A new study surveyed farmers to uncover factors that influence new cropping systems.
UNIVERSITY OF
ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN College of
Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
A group of researchers at the University of Illinois wanted to
know which farmers are most likely to adopt multifunctional perennial cropping
systems—trees, shrubs, or grasses that simultaneously benefit the environment
and generate high-value products that can be harvested for a profit.
“We surveyed farmers in the Upper Sangamon River Watershed in
Illinois to learn their attitudes about growing MPCs on marginal land. We then
looked at their demographic data to classify people into different categories
related to their adoption potential,” says University of Illinois agroecologist
Sarah Taylor Lovell.
Using statistical clustering techniques, the team discovered that survey respondents fell into six categories. The “educated networkers” and “young innovators” were most likely to adopt MPCs. On the other end of the spectrum, survey respondents classified as “money motivated” and “hands-off” were least likely to adopt the new cropping systems.
The goal of categorizing farmers was to tailor strategies for each
group, given their general attitudes. “If they’re very unlikely to adopt at
all, we probably wouldn’t spend a lot of time worrying about those groups,”
Lovell explains.
However, Lovell thinks some low-likelihood adopters could be
swayed. “One of the groups—the one we called “money motivated”—was really
connected with GPS in their yield monitoring, so we thought we could target
that. We could review high-resolution maps of their farms to point out the
areas that are unproductive for corn and soybeans. We’d try to make the case
that alternative perennial systems could bring in profits,” Lovell says.
High-likelihood adopters were motivated by environmental concerns,
and were especially interested in converting marginal land to bioenergy crop,
hay, or nut production systems. “Farmers were probably most familiar with
bioenergy grasses and hay,” Lovell explains. But it was important to them that
an existing market was in place for MPCs products.
Another major factor was land tenancy. Considering that most MPC
crops don’t mature for years after planting, rental contracts would need to
account for the long-term investment.
“The person leasing the land might be really interested in
agroforestry or perennial cropping systems,” Lovell says. “The lease
arrangement has to be long enough that the farmer will get back their
investment in that period. For example, some of the nut crops take a long time
to mature. But if you integrate some of the fruit shrubs, they’ll become productive
in maybe 3-4 years. You could get an earlier return on investment in those
cases.”
Lovell’s graduate students—housed in the crop sciences department
at U of I—are now following up with several of the farmers who were interested
in MPCs and offering custom designs to establish the new cropping systems on
their land.
“That was part of the overall goal for this study. We wondered if
the barrier to adoption is a lack of information about design options and the
economic potential,” Lovell says. “If we overcome that barrier by developing
good planting plans, projecting the market economics, and providing them with
that information, will that help them implement the change?”
Stay tuned.
The article,
“Identifying barriers and motivators for adoption of multifunctional perennial
cropping systems by landowners in the Upper Sangamon River Watershed,
Illinois,” is published in Agroforestry Systems. Lead author Chloe
Mattia and co-author Adam Davis are also in the Department of Crop Sciences at
U of I. Funding was provided by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and
Agriculture.