Incentives with ‘PURPPOCE’
At QFVG we constantly measure industry outcomes. We work hard to understand what approaches work in horticulture and what approaches should be left alone and we think we’ve found the magic formula for achieving shared goals for individual growers and wider industry. It’s about doing it with purpose… or in this case ‘PURPPOCE’.
Practice change is a term government often uses to measure the success, progress, and innovation of a sector. For us however, we know change is a way of life for growers. If they find something isn’t working on-farm, they change it. IF they can. And it’s this ‘IF’ where incentive programs prove effective.
From our experience, IF a practice change is practical, useful, relevant, profitable, proven, obtainable, and cost effective (PURPPOCE) – growers will want in! Growers don’t have the money to waste on unproven outcomes. Prove it helps the grower make money or save money, make it affordable, make it achievable, and growers will embrace it.
This approach is evident in our own projects where seed-funding or incentive money has been used to achieve on-farm impact.
A 2020 scoping review regarding the use of incentives in influencing the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices points to the “short term financial support and flexibility” as crucial in driving the pursuit of sustainable farming practices. Namely, incentives reduce financial risk, but also difficulties regarding accessing expertise and services to enact on-farm solutions.
In terms of flexibility, our work with growers has shown a key benefit of incentives was the ability to align practice change with individual grower priorities. Such alignment ensures on-farm impact and increased likelihood a grower will contribute their own funds on top of the incentive money to bring their proposed project to fruition. This is often in the magnitude of ten times the amount received.
Incentive programs more than financial support—they offer growers the opportunity to test, learn, and innovate with reduced risk. It’s all about farming with purpose, or in this case – PURPPOCE.
