• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
West Texas Rangelands
West Texas RangelandsWe hope to provide a variety of information from current news stories, prescribed burning, wildfires, brush control, and cow-calf management!
  • Menu
  • Home
  • About and Contact
  • Articles and Publications
    • Extension Publications
    • Journal Articles
  • Events
  • Range Resources
    • Published to Pasture
    • Range Concepts
  • Fire Resources

Factors That Influence Conservation Adoption

February 15, 2023 by casey.matzke

Chris Morris, an Iowa State University Ph.D. candidate in rural sociology and sustainable agriculture, recently did a podcast interview on an Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction. This podcast is presented by the University of Illinois Extension and hosted by Todd Gleason.

With research, Morris has found that building a relationship of trust between a conservationist and a farmer has had the most positive impact on having conversation practices implemented.

One particular study looked at the effect of Natural Resources Conservation Service conservation plans on adoption. Morris found that interactions between conversation professionals and farmers along with technical assistance was the driving factor of conservation practice adoption.

In another study, Morris worked with the Soil and Water Conservation Society. This studies results showed that the one-on-one technical support in the field with the farmers contributed to the success of farmers using more conservation practices. Despite these findings, most conservationist spend the least amount of time in their job doing this very thing.

In part of Morris’s dissertation, he found that farmers who have experienced trauma often have a hard time when it comes to making decisions, especially when these decisions have potential risk involved.

Morris’s major focus in his research zeroed in on the largest barriers to conservation practice adoption. In addition to research conducted by Pranay Ranjan and Linda Prokopy of Purdue University, the top three factors were economics, incorporating new practices into farm management and social pressure on farmers.

When reviewing Morris’s previous findings, the economics barrier makes sense as farmers who have experienced trauma are hesitant to implement new practices. For most farmers and ranchers, this is their livelihood and if the new implementations were to fail, they could not only lose income but also the farm as well as their way of life.

Some of the key takeaways from his research is that implementation of new conservation practices always comes down to trust. Building those relationships is key, whether it be the conservationist visiting with a group of farmers and ranchers or farmers and ranchers sharing and exploring new ideas among themselves.

For more information on this topic, be sure to check out the News Article and the Podcast.

 

Filed Under: Conservation, Conservation Practices, Podcast Tagged With: AgriLife Extension, Conservation, Rangelands Wildlife and Fisheries

Recent Posts

  • Grasslands are the Forgotten Ecosystem
  • Integrated Pest Management for Woody Encroachment
  • 100 Years of Data to Identify the Right Time to Regenerate Perennial Grasses
  • Prescribed Burn Lessons Learned
  • SRM Multidisciplinary Rangeland Ecosystem Services Report

Categories

  • 4-H Range Contests
  • Beef Cattle
  • Brush Management
  • Carbon Credits
  • Carbon Markets
  • Conservation
  • Conservation Practices
  • Drought Management
  • El Niño
  • Events
  • Goats
  • Grazing Management
  • Meet A County Extension Agent
  • Plant ID
  • Podcast
  • Prescribed Burn Associations
  • Prescribed Burning
  • Publications
  • Range Concepts
  • RAP
  • Sheep
  • Society for Range Management
  • Soil
  • Targeted Grazing
  • Uncategorized
  • Why I Ranch
  • Wild Pigs
  • Wildfire
  • Wildfires
  • Woody Encroachment
  • Youth Range Workshop

Archives

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veteran's Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information