SAC Research

For many years SAC has provided research and advice that has been of benefit to Scottish agriculture. However, the nature and purpose of this advice is diverse, ranging from specific help for farm-related activity to providing information regarding animal welfare, environmental improvement, as well as non-agricultural related activities. Such a mix of advice leads to numerous incommensurate outputs that may prove difficult to compare when considering cost-effectiveness.

A wide body of literature now exists concerned with assessing the effectiveness of R&D and advisory systems for developed and developing countries (e.g. Alston et al., 1998). Consequently, the purpose of this research is to review the methodologies available in terms of their applicability to the market sectors that SAC serve. A test case of the livestock (animal health) sector would also be undertaken to assess the suitability of the methodology adopted.

There would be three main outputs to this research, namely:

• to provide a review of the methods for measuring knowledge
• to provide an appropriate model for assessing transfer that would be applicable to the sectors operating within Scotland that SAC serve
• to provide an application of this model to the Scottish livestock sector in order to measure the cost-effectiveness of SAC’s advisory activity