Weather, Values, Capacity and Concern: Toward a Social-Cognitive Model of Specialty Crop Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change Risk

Abstract

As specialty crop production has become increasingly important to U.S. agriculture, public and private stakeholders have called for research and outreach efforts centered on risks posed by climate change. Drawing on a survey of specialty crop farmers, this study explores farmers’ perceptions of climate change risks. Underlying cognitive, experiential, and socio-cultural factors hypothesized to influence farmers’ climate change risk perceptions are tested using structural equation modeling techniques. Results show that specialty crop farmers exhibit an overall moderate concern about climatic risks. The more capable and prepared farmers feel themselves to be, the less concerned they are about climate change. Farmers who have recently experienced more extreme weather events perceive climate change to present greater risks. In addition, farmers’ risk perceptions are also shaped by attitudes toward human exemptionalism and productivism values. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for outreach and future research.

Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the sustainability consciousness questionnaire

“…In the CCRPM, the similarities and differences among the constituent elements were well-examined, and the survey items were prepared with sufficient consideration given to the heterogeneity among the components. A large sample of UK national (van der Linden, 2015 ) and nationwide (van Eck et al, 2020 ) studies have revealed that approximately 70% of the variance in climate change risk perception can be explained by this survey; this result has been replicated in multiple similar studies (Geiger et al, 2018 ; Xie et al, 2019 ; Han et al, 2022 ).…”

“…First, to accurately discriminate and understand the concepts of knowingness, attitude, and behavior, we used van der Linden ( 2015 ) survey items instead of a questionnaire scale whose reliability and validity had been established. However, the results of van der Linden ( 2015 ) have been reproduced in many studies (Xie et al, 2019 ; Elshirbiny and Abrahamse, 2020 ; van Eck et al, 2020 ; Han et al, 2022 ); hence, it is also possible to be seen the reliability and validity have been sufficiently verified, even if no statistical indicators have been explicitly calculated. In addition, the van der Linden ( 2015 ) scale is specific to climate change in the environmental domain.…”

Small-Scale Farming: A Review of Challenges and Potential Opportunities Offered by Technological Advancements

“…Greenhouse, hydroponics, and aquaponic systems claim to be more efficient and sustainable ways to produce food by using less inputs (water, pesticides, fertilizers). Adoption of these systems is on the rise in many urban centers as it is taken up by small and first-time growers [52]. It addresses food security in many areas and is a desirable choice for many small-scale and beginning farmers.…”

Analytic and heuristic process for prudent antimicrobial use in animals: What are triggers and how do they work?

“…Given that the prevailing culture in Chinese society is collectivism, especially in rural areas (Yandong Wang et al., 2019), others’ expectations lead to social pressure on farmers. Social influences have long been recognized as a crucial factor influencing decision‐making (Han et al., 2022; Singh et al., 2020). From this, we consider social influences to be an important aspect of environmental inputs.…”