The Future of Food: Understanding Public Preferences for the Management of Agricultural Resources

Abstract

The current U.S food system has managed to provide abundant food at a relatively low cost, even as the population increases. However, this unfettered growth is reaching maximum yields as demand for greater food production competes with other uses of agricultural lands. Extant ecological factors such as water scarcity are reducing food productivity, and competition for resources to produce food is becoming more apparent. This research examines public policy preferences of U.S. west coast citizens for the management of agricultural resources through the use of random household surveys. Results suggest overall support among respondents for food policies using regulatory, tax incentive, and voluntary outreach approaches. Multivariate analyses revealed that some social-demography, knowledge, environmental values, political ideology, and environmental efficacy variables were significant predictors of public opposition and support for food policies.

Public Water Policy Knowledge and Policy Preferences in the American West

“…Age in years, a gender dummy variable, formal educational attainment and household income are included for demographic variables. The environmental efficacy index was developed by adding individual scores on the following four statements with a five-point response scale ranging from 1 = “Strongly Disagree” to 5 = “Strongly Agree”: “I feel that my own personal behavior can bring about positive environmental change”; “I would be willing to accept cuts in my standard of living, if it helped the environment”; “I would be willing to support higher taxes, if it helped to protect the environment”; and “I would be willing to sacrifice some personal comforts in order to conserve resources.” The composite efficacy scale ranged from 4 = low efficacy to 20 = high efficacy [ 92 ]. The climate change beliefs variable was determined based on the question: “From what you’ve heard or read, do scientists generally agree that the Earth is getting warmer because of human activity, or do they not generally agree about this?” Responses were collapsed and recoded into dichotomous categories where 1 = Yes, the Earth is getting warmer because of human activity and 0 = else (those who answered do not know or not due to human activity).…”