Farm characteristics and perceptions regarding costs contributeto the adoption of biosecurity in Finnish pig and cattle farms

The goal of this study was to estimate how theperceived costs of biosecurity measures and the characteristicsof the farm and the producer influence the adoption of fourbiosecurity measures: (1) the use of protective clothing whenentering an animal shelter and (2) the use of protective shoeswhen entering an animal shelter, (3) the verification of thehealthstatusof animals coming to the farm, and (4) the useof a carcass container to temporarily store dead animals at thefarm. Questionnaire data from 852 Finnish livestock farmswere analysed by a logistic regression model. The higher theproducers perceived the cost of the biosecurity measure theless likely they were to adopt that measure. However, thisresponse was inelastic. The results suggest that the use ofbiosecurity could be promoted by providing producers witheconomic incentives to follow stricter biosecurity policy.University education and the producer’sactivitytomaintainhis/her professional knowledge had a positive effect on theadoption of biosecurity measures. Also factors such as theproducer’s gender, farm size and production type contributedsignificantly to the adoption of biosecurity measures. The on-going structural change in the livestock sector likely increasesthe use of biosecurity measures as larger farms were morelikely to adopt biosecurity measures.