Examining Factors Associated With Farmers' Climate-Adaptive and Maladaptive Actions in the U.S. Midwest

Suraj Upadhaya,J Gordon Arbuckle

doi:10.3389/fclim.2021.677548

Abstract

The U.S. Midwest is a major producer of grain, meat, dairy, eggs, and other major agricultural commodities. It has also been increasingly impacted by climate change-related extreme weather over the last decade as droughts, extreme rains, floods, and, most recently, a severe derecho have damaged crops, livestock, and livelihoods. Climate and agricultural scientists and other stakeholders are concerned that without major shifts away from degrading practices toward regenerative systems, long-term sustainability will be compromised. We used cumulative logistic regression to analyze data from a 2020 survey of 1,059 Iowa farmers to examine (1) how farmers are adapting to increasingly variable and extreme weather-related to climate change and (2) whether selected factors were associated with different kinds of adaptive (e.g., increased use of cover crops) or potentially maladaptive (e.g., increased use of pesticides) actions. Our results found that many farmers have been taking adaptive and maladaptive actions. Stewardship ethics, attitudes toward adaptive action, and integration in conservation-related networks were consistent, positive predictors of increases in adaptive practices. On the other hand, faith in crop insurance as a coping strategy, farm scale, and other factors were associated with some maladaptive actions, with several positive predictors of adaptation also being positive predictors of maladaptation, use of pesticides and drainage in particular. This research contributes to the growing literature on climate risk management and adaptation in agricultural landscapes by providing empirical evidence of the factors related to farmers' adaptive and maladaptive actions.

Highlights

A large body of research indicates that since the middle of the nineteenth century, the world has warmed (Rosenzweig and Parry, 1994; Loeb et al, 2002; Schlenker and Roberts, 2009; Wuebbles et al, 2017)
Our research is guided by the research questions: (1) are Iowa farmers undertaking key adaptive and maladaptive actions in response to changing climate and weather extremes, and (2) what factors predict that behavioral change? Our analysis focuses primarily on the relationships between key demographic, cultural, social, economic, and institutional characteristics and actual adaptation and maladaptation behaviors
Structural In-field Our results show that five different explanatory variables were significant, positive predictors of farmers’ use of structural in-field practice such as buffer strips as adaptive actions in response to climate change and extreme weather impacts (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

A large body of research indicates that since the middle of the nineteenth century, the world has warmed (Rosenzweig and Parry, 1994; Loeb et al, 2002; Schlenker and Roberts, 2009; Wuebbles et al, 2017). The annual average temperature is increasing continuously, and the frequency, intensity, and seasonal patterns of temperature, precipitation, and other extreme climate-related events have been observed (Wuebbles et al, 2017). Over the last several decades, the U.S Midwest has been affected by climate change in several ways, including lengthening growing seasons, more annual precipitation, increased extreme rainfall events, and increased warmer days (Doll et al, 2017). These trends and patterns are predicted to continue and worsen (Walsh et al, 2011), affecting farm yields (Walthall et al, 2013). Due to the sensitivity of agricultural productivity and costs of changing climate conditions, U.S agriculture faces unprecedented challenges from climate change and extreme weather conditions (Walthall et al, 2013), necessitating adaptive responses from farmers

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