The role of human and social capital in dairy farming

We explored how human and social capital influences productivity among dairy farmers. Farmers’ education varied from no agricultural education to higher university education. Interaction between human and social capital influenced farm performance. There were substantial differences among farms in quality and economic outcomes. Our 90 respondents came from a random sample of farmers from the five most important dairy farming areas in Norway. We merged interview data with a database on biological and financial data to conduct statistical analyses. Education had clear effects on the financial outcomes of farmers with direct and interaction effects of social capital. Interaction effects with education showed people with agronomy education and social capital had substantially higher incomes than farmers without relevant education. We also found a negative relationship between high levels of social capital and farm performance when farmers lacked relevant education. Our research draws upon learning theory to further explain the findings and make future recommendations.