) as one alternative method. In a case study on women dairy farmers, AR was used as a method of resolving an on‐farm technical issue. This process is compared with the discussion group method already used widely in the New Zealand dairy industry.