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Engagement with conservation tillage shaped by “good farmer” identity

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Abstract

The “good farmer” literature, grounded in Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and capital, has provided researchers with a socio-cultural approach to understanding conservation adoption behavior. The good farmer literature suggests that conservation practices may not be widely accepted because they do not allow farmers to demonstrate symbols of good farming. This lens has not been applied to the adoption of conservation tillage (CT), a practice increasingly used to improve conservation outcomes, farming efficiency and crop productivity. Drawing from in-depth interviews (n = 28) with dryland wheat farmers in the US inland Pacific Northwest (iPNW), this research seeks to understand how farmers’ engagement with CT is shaped by identity as a good farmer. Some farmers also sought to bolster social capital through CT by maintaining and strengthening relationships with peers, landowners, and future generations. We further found that engagement with CT provided a link for some participants between productivist values and stewardship values within the good farming identity. The findings from this research may help contextualize the barriers and opportunities to the adoption of agricultural conservation practices within farmer-specific social, cultural, and economic forms of capital.

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Abbreviations

CT:

Conservation tillage

US:

United States

iPNW:

Inland Pacific Northwest

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Funding

This work was supported by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture McIntire-Stennis [Grant No. #1015330].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resources and Society, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1139, Moscow, ID, 83844-1139, USA

    Avery Lavoie & Chloe B. Wardropper

Authors
  1. Avery Lavoie
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  2. Chloe B. Wardropper
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Correspondence to Avery Lavoie.

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Appendices

Appendix

Interview guide

Category 1: farm characteristics

  1. 1.

    Can you give me some background information about your farm?

Prompt:

  1. 2.

    How many total acres of farmland do you operate on?

  2. 3.

    How many years have you been farming the land you lease/own?

  3. 4.

    Do you operate on leased or owned farmland?

  4. 5.

    How many acres to you lease? How many acres do you own?

  5. 6.

    How many landlords to you lease from? Do you lease from family?

  6. 7.

    What crops do you grow on the land you lease/own?

  7. 8.

    Do you operate under a cash or crop share agreement?

  8. 9.

    Do you do anything different on your own land vs. the land you lease? Why/Why not?

  9. 10.

    Are you passing your farm onto your children?

Category 2: motivations for farming

This next question will help me to understand what it is that is important to you about farming. I want to re-iterate that I’m not looking for any particular answer and you’re free to respond in any way.

  1. 1.

    What does it mean to be a good farmer?

  2. 2.

    What are your top three priorities when it comes to farming?

  3. 3.

    What are your top three main concerns when it comes to farming?

  4. 4.

    What do you think threatens farming as a livelihood the most?

Category 3: crop and soil management

These questions will help me understand how you make decisions regarding crop choice and soil management.

  1. 1.

    What types of conservation practices do you implement on your farm? (no-till, minimum till, direct seed, grass filter strips, grassed waterways, pest management, precision agriculture)

  2. 2.

    If you use conservation tillage, what did it take to transition to that practice?

Farmer networks/resources

I’d like to know more about who you communicate with about soil management—could you tell me more about:

  1. 1.

    Where do/would you go (whom do you talk with) to get information on conservation practices and/or programs?

  2. 2.

    How would you recommend that farmers share information about techniques they are trying?

  3. 3.

    How have you changed your management practices over time to respond to these types of events?

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Lavoie, A., Wardropper, C.B. Engagement with conservation tillage shaped by “good farmer” identity. Agric Hum Values 38, 975–985 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10205-1

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