Determinants of the adoption of conservation practices by farmers in the Northwest Wheat and Range Region

Adoption and extent of conservation agriculture practices among smallholder farmers in Malawi

“…Amount of cultivated land was significant at the 10% significance level and positively related to likelihood of adoption. This is in line with the findings of Fuglie (1999) and Tosakana et al (2010) who found that farmers with large land sizes are more willing to invest in soil conservation measures. Farmers owning large farms have more flexibility in decision making, more opportunity to experiment with new farming technologies, and more ability and willingness to deal with risk and survive crop failure due to pests and/or drought (Nowak 1987).…”

Individual transferable quota contribution to environmental stewardship: a theory in need of validation

“…The extent to which the stewardship ethics of quota owners at the collective comanagement level is driven by their attachment to profession is unknown. From other resource studies, we learn, for http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss2/art35/ instance, that absentee landowners, who are similar in some respects to investors in fishery quotas, have a preference for current income and have in some cases reduced stewardship incentives (Timmons 1980, Lee and Stewart 1983, Tosakana et al 2010. However, quota owners who have made a conscious decision of long-term investment in a fishery may strongly support choices that maintain its sustainability.…”

“…Some "types" of environmental attitudes have been shown to be predictive of environmental stewardship behavior (e.g., Jones and Dunlap 1992) with extremes ranging from "eco-centric" attitudes at one end of the spectrum to utilitarian attitudes at the other (e.g., van Liere 1978, Reeve 2001). Eco-centric attitudes reflect the belief that nature has a value of its own and deserves protection independently of any economic service it may provide, and these conservationcentered attitudes are often predictive of proenvironmental behavior and stewardship in empirical research (Drake et al 1999, Luzar and Diagne 1999, Klosowski et al 2001, Stevens et al 2002, Söderqvist 2003, Tosakana et al 2010. Moreover, these individuals are more likely to join incentive schemes that promote conservation outcomes (e.g., van Putten et al 2011).…”

“…For example, lower age, higher educational attainment, female gender (e.g., Lynne et al 1988, Jones and Dunlap 1992, Wilson 1997, higher income levels (e.g., Earle et al 1979, Vanclay 1986, larger acreage, and higher capital ownership (Prokopy et al 2008) were predictive of higher stewardship behavior. Higher levels of farm debt, higher dependence on farming for an income, being an absentee landlord or corporate owner, and being a leaseholder (Timmons 1980, Lee and Stewart 1983, Tosakana et al 2010 were predictive of lower stewardship behavior (e.g., Gasson and Potter 1988, Force and Bills 1989, Loftus and Kraft 2003. Even though the reported results apply to many different agricultural "contexts," they cannot be generalized to apply to all agricultural situations, and there is no absolute uniformity in either the predictive accuracy of the variables or in the direction of the effects that have been analyzed to date.…”

USDA water quality projects and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Conservation Effects Assessment Project watershed studies

“…In the article "Determinants of the adoption of conservation practices by farmers in the Northwest Wheat and Range Region," Tosakana et al (2010) have summarized a producer survey conducted with wheat farmers in western Idaho and eastern Washington. The authors found that producers were interested in adopting gulley plugs and buffers, although actual adoption was dependent on the apparent effectiveness of the conservation practice.…”