[PCA] ARTICLE: What makes farmers try new practices?

[Haidet, Megan - NIFA]

Take a look at this interesting paper from Agroforestry Systems (Mattia, C.M., Lovell, S.T. & Davis, A. Agroforest Syst (2016). doi:10.1007/s10457-016-0053-6) and the corresponding article about farmers decision making related to adopting new practices, specifically transitioning marginal farmland to perennial crops. There is lots of room for extrapolating this information to the discussion about developing more native seed and plant growers.

Though researchers do not discuss planting native species for restoration or growing natives as perennial crops, the study does support that young, educated landowners, that value conservation may be best suited to transition to multifunctional perennial cropping systems. Soil, water quality and pollinators were the highest ranked ecosystem services influencing farming decisions of respondents in the study. Projecting market economics was another important component to transitioning.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10457-016-0053-6

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/What_makes_farmers_try_new_practices_999.html

Abstract:
The demand on agriculture to meet food security goals and mitigate environmental impacts requires multifunctional land-use strategies. Considering both farmer motivations and rural development needs, one option is to transition marginal farmland to perennial crops. In this study, we considered the potential for Multifunctional Perennial Cropping Systems (MPCs) that would simultaneously provide production and ecosystem service benefits. We examined adoption potential of MPCs on marginal farmland through an agricultural landowner survey in the Upper Sangamon River Watershed in Illinois, USA. We identified adoption preferences among landowners in conjunction with socio-demographic characteristics that would facilitate targeted implementation. Hierarchical cluster analysis and discriminant analysis identified landowner categories and key factors affecting adoption potential. Landowner age, appreciation for plant diversity, and future farm management involvement were the strongest predictors of potential MPCs adoption. The landowner categories identified within the survey data, supplemented with focus group discussions, suggested a high adoption potential farmer profile as a young, educated landowner with known marginal land they would consider converting to MPCs for improved soil and water quality conservation.

Enjoy!

Megan

Megan Haidet
Program Specialist
Division of Plant Systems - Protection
Institute of Food Production and Sustainability
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA
Office - 202-401-6617
Email - Margaret.haidet at nifa.usda.gov





This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20170320/6d47d921/attachment.html>