Abstract
The aim is to evaluate the factors that affect the response to technical assistance in beef cattle farms. Data were collected from 19 rural properties with the main economic activity focused on beef cattle, assisted by the technical and managerial program (ATER). The information was got from technical visits and structured interviews for 24 months. To assess the impact of the application of technological innovations on assisted properties, we analyzed the participation of the owner in technological training and implementation of other technology besides pasture reform; productivity, profitability, and production increment were determined in the period before and after the ATER. The producers technological training could not increase (P>0.05) productivity. The best responses (P<0.05) of productive increase (6% in productivity/ha) by technical assistance combined with pasture reform, and some other technological innovations, such as livestock-crop integration, and introducing a new species of forages, and fixed-time artificial insemination. These responses occurred in properties with low productivity (linear effect and ranking correlation of -0.62) and with the occupation of around 60% of the area (quadratic effect and ranking correlation of -0.50), independent (P>0.05) of the owners qualification and the percentage of degraded area. We can conclude that pasture reform should not be used as the only technological innovation at the beginning of the technical assistance process in beef cattle. An economic occupancy rate of the property close to 60% of the total area allows for a greater response to technological advances.
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