Water conservation behaviors among beginning farmers in the western United States

Abstract

Beginning farmers are a critical demographic in the context of a dwindling farm population in the United States. Research has shown that beginning farmers differ from established farmers in demographic parameters, farm size, education, and access to land. It is important to understand whether these differences play out in natural resource management. In this paper, we examine how beginning farmers in the western United States defined, prioritized, and practiced water conservation during a period of water scarcity. We used a survey to assess farmer engagement with water conservation practices and binary logistic regression to test the role of various predictor variables for explaining farmer engagement with these conservation practices. The majority of respondents were organic growers with an average of 4.6 years of experience in agriculture. Respondents reported using irrigation improvements, soil health practices, and experimentation with drought-tolerant crops in response to drought conditions. Approaches for improving soil were the most frequently cited means of water conservation. Binary logistic regression revealed that a sense of stewardship and education level played significant and positive roles in predicting respondents' use of both building soil organic matter and using pressure irrigation as water conservation strategies. Understanding how beginning farmers engage in water conservation is key to supporting increased conservation engagement for this population.

Farmers' adoption of ecological practices: A systematic literature map

“…In the mapped literature the psychological concept of identity could refer to stewardship (Hilimire & Greenberg, 2019), rural occupational identity (Groth‐Joynt et al, 2020) or productivist and conservationist identity (Walpole & Wilson, 2022). With binary logistic regressions, Hilimire and Greenberg (2019) found that stewardship had a significant and positive role on adoption of water conservation practices.…”

“…In the mapped literature the psychological concept of identity could refer to stewardship (Hilimire & Greenberg, 2019), rural occupational identity (Groth‐Joynt et al, 2020) or productivist and conservationist identity (Walpole & Wilson, 2022). With binary logistic regressions, Hilimire and Greenberg (2019) found that stewardship had a significant and positive role on adoption of water conservation practices. Groth‐Joynt et al (2020) rather measured rural occupational identity as a composite measure of 11 different items, which was significantly associated with adoption of fertilisation and soil management practices.…”

Perception of the Relevance of Soil Compaction and Application of Measures to Prevent It among German Farmers

“…The chi-square test indicated no significance (p = 0.08) for the distribution of the degrees, even when aggregating university degrees and non-university degrees before statistical evaluation. However, other studies found the level of education to be a critical variable influencing pro-environmental behaviour among farmers [79][80][81] and scientists are calling for more education, especially in the field of soil protection [82,83]. We suggest that our results do not follow this general recommendation since an agricultural degree can be obtained in different ways in Germany: there is the possibility of studying agriculture at university, where (presumably) rather theoretical expertise is taught, or the option to follow a formal vocational training, which is more focused on practical knowledge.…”

The Role of Environmental Attitudes and Risk for Adoption with Respect to Farmers’ Participation in the Agri-Environmental Practices

“…The main goal of farmers who view farming as a business is the production of high yields of good quality with profitable income from farm activities [15,16]. On the other hand, stewardship emphasizes sustainable farm management and plays a positive role in the adoption of ecological practices [17].…”