Responding to environmental regulations through collaborative arrangements: Social aspects of manure partnerships in Denmark

In livestock-intensive regions of Europe, on-farm application of manure and other fertilisers is being increasingly regulated to protect aquatic environments. This study examined collaborative arrangements between intensive livestock farms in Denmark with surplus manure and farms requiring crop nutrients, in order to manage the manure resource at landscape scale and comply with environmental regulations. The extent of collaborative arrangements for manure among Danish farms was explored at national scale using registry data. This showed that in 2009, 50% of all farms in Denmark, managing 70% of the area, were involved in manure exchange, indicating that collaborative arrangements are widespread. Based on this analysis, a sample of 1500 livestock farmers who had provided manure to others was selected for a survey to determine the nature of the manure arrangements in terms of which farmers make partnerships with, and how the arrangements function in practice. Multivariate analysis (multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis) of 644 respondents was used to identify specific types of manure partnerships. The vast majority of respondents knew their partner before they established the arrangement, either through family, neighbours or their local or professional network. These different social relations played an important role in defining four types of partnerships, differing in e.g. burden sharing of manure transportation and spreading, frequency of communication and transport distance. The four types identified provide additional information about decision-making on manure allocation, which to date is mainly based on spatial-economic models. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.