Advisers can contribute to simplifying complex farm regulations

Between 1996 and 2021, the amount of farm level regulation increased by 134 percent. This means that Swedish producers of milk, meat and crops today must navigate 480 different regulations at the farm level.

Farm advisers are brought in to support farm businesses in implementing the many and often complex regulations. But the potential contribution of advisers does not stop there.

A study from SLU, conducted by researchers Lisa Blix Germundsson and Jonas Bååth, highlights a new possible role for advisers – in regulatory simplification.

Advisers as knowledge brokerers

Advisers have good insight into both the reality of farmers and the regulatory frameworks of authorities.

They are therefore well positioned to develop proposals for how complex regulations can be simplified, beyond helping farmers comply with them.

The researchers refer to this as knowledge brokerage – the mediation of knowledge between the involved actors.

– The study investigates how advisers can develop their practices to "mediate" between the knowledge and experiences of farmers and regulatory authorities in implementing farm-level legal regulation, says Lisa Blix Germundsson.

Examining the advisers' new method

In the study, the researchers examine a completed project carried out by five experienced advisers and specialists from Hushållningssällskapet Halland, Växa Sverige, HIR Skåne and The Federation of Swedish Farmers. The project aimed to develop and test a new method for regulatory simplification.

The method involved identifying and processing proposals for simplification, and ensuring that the proposals reached the relevant regulatory authorities for consideration. Simplification is viewed from the farmer's perspective.

Project manager Sara Bergström Nilsson, environmental and biogas adviser at Hushållningssällskapet Halland, sees working on regulatory simplification as an important part of her role.

– We have a responsibility to advocate for farmers. As advisers, we receive input from many different people, which creates a broader understanding that not all farmers may have on a given issue. They also have a great deal of other things to attend to in their farm businesses, she says.

Four steps to simpler regulations 

The method developed and tested by the advisers consisted of four main steps.

The researchers found that the project group drew on complementary competencies within the group, brought in additional external expertise, and used their own creativity to develop the proposals.

1. Collecting proposals: Farmers were interviewed and a web form was used to capture input. A total of 150 unique proposals for regulatory simplification were collected. The advisers often had to interpret and translate experienced problems into specific legal provisions.
2. Sorting and prioritising: The proposals were assessed based on their impact on sustainability, competitiveness, and how burdensome the regulation was perceived to be. Experience played a decisive role.
3. Analysing: The 55 highest-priority proposals were analysed in depth with the support of invited expert colleagues, who developed concrete proposals for improvement and estimated the possible consequences of the changes.
4. Dialogue meetings: 24 proposals were presented at meetings with representatives from four national regulatory authorities and two government ministries, with the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth serving as moderator.

The meetings yielded positive outcomes, including new relationships and commitments to further investigation.

Good proposals are not enough to create change

The final step of the method, dialogue meetings, was particularly important because the project group recognised a need for regulatory authorities to be involved in the process in order for the proposals to have an impact.

Project manager Sara Bergström Nilsson has experience of what happens when that involvement is lacking.

In connection with the project that resulted in the report Byråkratin i lantbruket belastar och kostar (2019), she and a colleague developed a list of 80 proposals for regulatory simplification.

But when they presented the list to the regulatory authorities in Stockholm, their interest in engaging with the proposals was surpsisingly low. 

– We concluded that proposals alone are not enough to bring about simplification, it is too complex. When we reflected on what had gone wrong, we realised it was because the regulatory authorities had not been involved in the process. We needed dialogue meetings to create that sense of participation, says Sara Bergström Nilsson.

Sara Bergström Nilsson hopes that the project will contribute to the establishment of forums for continued dialogue between advisers and regulatory authorities in the future.

Further reading

Read the full scientific article here: From legal compliance to knowledge brokerage: how a group of farm advisers developed mediation practices between farmers and regulatory authorities

Lisa Blix Germundsson has previously written an evaluation report on the method. Read it in the project's final report here (Swedish): Metodutveckling för regelförenkling