Defining farmer typologies for a land use, land use agent-based model in New Zealand

Scientists and governments are increasingly looking for ways to understand the complexity and outcomes of interactions between human agents and their environment. One of these approaches is the use of agent-based models (ABMs). It is imperative that these models include behavioural concepts within their theoretical conceptualisation of the decision maker ‘agent’. Results from a national landowner survey in New Zealand were used to define farmer typologies for an ABM model using cluster analysis. This study successfully demonstrates the use of clustering to define farmer typologies. The model using empirical data to represent the real identities that currently define New Zealand farmers was able to generate appropriate statistical representation across the agents in each typology distinguished in this study.