Self-esteem hasbeen conceptualized asan outcome, motive, and buffer, but there is no overall theory ofself-esteem. In thisarticle it issuggested that identity theory can provide a theoretical frameworkfor the integration ofthe various conceptualizations ofselfesteem. Wesuggest that self-esteem is an outcome of, and necessary ingredient in, the self-verification process that occurs withingroups, maintainingboththe individual and the group. Verification of role identities increases an individual's worth-based and efficacy-based self-esteem. Theself-esteem builtup byself-verification buffers thenegative emotions that occur when self-verification is problematic, thus allowing continued interaction and continuity in structural arrangements duringperiods of disruption andchange. Last, a desire for self-esteem, produced in part through self-verification, stabilizes the group because it motivates individuals to form and maintain relationships that verifyidentities.

All farmers have their own version of what it means to be a good farmer. For many US farmers a large portion of their identity is defined by the high input, high output production systems they manage to produce food, fiber or fuel. However, the unintended consequences of highly productivist systems are often increased soil erosion and the pollution of ground and surface water. A large number of farmers have conservationist identities within their good farmer identity, however their conservation goals often need to be activated to rebalance the production-conservation meanings they give to their roles in society. In this paper we analyze US Cornbelt farmer interviews and surveys to trace how the performance-based environmental management process can be used to influence the farmer social identity and shift the overall good farmer identity towards a stronger conservationist standard. We find the continuous feedback loop in performancebased environmental management mimics the hierarchically organized feedback control processes of identity verification and can be used to help farmers activate their conservationist farmer identities at the person, role, and social levels to establish new norms for the practice of more sustainable agriculture. completed her Master of Rural Sociology at Iowa State University and is currently working on her PhD in the Department of Sociology at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on human dimensions of natural resource management and farmer decision making from the social psychological view of self and identity. Lois Wright Morton is a professor of Rural Sociology in the Department of Sociology at Iowa State University. Her research work focuses on civic structure, human dimensions of natural resource management, community based watershed management, farmer decision making, and rural quality of life. Alicia D. Cast is an associate professor of Sociology in the

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