Factors Influencing Farmers' Adoption of Best Management Practices: A Review and Synthesis.

Tingting Liu,Matthew Heberling,Randall Bruins

doi:10.3390/su10020432

Tingting Liu, Matthew Heberling + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020432

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Abstract

Best management practices (BMPs) for reducing agricultural non-point source pollution are widely available. However, agriculture remains a major global contributor to degradation of waters because farmers often do not adopt BMPs. To improve water quality, it is necessary to understand the factors that influence BMP adoption by farmers. We review the findings of BMP adoption studies from both developed and developing countries, published after (or otherwise not included in) two major literature reviews from 2007 and 2008. We summarize the study locations, scales, and BMPs studied; the analytical methods used; the factors evaluated; and the directionality of each factor's influence on BMP adoption. We then present a conceptual framework for BMP adoption decisions that emphasizes the importance of scale, the tailoring or targeting of information and incentives, and the importance of expected farm profits. We suggest that future research directions should focus on study scale, on measuring and modeling of adoption as a continuous process, and on incorporation of social norms and uncertainty into decision-making. More research is needed on uses of social media and market recognition approaches (such as certificate schemes and consumer labeling) to influence BMP adoption.

Highlights

Poor water quality, and in particular excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus loadings, is an international problem for reasons that include human population growth, the expansion of industrial and agricultural activities, and climate change [1,2]
The literature was collected from 1982 through early 2016 via the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Research, Education, and Economics Information System (REEIS) database, Web of science, and Google scholar, but we focus on more recent studies (2008 and later)
The majority of case studies we reviewed were in the United States (US) and Australia, others were in Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and Canada

Summary

Introduction

In particular excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus loadings, is an international problem for reasons that include human population growth, the expansion of industrial and agricultural activities, and climate change [1,2]. Unlike nutrient pollution from point sources (including wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs)), nonpoint source (NPS) pollution such as agricultural runoff is not directly regulated under the Clean Water Act and continues to be a major water pollution concern [1]. Similar data are often difficult to obtain, studies elsewhere have shown that pollution from agriculture is a major problem in many other developed and developing countries including the Netherlands, New Zealand, and China [5,6,7]. Recent events such as harmful algal blooms impacting drinking water have made this more recognizable [8]. Better understanding of the factors that influence farmers’ conservation behavior is critical to changing this result

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