Voices of AgEnRes - Interview with Tobias Dalhaus

Interviewer: Could you please introduce your organisation and its role in AgEnRes? 

Tobias: My name is Tobias Dalhaus, I'm part of Wageningen University. In our work package, we will be developing financial price risk management tools to reduce farmers' financial exposure to input price extremes. 

Interviewer: What are the main challenges that you foresee in achieving the project's goals and how do you plan to address them? 

Tobias: For us, it will be important to first find the right people to work with, such as PhD students and postdocs. Once we have this team together, we have a straightforward plan to assess the availability of current price risk management tools and then develop new products that better fit farmers' preferences.  

Interviewer: How do you see the outcomes of the project benefiting farmers and agricultural stakeholders or agricultural communities? 

Tobias: The ultimate goal of our work package is to make farmers more financially resilient to price spikes, such as those we've seen in recent years. Currently, farmers' uptake of financial tools is relatively low. We aim to develop tools that better fit their preferences and are more widely adopted, helping farmers manage price spikes more effectively in the short term. Additionally, these financial tools can bridge the gap to future innovations, such as variable rate technologies and agronomic innovations, enabling farmers to use mineral fertilisers more efficiently. Our financial tools will prepare farmers for a long-term transition and adaptation to technical innovations. 

Interviewer: Are there any exciting developments or milestones that you are looking forward to as the project progresses? 

Tobias: Yes, the first milestones involve building up knowledge and conducting systematic literature reviews to understand how farmers decide on using price risk management tools and fertilisers. I'm excited to discover what we already know and identify the gaps in our knowledge. We will then use behavioural experiments to fill these gaps and understand farmers' decision-making processes, which will be very helpful for developing these tools in the later stages. 

Interviewer: Finally, what message would you like to convey to stakeholders and the wider community about the importance of the project? 

Tobias: For us, important stakeholders include financial service providers. The message to them is to keep an eye on our research. We aim to communicate directly with them to show that farmer preferences can be incorporated in financial tools to help farmers become more resilient. We encourage these stakeholders to monitor our progress and listen to our findings throughout the project. 

Interviewer: Thank you very much, Tobias.