Abstract
Agricultural conservation systems consist of a myriad of conservation practices. The mix and intensity of conservation practices adopted can benefit farmers and affect the entire production system in addition to soil and water conservation. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze farmer adoption of and complementarity between conservation practices from a joint and conditional probabilistic perspective using Kansas as a case study. We develop a modeling framework that can analyze and examine farmers’ joint and conditional adoption decisions using a multinomial logistic regression model. This framework is used to estimate conditional probabilities of adopting conservation practices given adoption of other practices to better capture the complementarity between different conservation practices. These estimates allow for an assessment of linkages between adoption of different conservation practices and the socioeconomic factors that affect the likelihood of adopting conservation practices given other conservation practices have already been adopted on-farm. The results can help guide policy and outreach efforts to promote further intensification of adoption by farmers.
Highlights
Conservation systems are able to improve both direct and indirect ecosystem services (Reicosky 2008)
Agricultural conservation systems consist of a myriad of conservation practices, including conservation tillage, dynamic crop rotations, cover crops, use of legumes in rotation, use of manure as a part of a crop nutrient management plan, precision agriculture, integrated pest management and other conservation nutrient management practices
To examine the proposed approach, we focus on the adoption of three conservation practices by crop farmers in Kansas: no-tillage, cover crops, and use of manure as a fertilizer source
Summary
Conservation systems are able to improve both direct and indirect ecosystem services (Reicosky 2008). Wu and Babcock (1998) applied a polychotomous-choice model to study the adoption of alternative management practices, including conservation tillage, crop rotation and soil N testing, on cropland They found that farmers, not including small and limited-resource famers, were more likely to adopt conservation practices when they had a conservation plan. Bergtold and Molnar (2010) developed a polychotomous-choice selectivity model to examine factors affecting the adoption of conservation tillage, soil testing and crop rotations by small and limited resource farmers in the southeastern USA. They found that these farmers had adopted the selected practices on a very limited basis and that farmers adopted practices individually rather than in bundles. Bergtold and Molnar (2010) found that adoption patterns by small and limited resource farmers in the Southeast would adversely affect their eligibility for participation in the Conservation
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