Sustainable Agriculture: Relationship between Knowledge and Attitude among University Students

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture (SA) has emerged as an alternative to feeding an increasing global population. Several frameworks have been used in SA research. This study proposes understanding SA under five components: environment, economy, society, resilience, and persistence. The decision-making process for adopting SA is determined by several factors, such as knowledge and attitudes. Both constructs play a decisive role in SA’s development, a field where university students are called to be leaders and decision-makers. Despite the increase in the body of SA literature, little is known about SA in Latin America. This research aimed to analyze university students’ attitudes and knowledge of SA and the relationship between both constructs. A completely structured questionnaire was designed and distributed online. A Likert-type scale was used for attitude and multiple-choice questions for knowledge. It was found that, among participants (n = 374), the majority had a high level of attitude (71.9%) and a moderate level of knowledge (62.1%) of SA. Participants’ attitudes towards SA were positive, regardless of gender (p = 0.17) and perceived knowledge does not predict measured knowledge (R2 = 0.074; p < 0.001). Moreover, a low positive relationship was found between attitude and knowledge (rs = 0.252; p = 0.000). Further research should focus on analyzing other factors that could affect attitude and knowledge of SA.