Farmers' goals and values are knowable, but not simple. (And why farmers and researchers are like the odd couple)

What do farmers really want? As an aid to communication and understanding, we surveyed farmers and researchers to gauge their goals and values. Temperament (also known as personality type) was also assessed, to see whether this explained differences in goals and values. Farmer's most important sources of satisfaction were; Pride of ownership, Making a satisfactory income, Self-respect by doing a worthwhile job, Meeting a challenge, Enjoyment of work tasks, and Ensuring a future income. Low importance was attributed to; Expanding the business, Continuing the family tradition, and Recognition or prestige (low to lowest). In the opinion of farmers, what makes a good farmer is (from the highest); Leaves the land better than they found it, Cares for their workers and family, Is most satisfied with their life, and Is progressive/up-to-date/experimental. The least important were (to the least important); Own their land, Is a leader in the farming community, Is not in debt. The ratings for these values were similar to those previously found overseas and in Australia. Ratings of several sources of satisfaction differed between groups of farmers with different temperaments. Surprisingly, farmers and the research team had remarkably similar values concerning farming, despite substantial differences in their temperaments. We also learnt that obtaining information concerning goals, values and temperament is not difficult, and people are very interested (and often sceptical) in the methods and results.