“I talk to producers like I’m a producer!” Exploring extension professionals’ perceptions and framing of climate change

Abstract

Climate change is a central risk to global agriculture. As extension professionals are key disseminators of information on agricultural production, their perceptions of climate change and how they convey climate information to farmers is important to understand. This study explored how extension professionals in Missouri perceive the issue of climate change, how they frame communications with their producer stakeholders, and their need for training. We conducted an online survey with 112 extension professionals in the state, using Maibach and colleagues’ Six Americas Scale. The majority of participants believed that climate change is happening, although participants fell into each segment of the scale. There was a significant relationship between conservative ideological leaning and disbelief in climate change. Participants were more likely to use terms like “extreme weather,” “weather variability,” and “long-term weather” and least likely to say things like “climate debate,” “global warming,” and “greenhouse gases.” Only 6.7% of participants had received any formal training on climate change. These findings point to the need for participatory training for extension professionals on climate change, to build climate literacy while also teaching climate scientists best practices for communicating these issues to the public. .