Farm Advisory Service: enhanced monitoring and evaluation

Appendix 1: Questionnaire

Introduction

Good morning/afternoon. My name is X and I am calling on behalf of the Scottish Government from a company called Winning Moves. You should recently have received an email to let you know that we would be calling you about the support you have received from the Farm Advisory Service. We are carrying out some work to find out about the impact of this service. Is now okay to speak about this?

If this is not a good time for the respondent to speak: When would be a good time to contact you to talk about this?

When agreeing appointment: (Except for mentoring only respondents) It would be really helpful if you could have a look for the reports you received through the Farm Advisory Service and have these to hand when I call back. This may help if you're struggling to remember exactly what advice you were given and what you have since done.

If needed:

• The Farm Advisory Service (FAS) is part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) funded by the EU and Scottish Government.
• We are contacting people who have received support since the programme began in September 2016.
• Our discussion should last up to 15 minutes
• Responses will be anonymised and no personally identifiable details will be published or shared with the Scottish Government.

Screen

You are recorded as having received the following from the Farm Advisory Service (to be included as applicable to the individual):

• An Integrated Land Management Plan
• With Specialist Advice covering X and Y (from database).
• A Carbon Audit
• Mentoring. I will read out what your mentoring included to help remind you about what we're discussing today: from database.

This would have been around date from database. Do you recall receiving this support?

a. Yes, I recall receiving the support
b. No – Is there anyone else in the business I could speak to who might recall this?

(Except for mentoring only respondents) In gathering your feedback, it would be really useful if you could refer to the reports you received for this support. Do you have these to hand? (If no: Would you be able to have a look for these before I continue the call please? This may help if you're struggling to remember exactly what advice you were given and what you have since done.)

a. Yes, I have the report(s).
b. No, I do not have the report(s).

Read to All

This call will be recorded for training and monitoring purposes and all data will be anonymised before reporting and will be stored securely in accordance with data protection regulations. Are you happy to continue?

a. Yes – Continue
b. No – End interview

Background

I understand your business is in the X sector (information from database).

1.Which of the following best describes your business:
1. An estate
2. A farm
3. A croft
4. Or a small holding

2.What was your main reason for seeking support?
1. To improve the businesses' financial performance
2. To reduce the businesses' carbon emissions
3. For support to set up a new business
4. Other – please specify

Actions

3.(Not to be asked to mentoring only respondents) For respondents who have a report to hand: Please can you refer to your report in answering the following question.
Have you taken or do you plan to take all, some or none of the actions recommended in your report?
(Where respondent has received more than one support type, go through for each support type: ILMP, specialist advice (1 and 2), carbon audit)

1. I've taken all of the actions suggested.
2. I've taken some of the actions suggested or to an extent.
3. I've not taken any of the actions suggested but intend to take them all.
4. I've not taken any of the actions suggested but intend to take some of them or to an extent.
5. I've not taken any of the actions suggested and do not intend to do so.
6. I do not remember.
7. Don't want to say

4.Please can you list for me the actions you have taken? (researcher to ensure they capture the nature of each action so that these can be categorised in analysis) Open.

5.(For respondents who answered 1-4 to q3) For the actions you have or intend to take, which of the following reasons has contributed to this decision?
1. I was planning to do this anyway. Yes/No
2. The action was easy to take. Yes/No
3. I could see this would be really beneficial to the business. Yes/No
4. I could see this would have a positive environmental impact. Yes/No
5. Other – please specify

6. (For respondents who answered 1-2 to q3) On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very unlikely and 5 very likely, in the absence of the support provided through the Farm Advisory Service, how likely are you to have undertaken these actions?
1. Very unlikely
2. Somewhat unlikely
3. Neither likely nor unlikely
4. Somewhat likely
5. Very likely

7. (For respondents who answered 1 or 2 to q6) How did the support help you to take these actions? (select all that apply)
a. It gave me the idea for action
b. It gave me evidence about the likely benefits of the action
c. It helped me decide which action to take
d. It helped me understand how to take an action
e. Other – please specify

8. (For respondents who answered 2,4 and 5 to q3) For the actions you have not and will not be taking, which of the following reasons has contributed to this decision?
1. Too costly Yes/No
2. Insufficient time to implement action Yes/No
3. I do not understand why this action has been recommended. Yes/No
4. I do not think this is necessary for my business Yes/No
5. Other (please specify)

Benefits

9. I'm going to read through a list of benefits. Please can you indicate for each one whether you have achieved this benefit or expect to achieve this benefit in the future through the support you have received from the Farm Advisory Service?

Response options for each benefit:

1. Yes, benefit achieved.
2. Yes, benefit expected to be achieved in the future.
3. No, benefit not achieved nor expected to be achieved in the future but this benefit was sought from this support.
4. No, benefit not achieved nor expected to be achieved in the future but this benefit was not sought from this support.

The first benefits relate to business performance:

• Additional sales
• Reduced costs
• Increased profitability
• Increased productivity
• Improved cash flow
• Improved access to borrowing
• Improved business stability
• Business restructure
• Business diversification
• Successful creation of a new farming or crofting business
• Creation of additional jobs
• Safeguarding of jobs

The next set of benefits refer to farm management and environmental considerations.

• Learnt new skills
• Improved understanding of farming or a particular aspect of farming
• Improved compliance with regulations
• Reduced energy use
• Reduced carbon emissions
• Increased biodiversity of the farm/croft
• Better managed habitats and/or landscape on the farm/croft
• Better managed and/or conserved woodland on the farm/croft
• Better managed soil quality and nutrients on the farm/croft
• Reduced water pollution on the farm/croft
• Increased organic production on the farm/croft
• Increased business resilience to the impact of climate change
• Better managed archaeological and historical sites on the farm/croft
• Improved animal welfare on the farm/croft
• Improved plans for retirement, succession or exit from the business

10. To be asked overall for the benefits achieved^[6]:Which of the following best describes how the support provided through the Farm Advisory Service helped you to achieve these benefits?

1. The benefits would not have arisen in the absence of the Farm Advisory Service
2. The benefits are a lot better thanks to the Farm Advisory Service
3. The benefits are a little better thanks to the Farm Advisory Service
4. The benefits would have arisen anyway.

11. To ask those who reported reduced costs: Are you able to provide a figure or an estimate of by how much your costs have reduced per annum?
Yes/no. Figure: (Note to researcher: please take as much detail as possible on this depending on what the respondent can tell you. This could include an amount per annum eg £1,500, a percentage decrease eg overheads have reduced from 25 to 20% per annum.)

12. To ask those who reported additional sales: Are you able to provide a figure or an estimate of your additional sales per annum?
Yes/no. Figure:

13. To ask those who reported increased profitability: Are you able to provide a figure or an estimate of by how much your profit has increased per annum?
Yes/no. Figure: (Note to researcher: please take as much detail as possible on this depending on what the respondent can tell you. This could include an amount per annum eg £1,500, a percentage increase eg profit has risen from 4 to 5% per annum.)

14. To ask those who reported job creation: How many permanent full time equivalent jobs have been created?
Figure:

14. To ask those who reported job safeguarding: How many permanent full time equivalent jobs have been safeguarded?
Figure:

15. To ask those who reported a reduction in carbon emissions: Are you able to provide a figure or an estimate of how much you have saved?
Yes/no. Figure for carbon saving per annum:

Satisfaction

16. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very dissatisfied and 5 very satisfied, how satisfied are you with the results of the support you received from the Farm Advisory Service to date?

1. Very dissatisfied
2. Somewhat dissatisfied
3. Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
4. Somewhat satisfied
5. Very satisfied

17. (For those who answered 1-2 to q16) Why not? Open.

18. (For those who answered 3-5 to q16) Why? Open.

19. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very unlikely and 10 very likely, how likely are you to recommend the Farm Advisory Service to other farmers or crofters?

Gaps

20. Is there any support you would like that has not been available through the Farm Advisory Service? Open.
(If respondent is struggling to think of anything: Has there been anything you have struggled with where support might help? Or is there something you might be interested in doing but you don't know much about?)

21. Do you have any other comments or suggestions on how we could improve this service to farmers? Open.
(If respondent is struggling to think of anything: This could relate to the nature of the support available, how it is provided, the application process or anything else.)

Closing

Researcher to categorise: 1. Male 2. Female

Could I please ask which of the following age brackets do you fall into?

1. 16-30
2. 31-40
3. 41-50
4. 51-60
5. Over 60

22. As part of our quality procedures a research manager may be in contact with you to verify some of the answers you have provided, is this ok?

a. Yes
b. No

23. Finally, would you like to take Winning Moves' number or the Market Research Society Freephone number to check anything about the company or the work that we are doing?

a. Winning Moves – 0121 285 3800
b. MRS – 0800 975 9596
c. None