Abstract
AbstractAgricultural service providers often work closely with producers, and are well positioned to include weather and climate change information in the services they provide. By doing so, they can help producers reduce risks due to climate variability and change. A national survey of United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) field staff (n = 4621) was conducted in 2016. The survey was designed to assess FSA employees’ use of climate and weather-related data and explore their perspectives on climate change, attitudes toward adaptation and concerns regarding climate- and weather-driven risks. Two structural equation models were developed to explore relationships between these factors, and to predict respondents’ willingness to integrate climate and weather data into their professional services in the future. The two models were compared with assess the relative influence of respondents’ current use of weather and climate information. Findings suggest that respondents’ perceptions of weather-related risk in combination with their personal observations of weather variability help predict whether an individual intends to use weather and climate information in the future. Importantly, climate change belief is not a significant predictor of this intention; however, the belief that producers will have to adapt to climate change in order to remain viable is. Surprisingly, whether or not an individual currently uses weather and climate information is not a good predictor of whether they intend to in the future. This suggests that there are opportunities to increase employee exposure and proficiency with weather and climate information to meet the needs of American farmers by helping them to reduce risk.
Highlights
Global climate change has diverse and varied regional impacts, evident today and forecast into the future (Noble et al, 2014), presenting challenges and opportunities for agricultural producers worldwide
While earlier research shows that lesser degrees of climate skepticism are associated with pro-environmental behavior (Poortinga et al, 2011), Hornsey et al.’s research (2016) suggests that attribution skepticism may not be a barrier to climate-related pro-environmental behavior as previously assumed. In support of this emerging framing of the relationship between climate skepticism and climate change related behavior or intentions, we found that whether or not an Farm Service Agency (FSA) employee accurately identifies the causes of climate change has less impact on their desire to use climate and weather data than other factors
Given the unique organizational structure of FSA, in combination with the importance of the services this agency provides to US producers, employees of this agency play an important role in providing information and support to land managers
Summary
Global climate change has diverse and varied regional impacts, evident today and forecast into the future (Noble et al, 2014), presenting challenges and opportunities for agricultural producers worldwide. The Agency supports the conservation of vulnerable agricultural lands with two programs containing incentives for: (a) the removal of ecologically sensitive agricultural land from production (through programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP) and (b) conservation practices on active agricultural land (through programs such as the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program or C-CRP) Because of these core functions, in combination with their frequent and sustained contact with farmers and ranchers, FSA employees regularly deliver services that support the overlapping goals of conservation and climate-adaptation. Managing weather-related risks through insurance, disaster relief and conservation, is within the purview of FSA programing, meaning FSA employees are well situated to support agricultural communities as the climate continues to change. The appropriate use of climate forecasts is important for providing services related to a number of relevant agricultural decision-making processes
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