Farmers’ views of the environment: the influence of competing attitude frames on landscape conservation efforts

Aaron Thompson (), Adam Reimer () and Linda Prokopy ()

Agriculture and Human Values, 2015, vol. 32, issue 3, 385-399

Abstract: Understanding factors that motivate farmers to perform conservation behaviors is seen as key to enhancing efforts to address agri-environmental challenges. This study uses survey data collected from 277 farmers in the La Moine River watershed in western Illinois to develop new measures of farmers’ environmental attitudes and examine their influence on current usage of agricultural best management practices (BMPs). The results suggest that a Dual Interest Theory approach reflecting two separate, competing psychological frames representing a stewardship view of the environment and a farm as a business (or profit maximization) view of the environment are present within the decision making domain. Using a cluster analysis technique to examine the interaction between these attitude frames reveals four groups of farmers who hold distinct views of the environment. Further exploration of these distinct belief systems reveals little evidence of differences in participation or willingness to participate in agricultural BMPs; however, we observe significant differences between these groups with regard to their willingness to support rural conservation planning priorities that address agri-environmental challenges. Further discussion focuses on the implications of these interactive dual interest typologies and the implications of these findings on efforts to engage farmers in conservation efforts. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Keywords: Farmers’ environmental attitudes; Dual Interest Theory; BMP adoption; Conservation practice adoption; Agri-environmental problems; Landscape planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-014-9555-x

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