‘Implementation of bio…what?’ Farm workers’ subjectivities in Spanish dairy cattle farms through an ethnographic approach

This study explores the implementation of biosecurity measures by farm workers through daily work routines on dairy cattle farms in Spain. The implementation of biosecurity measures on dairy cattle farms is mainly decided by farmers and veterinarians, but it is carried out by both farmers and farm workers. However, farm workers may be affected by socio-employment factors such as the precariousness of their work such that implementation of biosecurity measures may be context dependent and may differ from official recommendations. An ethnographic approach was used through observations and conversations on four farms in two regions of Spain, two in Galicia (north-west) and two in Catalonia (north-east) to explore these factors. The profiles of participants were farmer-family workers, internal worker-employees and external worker-employees. Results showed that there were social differences, particularly communicative and hierarchical differences, between workers and farmers that influenced the implementation of biosecurity measures. Workers implemented biosecurity practices incompletely, differently or incorrectly from their supervisors’ instructions. Workers also relied on what the authors called an anthropomorphic approach to implementing biosecurity measures, which deviated from farm guidelines. In order to improve the implementation of biosecurity measures on dairy cattle farms, it is necessary to consider workers as key stakeholders in biosecurity. Such consideration could also help to professionalise workers, reduce their turnover and increase their permanence on these farms.