Farmers’ social networks and regional spillover effects in agricultural climate change mitigation

Cordelia Kreft (), Mario Angst, Robert Huber and Robert Finger
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Cordelia Kreft: Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, ETH Zurich
Mario Angst: University of Zurich
Robert Huber: Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, ETH Zurich

Climatic Change, 2023, vol. 176, issue 2, No 7, 21 pages

Abstract: Abstract Climate change poses a severe threat to global agricultural production and rural livelihoods, and since agriculture itself is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it can also play an important role in climate change mitigation. This article investigates how farmers’ social networks influence the adoption of on-farm mitigation strategies. More precisely, we use a network autocorrelation model to explore the relationship between a farmer’s own mitigation behavior and the mitigation behavior and knowledge of his fellow farmers. The analysis is based on a regional case study in Switzerland and uses data obtained from personal network interviews combined with survey and census data of 50 farmers. Half of them are members of a local collective action initiative for agricultural climate change mitigation, while the others do not participate in the initiative. We find that, on average, farmers with a larger network adopt more mitigation measures, and furthermore, mitigation adoption is linked with the level of knowledge within farmers’ networks. Indeed, the likelihood that non-members will adopt mitigation measures increases if they are closely associated with members of the collective action, suggesting a local spillover effect. It follows that strengthening knowledge exchange among farmers and supporting local farmers’ initiatives can potentially contribute to the diffusion of agricultural climate change mitigation practices.

Keywords: Climate change; Mitigation; Agriculture; Social networks; Knowledge exchange; Network autocorrelation models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-023-03484-6

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