Abstract
Despite low levels of agreement that climate change is caused primarily by humans, respondents to a survey of climate change beliefs and adoption of climate-mitigative practices among beef and grain producers in Alberta, Canada, indicate a high level of adoption of several agricultural practices with climate-mitigative benefits. Respondents’ motivations for adoption of climate-mitigative practices rarely include the belief that climate change is caused by humans, but rather expectations for economic benefits, improvements in soil quality, and biodiversity, among other things. The strongest predictor of mitigative practice adoption is a learning orientation, defined as valuing improvement, research, learning, and innovation, followed by a conservation orientation that values land stewardship. Predictors are not consistent across practices; however, in some but not all cases adoption is predicted by climate change norms, or assumption of personal responsibility to address climate change, and other predictors vary by practice as well.
Highlights
Research exploring the factors that contribute to practices that emit greenhouse gases has offered some rather pessimistic observations
Food systems are responsible for 19%–29% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, this contribution varies widely by region [3]
Survey items measuring farm characteristics were based on questions from the Census of Agriculture
Summary
Research exploring the factors that contribute to practices that emit greenhouse gases has offered some rather pessimistic observations. Even among the concerned, researchers have documented a disconnect between level of concern and the adoption of environmentally favourable practices, an observation termed the value-action gap [1, 2]. This body of research is focused primarily on general public samples, and there are other segments of society that may warrant particular scrutiny. For example, make up a tiny proportion of the populations of developed countries, yet their production decisions and related choice of management of practices have significant implications for both emitting and sequestering greenhouse gases in large volumes. Food systems are responsible for 19%–29% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, this contribution varies widely by region [3]
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