Integrated Advisory Services

The vision of the Danish Agricultural Advisory Service (DAAS) is that in future Danish cattle farming will be the most competitive cattle farming industry in the EU in relation to costeffectiveness, sustainability and quality. If this vision is to come true it is crucial to reduce the gap between the operating results of the dairy farmers and the production they achieve while at the same time improving standards. The hypothesis of the project is to make this happen through better targeted advisory services producing results that the farmer can measure. If these advisory services are to become a success the advice given must be based on an analysis of the farm followed up by identification of high-priority areas. In addition, the advisory services must be binding with clear agreements on action plans, areas of responsibility, follow-up and measurement of the impact of the advisory services. Among other things the project is based on experience from the projects “Development of Harmonious and Economic Dairy Farms” and “Capacity and Financial Management of Farms”. According to the experience from previous projects under the project “Development of Harmonious and Economic Dairy Farms” it is possible through specific action plans and close follow-up to improve the cost-effectiveness of dairy farms. The project “Capacity and Financial Management of Farms” indicated that collaboration between researchers, employees of the National Centre and local advisers about specific cases (farmers) is the only way to go if the advisory services are to experience any progress. Continues ........