Social & Economic Research (Obj. 4)

Obj. 4 - Gain knowledge of farmer beliefs and concerns about climate change, attitudes toward adaptative and mitigative strategies and practices, and decision support needs to inform the development of tools and practices that support long-term sustainability of crop production

Overview

This objective focuses on farmer capacity and willingness to adopt management practices and strategies that lead to long-term sustainability and productivity of corn-based cropping systems under variable weather and long-term climate changes.

This objective utilizes sociological and economic theories and methods to gather data on Midwestern farmers' beliefs, attitudes, and management strategies. It studies farmers' awareness of long-term weather patterns and the impacts they have on their adaptive and mitigative actions. Findings from this objective provide a feedback loop to the field trials and modeling objectives and a framework for developing tools for farmer decision-making, education curricula and science-based policies.

The intent of Objective 4 is achieved primarily through survey research and participatory farm-level climate scenario analysis and economic assessment of cropping systems.

2011 CSCAP-U2U Farmer Survey

CSCAP researchers worked with the USDA-supported Useful to Usable (U2U) Climate project based at Purdue University to survey nearly 20,000 farmers in 22 HUC6 watersheds across 10 Corn Belt states. The survey features an innovative approach, exemplified through the following:

• The survey uses the watershed as the sampling unit, which to CSCAP's knowledge has never been done at this scale.
• Because NASS is conducting the survey, they will be able to populate the data set with data from the Census of Agriculture. This will be the first survey ever conducted that will be able to link complex attitudinal measures with the detailed agricultural enterprise data from the Census of Agriculture.

Twenty-two HUC6 watersheds located in what the USDA defines as "major crop areas" for corn and soybeans in the Corn Belt were surveyed. Watershed selection criteria were developed to prioritize watersheds. It was decided to select the top ten watersheds in terms of corn and soybean production. The next five watersheds were selected based on acreage under irrigation. The final seven watersheds were selected based primarily on ecological grounds (e.g., watershed 070600, the so-called "Driftless Area," which was selected due to its uniquely sensitive geologic and ecological features). The following figure maps the watersheds that were surveyed.

I-Farm

The 20 CSCAP extension educators will use I-Farm as a data gathering tool and an educational opportunity to increase farmer knowledge and inspire learning about connections between management practices, climate variability, soil erosion; nutrient runoff, and atmospheric, economic and environmental impacts.

Investigators and extension educators will be conducting one-on-one interviews using I-Farm, a Web-based model that allows farmers to analyze the biophysical and financial characteristics of their current operations and compare them to land-use scenarios that simulate various adaptive and mitigative practices. This approach will provide real-farm platforms for structured climate- and agriculture-related discussions between extension educators and producers. This information will help gauge farmer willingness and capacity to adopt alternative cropping practices.

Research Questions

A full list of research questions for the social and economic research activities can be found here.

Obj. 4 Scientists & Staff

Click here for more information about scientists and staff involved in social and economic research.

2011 Annual Conference Posters

Click here to view posters from the 2011 CSCAP Annual Conference detailing work underway for each objective.