Analyzing Opinions on Sustainable Agriculture: Toward Increasing Farmer Knowledge of Organic Practices in Taiwan-Yuanli Township

Joy R. Petway, Yu-Pin Lin and Rainer F. Wunderlich
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Joy R. Petway: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Yu-Pin Lin: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Rainer F. Wunderlich: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 14, 1-27

Abstract: Local farmer knowledge is key to sustainable agriculture when organic farming promotes biodiversity conservation. Yet, farmers may not recognize ecosystem service (ES) benefits within their agricultural landscape. Surveys were administered to 113 farmers, and the opinions of 58 respondents toward organic farming were analyzed to identify influential variables when deciding to farm organically. We classified responses by geographic category within a socio-economic production landscape (SEPL), and by social influence categories. With principal component analysis (PCA), a two-scale, four-phased analysis was conducted. Coastal farmers (n = 22) were the most positive towards organic farming trends due to consumer demand. Plains farmers (n = 18) were highly interested in future opportunities for achieving consumer health and food safety objectives. Mountain farmers (n = 18) perceived the most organic transitioning barriers overall, namely irrigation. In all three geographic categories, farming decisions were not primarily related to biodiversity conservation or ES management, but rather to farming community patterns, consumer feedback, and a lack of barriers. Further, farmer opinions toward organic practices were more influenced by their life experiences than by school-taught concepts. Since no previous studies have assessed the knowledge, values, and opinions on organic farming of Taiwan’s west coast farmers from an ES perspective, the proposed approach both identifies farmers’ knowledge and opinions, and verifies a satoyama landscape with PCA results for informed decision making.

Keywords: sustainable agriculture; organic farming; farmer knowledge; farmer opinions; ecosystem services; satoyama (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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