Choice of insect management portfolios by organic farmers: lessons and comparative analysis

Abstract

American farmers do not always choose sustainable insect management practices, even when they can improve their farm economic and environmental conditions by doing so. Organic farmers are dependent on alternative, biology-based insect control methods and are innovative in their on-farm experimentation with new strategies. By understanding the factors that influence the insect management portfolio chosen by organic farmers, research and education programs to promote sustainable insect management practices for all farmers may be devised. A negative binomial model of the factors influencing the number of alternative insect management practices adopted is applied to survey data from American organic farmers. It is found that college-educated farmers with smaller acreages, more than half their acreage in horticultural production, and extensive experience with organic production methods, have the greatest diversity in their insect management portfolios. There is a strong indication that on a regional basis, uncertainty over institutional and infrastructure support for organic agriculture results in the adoption of more strategies. Recommendations include more support for farmer information exchanges and mentoring programs that rely on the expertise of organic farmers, and more funding for farmer-driven organic research that can be extended to all farm populations.